My very first purchase of Chinese tea was a six pack of TenRen tins
from their store in SF Chinatown in 73. Basically I couldn't afford
anything else they had to sell. I was thrilled because the tins had
the English and Chinese. Anything I know about Chinese I learn from
tea. Image my surprise when the Chinese character we call black means
red. I also bought one other box of tea called Sow Mee from another
shop because the sampler had one called Shou Mei but the characters
were the same. You call it potato I call it a spud. I still have tea
from both. I didn't investigate Chinese teas very much during the next
ten years till I moved to my current metro area and found it had its
own Chinatown. Sow Mee which means Longevity Eyebrow (or OldMan but
mine aren't gray yet) is the all leaf version of Chinese White Tea.
You move up in grade and price to BaiMudan(White Peony) which is leaf
and bud and BaiHao Yinzhen(White hair silver needles) which is all bud.
I only developed a real appreciation for SowMee in the last year or so
because I discovered it tasted like BaiMudan and much much much
cheaper. White tea is dried in the sun and not processed any further.
I also bought my first teapot at the same time. I still have it and
others which have never been out of the box. They're unglazed and
predate the lead scare followed by glazing in the eighties.

Jim

Marlene Wood wrote:
> I forgot to mention my other find in the excitement of the pu.
> I got a 'Gift Pack of the World's Finest Quality Tea". It had 6 small tins
> printed in black and red over brass. It had tie guan yin, jasmine, yunnan,
> orchid, and sow mee.
> The yunnan tasted pu like actually, and the jasmine is hardly jasmine
> scented. The tie guan yin is not tightly rolled, and I gave the oolong to a
> woman on the bus who seemed interested in my purchaces. She seemed to like
> it. the sow mee (which i've never heard of before, any info?) has large leaf
> bits, and the orchid has quite a bit of stems.
> I'm excited to try them all, but they all smell about the same.
> Can't wait to give them a go. Tomorrow though, after I've gotten over all
> this pu i've drunk.