Over twenty five years ago a Chinese history professor of mine gave me a
sample of
unlabeled tea of unknown origin. I have been trying to find the tea again
and at last
the Tea Gods heard my plight and delivered. The tea was Formosa Baozhong. It
arrived
today from Generation Teas (good Tea, hate the name). Maybe not the exact
tea, different
year, different field, global warming, close enough I won't complain.

I must have tried forty or fifty different teas over the years mostly from
the occasional Chinese market I
would shop in as well as from Ten Ren and Upton and pester this forum too
but it was persistence
and dumb luck. On the way I added a few teas to my "A" list. Tieguanyin Gold
Oolong also from
Generation Teas as well as Silver Tips Imperial from Upton.

Bill Lubarsky

P.S.

Information from this group helped a great deal in discovering the teas I
have now.
What do you do for an encore? Any favorites of yours to try?

lubarsky > wrote:
> Over twenty five years ago a Chinese history professor of mine gave me a
> sample of
> unlabeled tea of unknown origin. I have been trying to find the tea again
> and at last
> the Tea Gods heard my plight and delivered. The tea was Formosa Baozhong.

No kidding. A baozhong (also "pouchong") was my first really good
Chinese tea also. It can be just astonishing in flavor and taste if
it is good. The downside is that prices of good pouchongs are pretty
high.

My introduction was from a colleague of mine. His Taiwanese student
gave him a can of good baozhong from Wen Shan County. He is a good
English breakfast tea type, which this definitely wasn't, so he gave
it to me surreptitiously. I honestly can't tell you the brand because
it doesn't appear in English or, according to students, in Chinese.
Just "Wen Shan Pouchong". I show the can to other students and they
get their mothers to buy me more (several mothers have apparently
approved of my taste). But other good Taiwanese pouchongs match it.

In the U.S. I have gotten decent pouchong at Ten Ren, but am
suspicious about their business practices and the knowledge of some of
their staff. I have gotten great stuff from Shan Shui Teas,
http://www.shanshuiteas.com/ , run by Brian Wright (no connection)
along with good service.

If you like pouchong you might try dung ding oolongs which, though
slightly more oxidized, have a similar flavor. I'm drinking some now.

Oh yeah. On all these teas, infuse multiply. You get lots of
different flavors and the price per cup goes way down.

Have fun,

Rick.

Somewhat snipped

"> No kidding. A baozhong (also "pouchong") was my first really good
> Chinese tea also. It can be just astonishing in flavor and taste if
> it is good. The downside is that prices of good pouchongs are pretty
> high.
>
> My introduction was from a colleague of mine. His Taiwanese student
> gave him a can of good baozhong from Wen Shan County. He is a good
> English breakfast tea type, which this definitely wasn't, so he gave
> it to me surreptitiously. I honestly can't tell you the brand because
> it doesn't appear in English or, according to students, in Chinese.
> Just "Wen Shan Pouchong". I show the can to other students and they
> get their mothers to buy me more (several mothers have apparently
> approved of my taste). But other good Taiwanese pouchongs match it.
>
Boazhong = Pouchong?

I have had several Pouchongs from TEN REN and UPTON but nothing tastes like
this.
I remember this intense aromatic quality that gets right up into your nose
and a very long
finish ending up with a hint of the vegetal quality of Dragon Well. All this
time I have been
drinking Oolongs and various Tekuanyins. I have had several Tung Ting teas
none was
outstanding.

Bill Lubarsky

"lubarsky" > writes:

> Somewhat snipped
>
> "> No kidding. A baozhong (also "pouchong") was my first really good
> > Chinese tea also. It can be just astonishing in flavor and taste if
> > it is good. The downside is that prices of good pouchongs are pretty
> > high.
> >
> > My introduction was from a colleague of mine. His Taiwanese student
> > gave him a can of good baozhong from Wen Shan County. He is a good
> > English breakfast tea type, which this definitely wasn't, so he gave
> > it to me surreptitiously. I honestly can't tell you the brand because
> > it doesn't appear in English or, according to students, in Chinese.
> > Just "Wen Shan Pouchong". I show the can to other students and they
> > get their mothers to buy me more (several mothers have apparently
> > approved of my taste). But other good Taiwanese pouchongs match it.
> >
> Boazhong = Pouchong?

Yes, if you make that "Baozhong".

> I have had several Pouchongs from TEN REN and UPTON but nothing
> tastes like this.

I've had Ten Ren's cheapest Pouchong, and I agree, it's nothing like
that, but believe me, good Baozhong is gorgeous.

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