A quick question to those out there more familiar with Yunnan greens
and raw pu-erhs:

A year ago we ordered by mail a bunch of teas from Yunnan through
tuochatea.com. Among those teas were a couple of large boxes of snow
dragon, a very light green tea formed into little 1-inch corkscrews.
In taste it reminded me of a bilochun, very mild and sweet with little
brewed color. It also became astringent easily so it had to be brewed
with cool temperatures for short steeps.

It wasn't one of our favorite teas so we moved on to others and only
recently did I find one of the boxes and decided to give it a try. I
was sure after a year of sitting in a plain cardboard box (the
packaging it came in) it would be stale and tasteless, but I was
surprised to find that it now tastes very much like a nice raw pu-
erh. It has more depth of flavor and character, a darker liquor, and
is similar to some high-grade old-tree sheng pu-erh leaves we picked
up this year.

Is this normal for a Yunnan green, or was the snow dragon incorrectly
labeled as a green and is really a variety of loose-leaf sheng pu-
erh? Is it a quality of the tea varietal grown in Yunnan, or
contamination from pu-erh processing in the same factory?

-Charles

On Sep 3, 12:53*pm, Iggy wrote:
A quick question to those out there more familiar with Yunnan greens
and raw pu-erhs:

A year ago we ordered by mail a bunch of teas from Yunnan through
tuochatea.com. *Among those teas were a couple of large boxes of snow
dragon, a very light green tea formed into little 1-inch corkscrews.
In taste it reminded me of a bilochun, very mild and sweet with little
brewed color. *It also became astringent easily so it had to be brewed
with cool temperatures for short steeps.

It wasn't one of our favorite teas so we moved on to others and only
recently did I find one of the boxes and decided to give it a try. *I
was sure after a year of sitting in a plain cardboard box (the
packaging it came in) it would be stale and tasteless, but I was
surprised to find that it now tastes very much like a nice raw pu-
erh. *It has more depth of flavor and character, a darker liquor, and
is similar to some high-grade old-tree sheng pu-erh leaves we picked
up this year.

Is this normal for a Yunnan green, or was the snow dragon incorrectly
labeled as a green and is really a variety of loose-leaf sheng pu-
erh? *Is it a quality of the tea varietal grown in Yunnan, or
contamination from pu-erh processing in the same factory?

-Charles

I am no expert in Yunnan greens and in fact am planning on exploring
them next in my list... but from my limited experience with Snow
Dragon I found them to be slightly "earthy" and in line with a mellow
uncooked Puerh. It probably wouldn't have been a connection I would
have made without this thread and the dots connected but I could see
it. My guess is that one of two things happened... either the taste
was there and just not noticed or as pronounced the first time around
due to brewing/etc. or the aging has dulled the other stronger
characteristics and are allowing that part to show through.

- Dominic

The base of the Himalayas in Yunnan is the source for the mother of
all teas. India had the same variety at the base of their Himalayas
in Assam. I think any tea from Yunnan would have be of the antique
variety. I think Black Gold has some vague similarities to Shu. As
you get farther away things change according to Darwin. I drink a lot
of green tea from China that I think taste similar. I find Assam more
similar to Chinese Hongs than not.

Jim

PS With proper storage I dont expect tea to change taste over time.
I have some approaching 40 years that still make a good cup.

Iggy wrote:
A quick question to those out there more familiar with Yunnan greens
and raw pu-erhs:

A year ago we ordered by mail a bunch of teas from Yunnan through
tuochatea.com. Among those teas were a couple of large boxes of snow
dragon, a very light green tea formed into little 1-inch corkscrews.
In taste it reminded me of a bilochun, very mild and sweet with little
brewed color. It also became astringent easily so it had to be brewed
with cool temperatures for short steeps.

It wasn't one of our favorite teas so we moved on to others and only
recently did I find one of the boxes and decided to give it a try. I
was sure after a year of sitting in a plain cardboard box (the
packaging it came in) it would be stale and tasteless, but I was
surprised to find that it now tastes very much like a nice raw pu-
erh. It has more depth of flavor and character, a darker liquor, and
is similar to some high-grade old-tree sheng pu-erh leaves we picked
up this year.

Is this normal for a Yunnan green, or was the snow dragon incorrectly
labeled as a green and is really a variety of loose-leaf sheng pu-
erh? Is it a quality of the tea varietal grown in Yunnan, or
contamination from pu-erh processing in the same factory?

-Charles