On Mon, 27 Oct 2003 16:44:23 -0600, crymad wrote:



blues Lyne wrote:

Well I ended up with some more Fukamushi-Cha, some Uji-Gyokuro, and
Aha-Cha New Crop Presorted Green Tea (a blend of first picked tea with
Fukamushi-Cha, Kuki-Cha, and Kona-Cha). I really like the Aha-Cha, the
Gyokuro is a little grassy for me. After reading a bit more about
brewing Gyokuro on the internet I brewed a cup using 2 tablespoons of
tea, 122 degree water for 2 minutes, and while I like the Gyokuro I got
from Special Teas better, it's not a bad cup of tea. The aftertaste is
better than the flavor while I'm drinking it.

The Fukamushi-Cha and Aha-Cha are both from the Yamama Masudeaen Co.
and were $2.99 for 2 Oz. The Gyokuro was 9.99 for 8oz.

[snip]

You may want to try the Gyokuro using 1 tablespoon and bumping up the
temperature at bit, say 150. I wonder, though, whether this tea is in
fact true Gyokuro, given that the price you mention is inconceivably
cheap.

I'd say it is not. I have some and have been able to get a taste
reminiscent of Gyokuro but not quite Gyokuro. However, for the price (I
paid a similiar price) it is a good tea. A 'poor mans Gyokuro' if you
will.

--crymad

J

Well, I have personally seen tea trees some three meters high and about 800
years old (planted in the Song dynasty, people say) on Fenghuang (Phoenix)
mountain, near to Chaozhou. As soon as I can scan the slide, I will provide
you with a picture.
L


"Space Cowboy" ha scritto nel messaggio
k.net...
I think that is a Chinese pull-your-leg folklore for gullible Occidentals
because from a little research the life of a plantation tea plant is about
65 years. Established plantations are maintained from graphing so how old
is a clone?

Jim

"Lewis Perin" wrote in message
news
"WNW" writes:

"Lewis Perin" wrote in message
news "Space Cowboy" writes:

[..."Vintage Oolong" as a precursor to pu-erh...]

You mean it's already aged? Or is it somehow especially suitable
for
aging?

I understand that in the Indian Darjeeling region, "vintage" tea
refers
to
tea made from the leaves of older, vintage plants (possibly from very
old
strains, or from the actual very old plants?). I wonder whether this
is
ever done in China?

It's certainly *advertised* in China. I've read about tea from
800-year old plants.

/Lew

I'll give you that for trees in the wild just because it is simply an
evergreen. Here in the US our old world forrests are thousands of years
old. I mentioned cultivated tea bushes on plantations and their usefull
life. The locals might harvest an old tea tree but I don't think there is
enough for commercial use. It is more probable these trees are picked by
monkeys.

Jim

"Livio Zanini" wrote in message
...
Well, I have personally seen tea trees some three meters high and about
800
years old (planted in the Song dynasty, people say) on Fenghuang (Phoenix)
mountain, near to Chaozhou. As soon as I can scan the slide, I will
provide
you with a picture.
L


"Space Cowboy" ha scritto nel messaggio
k.net...
I think that is a Chinese pull-your-leg folklore for gullible
Occidentals
because from a little research the life of a plantation tea plant is
about
65 years. Established plantations are maintained from graphing so how
old
is a clone?

Jim

"Lewis Perin" wrote in message
news
"WNW" writes:

"Lewis Perin" wrote in message
news "Space Cowboy" writes:

[..."Vintage Oolong" as a precursor to pu-erh...]

You mean it's already aged? Or is it somehow especially suitable
for
aging?

I understand that in the Indian Darjeeling region, "vintage" tea
refers
to
tea made from the leaves of older, vintage plants (possibly from
very
old
strains, or from the actual very old plants?). I wonder whether
this
is
ever done in China?

It's certainly *advertised* in China. I've read about tea from
800-year old plants.

/Lew

Space link.net10/28/03


I'll give you that for trees in the wild just because it is simply an
evergreen. Here in the US our old world forrests are thousands of years
old. I mentioned cultivated tea bushes on plantations and their usefull
life. The locals might harvest an old tea tree but I don't think there is
enough for commercial use. It is more probable these trees are picked by
monkeys.

Jim


Roy Fong on the Imperial Tea Court Oolong web page shows an "old bush
oolong," which he claims has the most "pronounced honey-peachiness we have
ever tasted," among other glowing comments. I'd be curious as to just how
old these ten trees are. Web page URL:

http://www.imperialtea.com/AB1002000...roduct_ID=591&
Category_ID=14

Be it as it may, I have an ounce of it here and will give it a shot before
long.

Picked by monkeys beyond a shadow of a doubt. We do after all train them to
assist people who can't leave chair or bed. They can retrieve any number of
things by name. You could use dogs I suppose, but they'd look so stupid
climbing the trees.

Michael

Michael Plant writes:

[...]

Picked by monkeys beyond a shadow of a doubt. We do after all train them to
assist people who can't leave chair or bed. They can retrieve any number of
things by name. You could use dogs I suppose, but they'd look so stupid
climbing the trees.

Cats! But you'd have to convince them first, wouldn't you?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Lewis 10/28/03

Michael Plant writes:

[...]

Picked by monkeys beyond a shadow of a doubt. We do after all train them to
assist people who can't leave chair or bed. They can retrieve any number of
things by name. You could use dogs I suppose, but they'd look so stupid
climbing the trees.

Cats! But you'd have to convince them first, wouldn't you?


Motivation. You'd have to place cat-goodies at various intervals through
the trees, but then you might as well pick the leaves yourself as long as
you're there. How about pigs? You could hang truffles from the branches.

On a related note, I'm going to try the ITC Old Bush oolong today. I'm all
psyched up by the site's description. Hope it's not disappointing.

Michael

Once upon a time, Lewis Perin wrote:

Michael Plant writes:
Picked by monkeys...You could use dogs I suppose


Cats! But you'd have to convince them first, wouldn't you?
/Lew

HA!

Cats can be cajoled, persuaded, flattered, and--upon the rarest
of occasions--fooled into doing something you ask of them, but
convinced? Not hardly! Cats remain the true skeptics of the
universe.

At all times, a cat's primary motivation, excluding sex and food,
of course, is its own amusement. Come to think of it, maybe sex
and food fall under the amusement category, as well.

Martha (formerly known by her cats as 'Our Lady of the Food Jar')

After 800 years you'd figure a monkey troup would learn how to pluck leaves
from a tea tree. I guess the smart ones are too busy at the typewriter.

Jim

"Michael Plant" wrote in message
...
Lewis 10/28/03

Michael Plant writes:

[...]

Picked by monkeys beyond a shadow of a doubt. We do after all train
them to
assist people who can't leave chair or bed. They can retrieve any
number of
things by name. You could use dogs I suppose, but they'd look so stupid
climbing the trees.

Cats! But you'd have to convince them first, wouldn't you?


Motivation. You'd have to place cat-goodies at various intervals through
the trees, but then you might as well pick the leaves yourself as long as
you're there. How about pigs? You could hang truffles from the branches.

On a related note, I'm going to try the ITC Old Bush oolong today. I'm all
psyched up by the site's description. Hope it's not disappointing.

Michael

Space link.net10/29/03


After 800 years you'd figure a monkey troup would learn how to pluck leaves
from a tea tree. I guess the smart ones are too busy at the typewriter.

Jim


Ah, yes; that they are; that we are.
(But do they wash the leaves at the shore before eating them?)

Michael

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message link.net...
I'll give you that for trees in the wild just because it is simply an
evergreen. Here in the US our old world forrests are thousands of years
old. I mentioned cultivated tea bushes on plantations and their usefull
life. The locals might harvest an old tea tree but I don't think there is
enough for commercial use. It is more probable these trees are picked by
monkeys.

Jim

"Livio Zanini" wrote in message
...
Well, I have personally seen tea trees some three meters high and about
800
years old (planted in the Song dynasty, people say) on Fenghuang (Phoenix)
mountain, near to Chaozhou. As soon as I can scan the slide, I will
provide
you with a picture.
L

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...). While very few of them will be 800
years old, they're not just the hedge-like tea bushes.

Cameron

(Cameron Lewis) writes:

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message link.net...
[...tea from trees rather than bushes...]

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...)

When you mention Shui Xian I assume you mean the rare strain of Feng
Huang rather than the common Fujian oolong?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Lewis Perin wrote in message ...
(Cameron Lewis) writes:

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message link.net...
[...tea from trees rather than bushes...]

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...)

When you mention Shui Xian I assume you mean the rare strain of Feng
Huang rather than the common Fujian oolong?

/Lew
---

The sources that I've gotten Shui Xian from list it as a member of the
dan cong group which is by definition a tree tea. I wasn't aware
there was a bush variety. What is the difference between the Feng
Huang variety and the common strain?

Cameron

Cameron 10/29/03


Lewis Perin wrote in message
...
(Cameron Lewis) writes:

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message
link.net...
[...tea from trees rather than bushes...]

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...)

When you mention Shui Xian I assume you mean the rare strain of Feng
Huang rather than the common Fujian oolong?

/Lew
---

The sources that I've gotten Shui Xian from list it as a member of the
dan cong group which is by definition a tree tea. I wasn't aware
there was a bush variety. What is the difference between the Feng
Huang variety and the common strain?

Cameron


Cameron and all,

What are your sources? I'd like to read more about tea sub-species
varietals, but the only source I know is Clifford and Wilson, whose book
costs well over $200. USC and is currently available on the British
Amazon.com site for far more than that. Besides, if I recall, it was
published over 20 years ago, not that that's so bad.

Michael

The nomenclature refers to Shui Xian as a bush or tree. The pictures I've
seen indicates it is a tall bush rather than a tree. It has no trunk or
limbs. In our nomenclature it would be a strappling with trunk no larger
than an inch or two. I've seen pictures of tea trees with the plucking done
by people on ladders with five foot elevation for ten foot high limbs. I
think the Chinese word for tree means something different than our
description.

Jim

"Cameron Lewis" wrote in message
m...
Lewis Perin wrote in message
...
(Cameron Lewis) writes:

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message
link.net...
[...tea from trees rather than bushes...]

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...)

When you mention Shui Xian I assume you mean the rare strain of Feng
Huang rather than the common Fujian oolong?

/Lew
---

The sources that I've gotten Shui Xian from list it as a member of the
dan cong group which is by definition a tree tea. I wasn't aware
there was a bush variety. What is the difference between the Feng
Huang variety and the common strain?

Cameron

Michael Plant wrote in message ...
Cameron 10/29/03


Lewis Perin wrote in message
...
(Cameron Lewis) writes:

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message
link.net...
[...tea from trees rather than bushes...]

I've got several teas that come from tea trees, some wild some not.
Menghai produces a wild tree green pu-erh that's quite good. All of
the dan cong family oolongs come from trees rather than bushes
(phoenix, shui xian, etc...)

When you mention Shui Xian I assume you mean the rare strain of Feng
Huang rather than the common Fujian oolong?

/Lew
---

The sources that I've gotten Shui Xian from list it as a member of the
dan cong group which is by definition a tree tea. I wasn't aware
there was a bush variety. What is the difference between the Feng
Huang variety and the common strain?

Cameron


Cameron and all,

What are your sources? I'd like to read more about tea sub-species
varietals, but the only source I know is Clifford and Wilson, whose book
costs well over $200. USC and is currently available on the British
Amazon.com site for far more than that. Besides, if I recall, it was
published over 20 years ago, not that that's so bad.

Michael

Hi,

the full name of the tea is called FengHuang Dancong. Fenghuang means
Pheonix.

FengHuang Dancong are divided in to 2 main types. MiXiang FengHuang
Dancong and QingXiang fenghunag Dancong. You can easily differentiate
both by the infused tea color. The color of MiXiang FHDC is maroon and
QingXiang FHDC is yellow.

Chinese Tea