I thought the tea plant would go to seed if left on it's own. That is
flower and with cross pollination producing seeds which birds would eat
and and crap elsewhere with a chance to grow. Every leaf on every tree
I've seen is produced from some growth nodule first (origin of nipped
in the bud) including my Russian Olives which is considered a weed in
my state and smell better than my fruit trees. There is something in
the pu of which others speak but that comes from the wild tree. I have
some but no real tasting yet. I think my germinated leaf supposition
has been debunked. I'm still trying to account for the hardness of the
rolled leaf. The samples of which I speak are in commercial packaging
but I don't see the characters for ginseng anywhere not even the Wang
Zhong Wang. The TKY is not flavored with anything because I drink the
Orthodox versions enough. It is on the mild green side. I'm on my
fourth 8 oz cup seeded with 10 pods which I estimate at 2g total and
only one looks like a leaf and not a pod. There would be little taste
in the next cup. All I can say is this style of leaf from three
samples so far is nothing I've ever seen. I don't see any flavoring
producing this type of tea.

Jim

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:
"Space Cowboy" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'm leaning toward the
suggestion it is an ungerminated leaf structure.

Jim


What exactly do you mean by that? Leaf does not actually come from a
germinated state, unless we are talking about tiny, barely visible ones that
just comes out of the bud. And these are no Camelia teabuds for sure.
Without exposure to the light a leaf cannot develop neither its size, no its
color, so if after numerous brews these "nuggets" open up into something
looking like a developed leaf that mean that this leaf was rolled into that
"nugget" state after it has a chance to fully develop.
May be they do not cover this particular tea with ginseng material, but they
may use something else.

Sasha.

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message

I thought the tea plant would go to seed if left on it's own.

Tea seeds in Uji have 1 cm of diameter, and they appear when the leaves are
old and thick at the end of Summer.
It's much bigger than your pods. I don't know for other sorts of tea bush,
but that seems unlikely.
They may have used the young tips not fully developped.

The TKY is not flavored with anything because I drink the
Orthodox versions enough.

Tea flavored tea ? They coat it with the powder of the same tea ? I don't
know what that would bring exactly, but my supermarket now sells wulong and
TGY in shape of mini tuo-chas, because it looks cool and it's convenient (
dosed for one standard pot, easy to carry). Maybe the coating protects the
leave from staling.

Kuri

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:
"Mike Petro" wrote in message
ups.com...

Sure, let me preface this by saying that I am not an oolong aficionado
by any stretch of the imagination. YMMV

It was sweet, nutty, somewhat fruity, and somewhat toasty. It brewed
up an orangish tan. I got a solid 8 steeps out of it.

It is nice for a change of pace but is not your typical oolong.

Mike


Thanks, Mike.

Did you gongfu it? Does it have any wonderful fragrance? I enjoy a good
fresh oolong once in a while but only gongfu style and only for its
fragrance, not its taste. Shui Xian is an exception.

Sasha.

I used 3.1g of tea in a 5oz gaiwan. I used techniques and timings
similar to a gongfu session. It was mildly aromatic but I did not use
the smelling cup like you typicaly do. I didnt want to put it in one of
my yixing pots either since it looked so different than any other
oolong.

I am convinced it is a coating. The leaves look like they were probably
rolled first and then coated in some manner. After several steeps you
can see the coating break and the leaves expand a bit but the leaves
dont ever really unfurl.

Mike

In article ,
"Melinda" wrote:

That's really unusual Jim. Stating the obvious I guess. I am eager to hear
if anyone recognizes the type.

It looks exactly like an oolong I tried a while back
called Blue Spring - you can find info on google
using the string - "Blue Spring" +oolong

As I recall, it's coated with herbs, including
some kind of anise - I remember a distinct
licorice taste. It was pleasant enough, but
not so's I'd make it a regular................p*

I've got a good url on the botany of the tea plant somewhere.
Apparently I should find it again. Everyone once in awhile I'm allowed
to walk the plank backwards till I fall in. Don't make me rise up from
Davy Jones' Locker if I ever discover that the tea bush is allowed to
flower in Japan for whatever reason. Interesting your comment about
the Xiao (mini) tuochas. I mention recently buying some in Chinatown
and not caring for the taste compared to other cheap green puerh. I
just looked again and the only English is Green Tea and I can't find
any characters for Sheng or Puerh. The leaf you can peel with hand. I
think it is an ordinary green tea in tuocha form without much taste.
Can you describe the surface of the wulong and TGY tuocha and how hard
it is. If it looks like the ones we've seen then problem solved. It
is compressed for whatever reason. It could very well be that the one
tea I described as a seed is really a seed. The larger pod and nugget
is definitely rolled leaf and hard beyond belief with a completely
smooth sealed like surface. The ginseng would have to be acting as a
hard glaze hiding the irregular surface of the rolled leaf and
preventing it from coming apart after several infusions. I mentioned
before the TenRen King tea with American Ginseng you find behind herbal
counters. It is so expensive I've never cared to buy some to even
discover if the grade is similar to what I'm talking about. Someone in
Fujian is producing at least 3 different non flavored commercial
oolongs with a grade of tea I haven't seen before. Five if you count
the obvious RenShen already mentioned from China and Taiwan. Sometimes
I think my posts give people a bad hair day.

Jim

kuri wrote:
"Space Cowboy" wrote in message

I thought the tea plant would go to seed if left on it's own.

Tea seeds in Uji have 1 cm of diameter, and they appear when the leaves are
old and thick at the end of Summer.
It's much bigger than your pods. I don't know for other sorts of tea bush,
but that seems unlikely.
They may have used the young tips not fully developped.

The TKY is not flavored with anything because I drink the
Orthodox versions enough.

Tea flavored tea ? They coat it with the powder of the same tea ? I don't
know what that would bring exactly, but my supermarket now sells wulong and
TGY in shape of mini tuo-chas, because it looks cool and it's convenient (
dosed for one standard pot, easy to carry). Maybe the coating protects the
leave from staling.

Kuri

"Space Cowboy" wrote in message

Don't make me rise up from Davy Jones' Locker if I ever discover that the
tea bush is allowed to
flower in Japan for whatever reason.

What do you mean ? Tea bush do flower and the rest of the flower becomes
seed...or they don't get any seeds to plant new teabush or to show to
visitors of the * tea museums*.

Can you describe the surface of the wulong and TGY tuocha and how hard
it is.

They are just like the mini-tuochas of puer in the same brand, except they
made them sligthly larger for wulongs
and shapes are a little different for each kind so you can tell which is
which. For that brand, they are not very smooth and not very hard, you can
break away a few bits with your finger.
For puer, they sell the mini-tuochas cheaper than their tuo chas (that are
hard and smooth) and spare leaf puer, and the mini-tuocha contains broken
leaves and stalks, it's obviously a by-product and it's meant to be drunk
today, not stored to get older.
For wulongs, tuochas are obviously a marketing trick, as they are more
expensive (by weight) than the spare leaves and is done of the same leaves-
that get broken in the process.

It could very well be that the one
tea I described as a seed is really a seed.

A seed of what ?

The larger pod and nugget is definitely rolled leaf and hard beyond belief
with a completely
smooth sealed like surface.

That can be they took a leaf with an attached young leaf not yet opened.
They put them in that *glue* (the stuff made of "maybe" ginseng powder)
before rolling, and coating it again. Then the chunk of glued leaf is the
hard object and it's so well stuck that it never unfolds in your pot. Did
you try to open the seed ?

I mentioned before the TenRen King tea with American Ginseng you find
behind herbal
counters.

Not all the ginseng teas have the *bird sh...* style.
Last time I had ginseng tea, that was leaves not even rolled + bits of
ginseng. You can't tell before opening the package.

Kuri

Most plantations are cuttings from the same bush. Your earlier
statement didn't mention flower or fruit just leaves. A picture is
worth a thousand words so flower on the left and fruit on the right:
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...m_sin_5740.jpg

So far the concensus is the sheen is caused by a glue of some sort.
Two of my three samples I never tasted so they could be caramelized
with *bird sh...* for all I know. The TKY nugget taste like orthodox
TKY. I like the theory if I could taste what it was coated with. I
guess you could coat the leaf with a neutral glaze which I assume would
enhance multiple steeps which is the only claim I see made by the
vendor. I like your suggestion the entire leaf is coated and not just
the surface. That would explain why I never see anything breaking away
from the surface of the shell as another claimed. It is a fun style of
tea I think perfect for gongfu but I'm an agony of the leaf fan and
never wait for the chicken eggs to hatch. It is a good style to drink
straight from the cup because the seeds,pods,nuggets sink to the bottom
with time release liquor.

Jim

kuri wrote:
"Space Cowboy" wrote in message

Don't make me rise up from Davy Jones' Locker if I ever discover that the
tea bush is allowed to
flower in Japan for whatever reason.

What do you mean ? Tea bush do flower and the rest of the flower becomes
seed...or they don't get any seeds to plant new teabush or to show to
visitors of the * tea museums*.
The larger pod and nugget is definitely rolled leaf and hard beyond belief
with a completely
smooth sealed like surface.

That can be they took a leaf with an attached young leaf not yet opened.
They put them in that *glue* (the stuff made of "maybe" ginseng powder)
before rolling, and coating it again. Then the chunk of glued leaf is the
hard object and it's so well stuck that it never unfolds in your pot. Did
you try to open the seed ?