What HeiCha are you drinking

[cerbu]

thx, .at what water temperature I do this 6-8g/100ml?

[Balthazar]

Boiling.

[cerbu]

ok, I try later
This is a very tightly packed brick, should I make the rinse 10 seconds?

[Balthazar]

Couldn't hurt. Most fuzhuans aren't that tightly pressed though; the looser pressing (compared to typical heizhuans to say nothing of qianliangs etc) aides the growth of jinhua. Based on the pictures, this doesn't seem that tightly pressed either. But a 10 second rinse won't hurt, and considering that this is more on the crude side it may be a good idea.

Just try it out and see how it goes, is my tip

[cerbu]

ty way better

[Tea Adventures]

Currently drinking a 2010 Wuzhou Liu Bao. I got it last week so first time drinking it.

I’m also using a tetsubin instead of a regular electric kettle. Pretty nice combination and my way to kick off a long weekend.

[mbanu]

Probably shouldn't go here, but I'm not sure where else to put it. Drinking a "nice liu an" scented tea blend from Yee On Tea. This is an old Hong Kong style of blend that is named after liu an but that usually contains no liu an! Not sure what an equivalent British or American tea blend would be, although an American beverage equivalent might be orange juice vs. "orange drink". It's not bad, though -- it seems to be a mix of various broken teas and stems given a new life through scenting with Aglaia odorata. I wish I knew more about the history of this tea, though. Was it something people drank only at home?

*Edit: The old Art of Tea magazine decided on "nice liu an" as the translation for 香六安. I think they were a bit stumped by the 香 which means fragrant like burning incense, the smell of tasty food, or a good cigarette, but is also the first character in Hong Kong.

[Tea Adventures]

Probably shouldn't go here, but I'm not sure where else to put it. Drinking a "nice liu an" scented tea blend from Yee On Tea. This is an old Hong Kong style of blend that is named after liu an but that usually contains no liu an! Not sure what an equivalent British or American tea blend would be, although an American beverage equivalent might be orange juice vs. "orange drink". It's not bad, though -- it seems to be a mix of various broken teas and stems given a new life through scenting with Aglaia odorata. I wish I knew more about the history of this tea, though. Was it something people drank only at home?

This one got my attention! I quickly browsed their online shop and found it. Seems like I’m adding a sample to my next order.

Did you ask them about this tea? I’ve had conversations with them several times and they are very helpful. So if you have questions, I think they will be happy to answer them.

[Lucifigus]

I am only about six months into buying and enjoying a variety of teas somewhat seriously. I have never ordered any Liu Bao or Liu An tea, although I have had some come as small free samples with orders from some vendors. Frankly I haven’t been all that impressed with some of the aged Shou Puerh that I have tried, but I also realize my sample size is small, and my experience and attention could use some work.

Yesterday I thought I would brew up some Liu An that came with an order from Wilderleaf Tea, which is only 100 km down the road from me. It contained some pieces of bamboo and the flavour was quite lovely. I really enjoyed it, although much of the deep rich profile seemed to wane after five or six infusions. After that it had a predominant woody flavour and I am not sure of that was the tea, or the bamboo pieces.

Today I finally cracked open a small free sample from the Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver. It is fairly pricy as teas go, and I think I have been cautious about approaching an expensive tea ($ 1.97/g) with little experience, but I wanted to compare it with the Liu An I had yesterday. On their website, they state it is a 1996 vintage. There were no bamboo bits in this sample. This was a very impressive tea - just Wow. Not an edge anywhere and full of rich, deep and wonderfully complex flavour. What I think comes across as camphor in other teas had morphed and deepened into something that was no longer camphor, it was just part of the deep, rich background. As good as this tea is, I don’t think I can see myself buying 50 grams anytime soon.

Needless to say, I am much more intrigued with Liu An and potentially Liu Bao than I have been. Can anyone recommend some vendors and teas that are impressive, without approaching $2/g?

[LeoFox]

Needless to say, I am much more intrigued with Liu An and potentially Liu Bao than I have been. Can anyone recommend some vendors and teas that are impressive, without approaching $2/g?

I heard good things about this:

https://teaswelike.com/product/old-liubao-tasting-set/

[Tea Adventures]

Needless to say, I am much more intrigued with Liu An and potentially Liu Bao than I have been. Can anyone recommend some vendors and teas that are impressive, without approaching $2/g?

Purple Cloud Tea House has a massive selection of Liu Bao and is located in the US.

https://purplecloudteahouse.com/

[wave_code]

I suppose it might be harder for you to say until you have tried a few different ones but... liu bao can be far more subtle, interesting, and variable than I think it is often given credit for - so while there are some very typical flavor profiles, to me it can also be as variable as saying one likes black tea or oolong so what should they try. Some are very dark and have a similar profile to shu, others can be quite light and have stronger black tea processing character, some are more woody or herbal, while others could almost be mistaken for sheng. I'd recommend trying out a few different styles from reliable factories/sources and see what direction you want to go from there. you'll start to recognize particular recipes or factory/storage profiles you like more than others over time.

as a quick crash course, and keep in mind these are generalizations

generally Three Cranes (San He) will be on the lighter fermentation side, that said if it spends time in wet storage it can change the profile a lot.
China Tea/COFCO teas can really vary, but most of the time I find them stronger and darker than Three Cranes, though they do some more raw styles too. they have so many different productions and do a lot of them in special types of storage to get certain characteristics.
Si Jin Quan/Four Gold Coins is very much its own thing, always with a very strong and earthy/beet like character, but for my taste much more satisfying than most shu and gets very smooth as it ages. I highly recommend trying it as part of a general sampling of liu bao.
Duoteli (owned by Wuzhu) tends to have a really distinct flavor I have a hard time describing, but I really like it. usually very big on the fruity/jujube side of things. the Yellow Box is a classic one on the more herbal side of things.
there are also lots of farmer style liu bao, though its very hit or miss. essence of tea is usually a good spot for those, though I think they are out of stock of a lot of things at the moment. also some places that still try to use traditional processing (some available from Chanting Pines). also there is one particular factory in Heishi which I don't actually know the name of (no wester facing vendor actually ever seems to want to give it away haha) that tends to focus on more wild/raw processed liu bao - this is where the 803 baskets come from.

Purple Cloud has a lot of options for North American shipping, though a lot of them are going to be younger liu bao or from a particular factory. Chawang is where you'll find the most variation/selection - sometimes their storage is a little dry for certain teas IMO, but they have a lot of good ones, as well as decent inexpensive liu an.

I don't know how shipping is for you from there, but I still think theTea's 2002 liu an is the best one for the buck I have tried. the Dark Medicine is also really good too.

[mbanu]

Frankly I haven’t been all that impressed with some of the aged Shou Puerh that I have tried, but I also realize my sample size is small, and my experience and attention could use some work.

Old shou is of my least favorite types of tea. I think a little bit of it is tail-wagging the dog, as for various complex reasons, some people want a tea they can gongfu, matching the tea to the brewing method rather than the brewing method to the tea, while fresh shou is not usually gongfu-friendly being designed with dimsum-style brewing in mind.

Unfortunately sometimes getting fresh shou online is harder than it should be because of this. I've found something that helps is to seek out discus-cakes, the super-compressed ones, as they will keep their freshness (if you can call anything related to shou that) longer.

[LeoFox]

Frankly I haven’t been all that impressed with some of the aged Shou Puerh that I have tried, but I also realize my sample size is small, and my experience and attention could use some work.

Old shou is of my least favorite types of tea. I think a little bit of it is tail-wagging the dog, as for various complex reasons, some people want a tea they can gongfu, matching the tea to the brewing method rather than the brewing method to the tea, while fresh shou is not usually gongfu-friendly being designed with dimsum-style brewing in mind.

Unfortunately sometimes getting fresh shou online is harder than it should be because of this. I've found something that helps is to seek out discus-cakes, the super-compressed ones, as they will keep their freshness (if you can call anything related to shou that) longer.

There is the danger that fresh shou might be like the festering dumpster next to a seafood restaurant

[Tea Adventures]

There is the danger that fresh shou might be like the festering dumpster next to a seafood restaurant

Exactly! That is also my experience with most young shou.