I mentioned in a recent post about an exciting tea I found in SF Chinatown. It is called Virgin Angel from Vital Leaf. It bubbles and tumbles while brewing. It was served in a wine glass to impress. When staring into the wine glass you were reminded how long it must take to harvest those miniscule leaves. As it turns out I have some that does the same thing under the general classification called bitter tea. These are from other plants besides tea. My two versions are called Tianmu Yunding and Tianshan Lushui. I think the bubbling is released carbon dioxide from partial photosensitization. I will say I like the taste better than the two I have. It is pleasing tauting bitter. It should it was far more expensive. You can buy one called Kuding which is cheap. That one is from the Holly plant. It is big leaf. It comes in needle or pearl form. There is no visual excitement while brewing. It is harshly bitter but survivable. The other disappointment is the high price of teas in the hundreds and hundreds of dollars per pound. It wasnt just one store. I got one called Bamboo which is grown in the shade of the stalk in the Panda preserve in Sichuan. You pay for the location.
Jim
PS I didnt make my usual rounds while in Chinatown. It was the fall festival with booths and crowds on closed streets. I did enjoy my gongfu time at Vital Leaf. At one end was the tourists, at the other the Chinese which is where I sat. The hostess was from the mainland and everybody spoke Mandarin but me. I got use to that in Albuquerque where everybody on the city bus spoke Spanish but me. I did guess the mystery tea Taiwan Milk which gave me instant credibility. There is a hole in the wall gongfu shoppe on Stockton which I highly recommend. It is a couple of streets up from Grant which is the main Chinatown drag.