Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Northern Fujian has been a major tea production area since Tang Dynasty and it still produces a vast array of high quality teas. Zhenghe white peonies and Zhenghe Gongfu are outstanding varieties amongst their peers. Will definitely write more about other ones.
It is actually not easy to generalise on a clay, say, duanni, because the formulae available in the market now are extremely varied. The artful addition of various granules in the mix further changes the potential infusion character of a pot.
However, I can say that traditionally a genuine duanni is of higher density than the average genuine zisha and even zhu-ni. It is therefore, much more effective in supplementing the pitch in the taste profile rather than rounding the tea.
A shu cha ( shao cha ) pu’er of respectable quality should be quite round in itself and do not need to be rounded. A duanni pot would give its roundness a graceful pitch.
In case the selection in question needs rounding, I think I’ll opt for a zhu-ni or zhisha.
@teanewby, greener oolongs, particularly those that are rolled into smaller kernels, such as most “Alishan oolong” in departments stores or gift shops, can turn bad quite quickly if not cold stored. Dependent on the quality and how bad it is, sometimes they can be baked to a deep brown to turn into another tasting style, but most of the times, they become useless, other than grounding them to fertilise the soil, put them into a bowl to place into the refrigerator or shoe cabinet for deodorising etc.
@Herb, That is a very good question, in that it actually covers a least studied and most misunderstood issue in black tea.
Generally, most people think that black tea goes stale in a few years. Their experience tells them so. That really is the case for people who have bought teas in the tins or scooped from the big cans in the traditional teashop setting. Most of my Indian and English tea trader friends think tea goes bad in three to four years, because they really have such inventory there in their warehouse. That is one reason there are so many different flavoured tea products in the West.
In real traditional quality products that are properly stored, however, black tea matured beautifully. In your case of Minhong, finer ones actually gives a sweet chocolate smell that is even more chocolate than real chocolate. The taste all be deeper and rounder.
The final baking of any teas, oolong or hong cha, has to be executed properly according to the tea and at the right moment to maximise that effect, or not to ruin it.
Normal temperate climate is ideal for maturing most oolongs, white teas and hongcha. A good Minhong shows good signs of maturity even at one~two years. A good Phoenix at 2~3. As for Wuyi, since most selections out there are over fired, it would require longer years for its fire to tone down for batter taste. As to how long, it really is dependent on the quality of the fire. Good ones can be very delectable even at one year.
There is a lot more to this topic than can be covered in a short answer like this. I’ll see if I have time to write about it in a proper article.
I am sorry to have to tell you this: Huwei is within the city boundary of Chaozhou on the south. The Phoenix region (Fenghuang Shan) is one hour and some north of Chaozhou, way outside the city. Better production areas are much deeper into the mountains.
The kind of books you have in the picture abounds in China. They are all basically advertisements in the disguise of the book form. One of the four characters of the book title is a typo.
This discussion was merged into How to choose a Yixing pot?
Thank you for alerting me! I forgot to turn on the permission. Now you can do that. Please try again anytime.