Dominic T. wrote:

> If anyone has any insight on “Chiu Chao” tea I’d love to know!

"Chiu Chao" is likely a variant spelling of "chiuchow," or "teochew." And
it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiuchow_cuisine

On Apr 29, 12:35*am, Ana Vasil > wrote:
> Dominic T. wrote:
> > If anyone has any insight on “Chiu Chao” tea I’d love to know!
>
> "Chiu Chao" is likely a variant spelling of "chiuchow," or "teochew." *And
> it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.
>
> See: *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiuchow_cuisine

Yes, that was the conclusion I sort of came up with but the part that
threw me off was the description of it being "almost black, like
Turkish coffee." The only problem I have with this book is that it is
written with full detailed conversations and descriptions however the
writer is a white guy who simply interviewed a lot of people about
Johnny Kon. So all of the detail is invented as he wasn't actually
there as the text would make you believe, and when it comes to non-
fiction I'd prefer it to be fully accurate or not at all. So, this
account is most likely invented based on real tea experiences... but I
did enjoy the way it was told and the unknown aspect of the tea in
question piqued my curiosity.

- Dominic
Oh, and it's literary... boy way for me to screw up a post title. I
need to start reading more dictionaries it seems

See previous posts on teochew for a different context.

Jim

On Apr 28, 10:35 pm, Ana Vasil > wrote:
> Dominic T. wrote:
> > If anyone has any insight on “Chiu Chao” tea I’d love to know!
>
> "Chiu Chao" is likely a variant spelling of "chiuchow," or "teochew." And
> it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.
>
> See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiuchow_cuisine

Ana Vasil > writes:

> Dominic T. wrote:
>
> > If anyone has any insight on “Chiu Chao” tea I’d love to know!
>
> "Chiu Chao" is likely a variant spelling of "chiuchow," or
> "teochew."

Good catch! Another common spelling for this area is Chaozhou, which
is the Mandarin spelling. It's a hotbed of gongfu tea practice.

> And it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.

Couldn't it be Dancong?

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

On Apr 29, 10:33*am, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> Ana Vasil > writes:
> > Dominic T. wrote:
>
> > > If anyone has any insight on “Chiu Chao” tea I’d love to know!
>
> > "Chiu Chao" is likely a variant spelling of "chiuchow," or
> > "teochew."
>
> Good catch! *Another common spelling for this area is Chaozhou, which
> is the Mandarin spelling. *It's a hotbed of gongfu tea practice.
>
> > And it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.
>
> Couldn't it be Dancong?
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /

It could very well be Dan Cong as that would also be the right region
and brewing style... and might get closer to that Turkish coffee
black. I followed the account fine until that comment was made about
how black the tea was which made me think maybe that region had or has
some other tea as well which is more akin to a black/red tea.

For some reason my last few posts have not shown up in response to
this thread... I'm not sure why but hopefully this one makes it.

- Dominic (and yes, I know it should be literary

Lewis Perin wrote:
> Ana Vasil > writes:
>
>> And it's probably Tieguanyin that he's preparing and serving.
>
> Couldn't it be Dancong?

Oh, sure, Lew. It could be anything, really. I was just referring to that
linked Wikipedia article's sole tea reference: "Authentic Teochew
restaurants serve very strong Oolong tea called Tieguanyin in very tiny
cups before and after the meal. Presented as Gongfu cha, the tea has a
thickly bittersweet taste, colloquially known as gam gam...."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiuchow_cuisine

Dominic T. wrote:

> Yes, that was the conclusion I sort of came up with but the part that
> threw me off was the description of it being "almost black, like
> Turkish coffee."

If you prepared TGY the way I'm accustomed to drinking it, you'd probably
call it thick and almost-black, too. :-)


>The only problem I have with this book is that it is
> written with full detailed conversations and descriptions however the
> writer is a white guy who simply interviewed a lot of people about
> Johnny Kon. So all of the detail is invented as he wasn't actually
> there as the text would make you believe, and when it comes to non-
> fiction I'd prefer it to be fully accurate or not at all. So, this
> account is most likely invented based on real tea experiences...

Yeah, that's why I don't think there's any reason to take Sack's
descriptions..."litterally". Heh.

It's funny enough that the thugs were drinking from pink-flowered cups.
Imagine if Sack had also written, "The tea's pellucidly golden, like a pool
of liquid sunshine shimmering in the delicate porcelain vessel."

"Almost black, like Turkish coffee" sounds far more gangster-ish, no?

On Apr 30, 3:35*am, Ana Vasil > wrote:
> Dominic T. wrote:
> > Yes, that was the conclusion I sort of came up with but the part that
> > threw me off was the description of it being "almost black, like
> > Turkish coffee."
>
> If you prepared TGY the way I'm accustomed to drinking it, you'd probably
> call it thick and almost-black, too. *:-)
>
> >The only problem I have with this book is that it is
> > written with full detailed conversations and descriptions however the
> > writer is a white guy who simply interviewed a lot of people about
> > Johnny Kon. So all of the detail is invented as he wasn't actually
> > there as the text would make you believe, and when it comes to non-
> > fiction I'd prefer it to be fully accurate or not at all. So, this
> > account is most likely invented based on real tea experiences...
>
> Yeah, that's why I don't think there's any reason to take Sack's
> descriptions..."litterally". *Heh.
>
> It's funny enough that the thugs were drinking from pink-flowered cups.
> Imagine if Sack had also written, "The tea's pellucidly golden, like a pool
> of liquid sunshine shimmering in the delicate porcelain vessel."
>
> "Almost black, like Turkish coffee" sounds far more gangster-ish, no?

Good point. I actually hadn't thought about exaggeration in the tea
description since it seemed pretty accurate and taken from some real
life experience... but very plausible. It really drives me insane when
people write true accounts by using 90% fictitious information and
conversations... at that point just write a novel that has some
elements drawn from real life.

- Dominic

(It looks like the flood gates finally opened and all of my posts
showed up)