What's on Your Tea List for the New Year?

I know that I will be drinking at least Yunnan Gold, Jiu Qu Hong Mei, Tan Yang Congou, Arya Ruby Tippy 2nd flush, Arya SFTGFOP1 2nd Flush, Castleton Tippy Clonal autumn, Risheehat Clonal Flowery 2nd flush and Giddapahar China Wiry Tippy FF. A black year ahead - lol.

/Niklas

"niisonge" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@e27g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

Ill continue to buy whatever I find interesting at my British and Chinese tea shoppes. The Chinese tea shoppe now sells its own limited brand of pressed Puer. They still have a good selection from 2005 in the $50 range which I can no longer ignore. Teavana has a complete double walled vacuum glass serving set which I will get. I may try to order something from TaoBaoNow.

Jim

PS Ill probably break down and have to order a slab of Hunan Qian Liang from the > What teas do you expect to drink this year?

Oh, there are so many! One worth mentioning, which I don't think has been discussed here, is Guranse from Nepal: strikingly similar to a good Darjeeling and reliable year-to-year, but cheaper than real Darjeelings. Plus, it makes a plausible claim of being organic.

/Lew

My Guranse is identified as a Black Nepal. The dried and infused leaf reminds me of a green Darjeeling. The aroma is Darjeeling like. The taste is a little more harsh with more sweet than dry muscatel aftertaste. I got mine in the discount bin at the local British tea shoppe. The retail price $12/3oz. I put this in the same category as classic Taiwan Oriental Beauty. Another example of a tea taste which can be replicated elsewhere like Sencha in South America.

Jim

I have a thing of zi xun (purple bamboo; Chinese green) which I (absurdly) have not opened yet.

I need some fresh oolongs, and to rearrange my space to make it easier to drink gong fu style (currently I have to get up and go elsewhere to get more water).

Otherwise, I'll be pretty happy finishing off the teas I have. :)

N.

With Guranse, I think this is true only in a narrow, technical sense. Guranse is apparently grown just over the border from Darjeeling.

/Lew

Ah! This is exactly the kind of tea I want to try! I want to try replicated teas grown in other areas. See if they can really be of the same quality as the originals. A friend of mine in Zhangping said some Taiwan business people set up shop in Zhangping to grow Gaoshan Cha (High Mountain Oolong) - except in Zhangping, where they're growing anyway, isn't really high mountains. Still, it intrigues me enough that I'll just have to go there and see for myself.

If I place Guranse tea estates near Dhankuta Nepal it is a few Himalayan peaks 100km West of the border. And if I use the business addresses in Kathmandu it is way way West in the Himalayas about

300km. If you want cheap Darjeeling I buy Sikkim. The Darjeeling only claim to fame seems to be a geographical location if the muscatel taste is your guideline.

Jim

I think tea taste may not be unique as we think. Ive said before mainland Ben Shan taste like Taiwan Gao Shan.

Jim

Check out the photos in this blog:

These were taken on the tea farm in Zhangping.

Yes, you're right about that. But the Darjeeling district extends to the border, and what matters in the cup is the climate and soil (not to mention the agriculture and manufacture!)

That's irrelevant. There are Darjeeling companies whose head offices are in Calcutta, and their tea isn't considered to come from the Ganges delta.

I drink Sikkim tea, too, but in my experience over a few years Guranse has had a consistent level of quality I haven't seen in the Sikkim teas I've drunk.

/Lew

Wish everyone a happy 2010 New Year. Let's all raise up our tea cups to mutually toast and ring in the New Year. We should have a New Year tea song or something.

Theyre reproducing Taiwan ALiShan. GaoShan is an understatement. In my younger days I would have hunt some down.

Jim

blog:

Agreed on the Guranse location. When it comes to mountain ranges I think the terroir varies. Darjeeling is in Sikkim. It might be like saying Yellowstone is in Wyoming. I can taste the difference in the estates and flushes of Darjeeling. Some think it worth pursuing. I can take it or leave it. I usually get a first and second flush each year. However if I do run across the muscatel taste elsewhere I do get excited.

Jim