I never would have thought it would be possible to find a mainland
Chinese tea which has the same taste characteristics as a Taiwan
GaoShan or pouchong or whatever. I recently tried Anxi BenShan and if
I didn't know better would have guessed it was from Taiwan. It also
had an additional green TGY note making it slightly less floral than
its sea straight equivalent. It is the bushy type of two whole leaf on
a stem. At 125g/$6 it was a steal compared to my cheapest GaoShan of
125g/$10. I'm going to stock up because I never want to run out.

Jim

Jim,

I've been looking for a good benshan, but have only tried the Jing
Teashop one to date. I found it to be pleasant, but, I think it's fair
to say, it was probably well-priced at $10/100g (i.e., pretty cheaply).
May I ask where you get your version?

Certainly price isn't the definite indicator, but I wouldn't (a
priori) expect too much from a $6/100g, so it's good to read that
you've found something enjoyable.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

This is my first BenShan. Do you notice any similarities between
Benshan and Taiwan teas? I have a good map of Fujian and Anxi and
can't find it. I assume it would be a coastal mtn just to have that
much in common separated by a body of water with the same environment.
This one is chunky knobs like my DongTing and AliShan and will clog a
pot with a bush. I really like the longer slight TKY note finish in
the throat unlike the Taiwan equivalents. I don't like to pimp but
since you asked EnjoyingTea. They take PayPal. I still got me pride.

Jim

HobbesOxon wrote:
Jim,

I've been looking for a good benshan, but have only tried the Jing
Teashop one to date. I found it to be pleasant, but, I think it's fair
to say, it was probably well-priced at $10/100g (i.e., pretty cheaply).
May I ask where you get your version?

Certainly price isn't the definite indicator, but I wouldn't (a
priori) expect too much from a $6/100g, so it's good to read that
you've found something enjoyable.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Yes indeed. I think I wrote that the Jing benshan was like "a well
dressed young lady with good manners". Very much in the same vein as
Formosa gaoshan. The actual quality was what one would expect/hope for
$10/100g: pleasant, but not "first division". A very reliable daily
tea. I think the lack of endurance irked me somewhat, but that's (one
of the reasons) why it's not first division. I'll check out
EnjoyingTea, thanks.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Depending on how you spell BenShan Anodyne said what I did in 96. I
didn't come up to speed on Taiwan teas till the Good Young brand
appeared in the stores. The only other brand from Twinings disappeared
years ago. If I even suspected there was a mainland tea that compared
to Taiwan in any kind of taste I would have been on that one sooner.
Okay BenShan has been flushed out, are there any others? This is the
kind of tea when you're done with the leaves you toss them on a salad.
My not so new rediscovery of the year sofar.

Jim

HobbesOxon wrote:
Yes indeed. I think I wrote that the Jing benshan was like "a well
dressed young lady with good manners". Very much in the same vein as
Formosa gaoshan. The actual quality was what one would expect/hope for
$10/100g: pleasant, but not "first division". A very reliable daily
tea. I think the lack of endurance irked me somewhat, but that's (one
of the reasons) why it's not first division. I'll check out
EnjoyingTea, thanks.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

On a salad, nice idea.. not one I'd thought of!

At the moment, my wife puts them all in her footbath at the end of the
day. Apparently it's good for maintaining the suppleness of skin. I'm
not certain if this is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (tm) approach, or
just one of my wife's quirks (heh). Last night she had two good
gaoshan wulong (1600m) and an old pu'er in there - all used, I hasten
to add... quite the treat for the feet, if they like that kind of
thing, I imagine...

I saw an article in Stephane Erler's blog on ice-cream made with
wulong. Give it a go!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes