Liu An

Hi Alex,

I have tried ITC's and David Hoffman's at Silk Road Teas. I have to say that David's was far better than Roy's. The basket I got from Roy had a moldiness to it that David's didn't have. If you go to

you will see a thread about this tea, it is on another tea group that is also pretty good.

Mike

On Mon, 18 Oct 2004 02:26:41 GMT, "Alex Chaihorsky" cast caution to the wind and posted:

Let me guess: Are beets her favorite vegetable?

It's a geographic reference to the county in Anhui where the tea originates. The characters are those for Six and Peace, but I'm not sure what an idiomatic translation into English would be.

/Lew

Corn.

I know the home of Luan Gua Pian is Luan,Annhui. I didn't think there was an aged puerh version. My notes for Liu An cake is from Guangxi.

Jim

The Liu An heicha (Puerh-like tea) isn't an aged version of Guapian as far as I know.

I seem to remember hearing that, but can't remember where. Do you have a source for that? Are you sure you aren't confusing it with Liu Bao, which *is* from Guangxi?

/Lew

I'm positive about Liu An Gua Pian and Luan, Annhui. The cake Guangxi note came from my "I didn't know that about tea" reference file. Things get put in there over the years as I come across them and attempt to verify at the time. I think Guangxi borders Yunnan but Annhui(?). I was curious about your statement for Liu An cake and Annhui. I'll agree the two aren't the same AFAIK but we're claiming the same place.

Jim

This is a crosspost from yahoo where Samarkand posted this talking to Mike Petro.

Sasha.

QUOTE =========================Hi Mike,

I beg to defer... :"P

I thin there's been a mixed up of Liu An and Liu Bao (in Cantonese: Look Poh). The tea you mentioned that comes from Guangxi province is Liu Bao, not Liu An. Liu An is produced in the city of Da Bie Shan in Anhui province, and is in reality, a green tea, more commonly known as Liu An Gua Pian. There are 2 methods of making Liu An (or Liu An Gua Pian - so called because the shape of the leaves resemble the melon seed). After a series of complicated steps making the green tea, the final step is the baking process. But as the tea is too delicate, it can only be baked not more than

3 seconds at each toss, most of the time this involves 2 workers carrying a tray of the leaves and walking up and down a row of 'bbq' pit to bake the tea. That's the green tea.

To make Liu An as a black tea, the green tea is steamed and packed immediately into a bamboo strewn basket and left aside in a clean warehouse for fermentation and ageing process. Since both Liu An and Liu Bao are commonly found packed in bamboo baskets, it is not a surprise many people will confuse the two, but in terms of medicinal properties attributed to black teas, they have different effects.

Liu Bao on the other hand is made from cultivar found in Guangxi, also of a large leaf variety. Liu Bao, like Pu'er can be made from 2 forms: half processed tea leaves (fermented leaves), and green dried leaves. Similarly like Pu'er, the green version requires a longer period of storage than the fermented variety. Like Pu'er too, Liu Bao can be seen compressed into cakes, though mostly smaller in size compared to the Pu'er cakes.

I wish I could better inform you on what type of cultivar the Liu Bao is made from, but as black tea is a recent discovered 'gem', many studies are currently concentrated on Pu'er as it is the main line of black tea, the rest are quietly waiting in queue. Hope the day we understand more about the various types of black teas in China will soon arrive!

A short record here about Liu An...

In chapter 41 of The Story of the Stone (aka The Dream of the Red Chamber), Grand dame Liu visited Miaoyu, a nun. Miaoyu made elaborate preparations for tea, and presented the grand dame with a pot of tea, which she immediately refused, declaring that, "I don't like Liu An!", Miaoyu smiled and replied, "I know that, this is Lao Jun Mei..."

In this short excerpt, grand dame Liu is from Nanjing, where tea from the Jiangsu region was common. Anhui was then part of the Jiangsu territory, and Liu An was a common tea, hence she rejects it, hinting that a woman of her status is above such common tea (you'll be surprised that many of the teas we think is exquisite was used a between course mouth-rinse in the novel!). Miaoyu read her character correctly and offered Lao Jun Mei, which is from Wuyi, and a tea that's considered more exquisite. Ok, that's some amusing but useless info...

:")

Danny

END OF QUOTE.===============================

Is there such a thing as a 'Tea Pulse"? Tea-disc just discussed the Liu An tea and RFDT has similar discussion as well.

I'm quite certain that Liu An comes from Anhui, and had a former life as Liu An Gua Pian. If you search for Liu An tea in China, you'll probably never find it in Guangxi, actuallu, I doubt if you can find it easily avilable in Anhui! Black tea is still very much a drink taken in by the southerners, typically in Guangdong and Hongkong, Taiwan and South East Asia. Black tea (especially Pu'er) is slowly gaining its foothold in Chinese tea, but it is still much regarded as a 'foreigner's beverage, made exotic because some outback tribes in Yunnan and Guangxi drink it' - hope this will change soon.

In the past, Liu An tea was called An Cha, and produced in Anhui's Dabeishan city. There were some records that said that it was made from Oolong tea, but the more reliable ones claimed it's made from Liu An Gua Pian, the method for making it is as detailed below.

As there are Pu'ers that are made in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, so it may be possible that Liu An could now be produced in Guangxi, but I doubt, the Liu An I've come across so far are made in Anhui.

samarkand:

I believe that here in the West it's called a Jungian synchronicitea.