Putuo Organic Green and Imperial Green 2006 ?

"Imperial" is just a word ITC uses to mark some of their teas as high grade. It doesn't help you find the "real", i.e. Chinese, names of these teas.

/Lew

I had tried an ounce of it too in years past. It was, as you suggest, delightfully smooth and nuanced; and the leaves are especially beautiful and well formed, delicate, and uniform. For the price, don't you think Roy Fong owes us a bit more explanation about what we're drinking?

Never tried it, but sounds as though I ought to.

I know that one too. If I understand your word "woodsiness" corectly, this tea should not be woodsy, in my opinion. It should be sweet, honeyed, winey, rich, but not woodsy. Woodsy is a quality I associate with the cheaper offerings, not the imperial. And what do you mean by the color having betrayed its woodsiness?

No, not me; but, Roy will give you more information if you telephone or e-mail him directly. That's more or less the way they operate. If and when you find out, please share. Thanks.

Michael

This is the answer I just received from Mr. Fong. I am annoyed at his response and am debating whether to tell him so. Geez, the tea costs a small fortune. Good, yes. Wonderful, maybe. But, what's the big deal about telling me where it came from or what it is???? Here's his response: (Jeanna,BTW, is my first name) "Dear Jeanna,

Thank you aga> Michael,

This is complete shenanigans. I would never support this vendor, and will never. Someone else (or maybe Shen) mentioned the snow dragon water tips (or whatever they call it) a while back and I found it also to be a lame tactic.

Here are some guesses of Chinese greens it could be (based on nothing more than the photo and the description which are not a whole lot to go on):

Lu Shan Yun Wu

Wu Li Qing Tai Ping Hou Kui Kai Hua Long Ding Cha Wang Huang Shan Mao Feng

Even if these are not _the_ tea, they are all very highly prized Chinese greens that are much more reasonably priced, and I'm sure as good. My main guess off the top of my head was Lu Shan Yun Wu.

There are a lot of unsavory characters who sell a few green teas as other more expensive ones and these tend to be the ones with "mysterious" origins and "ultra-limited productions" Most of the tea's I mentioned can be viewed and read about on Teaspring.com's website as they have a good selection of Chinese greens. If you have a second, check them out and let me know if any are similar looking/sounding. It will give me more to go on and I should be able to narrow it down further or get on a new track. So far all I have is that it is a leaf consisting of two leaves and a bud, and has a sweet taste with a slightly heavy/thick mouth-feel...

I have found that almost every expensive green tea I have enjoyed can be found for much less or very close aproximations at fractions of the cost. Since green tea is so simple (comparatively) it is very rare to not be able to find it or something really close.

I'm more of a Japanese green tea fan than Chinese, but I'll help any way I can.

Good Luck!

- Dominic

Says it all, eh? Fatuous Mountain.

"Many paths lead up the Fatuous Mountain: some smooth, some rough, and all silly." -Tofu Roshi (attrib.)

There may be lot of reasons a vendor can't tell you more about their teas. I suspect in this case it is an exclusive arrangement with the supplier. The vendor gave it his own name in lieu of a tradename. Pedigrees are nice but in the end taste matters the most. My guess ji pin wang guan yin which means equisite king guan yin.

Jim

Shen wrote:

Actually, it sounds to me like it could be "Fo Shou" which means Buddha's hand. I asked a few people and there is not tea that translates to anything close to "Imperial", btw. But, Fo Shou is a Wulong and not a green tea.

It seems that Putao Mountain is in the Zhejiang province. There are several variations of greens there that are sold there under a varying of names. If the leaf sorta looks like Longjing, it could be a tea called "wu niu cha" that is produced there. Could you provide pics of the tea?

Well, he's telling you he won't tell you. That sucks. Admittedly I haven't bought anything from ITC for a year or two now. Except for the physical leaf of his green teas, I can do better in quality and price elsewhere. I've tried his most expensive greens and, although I like them, I see no reason to play with him, especially in light of the results of your communication effort. Thanks for trying anyway, and for sharing.

The reviews of his brick and mortar tea drinking places are quite mixed; apparently staff is often ignorant of the teas they sell. Best to drink tea at the Best Tea House or at Sun Sing Tea House. (Hey, wait, can't; they're in Hong Kong. Oh, well. Michael

Jim, that does not prevent ITC from at least saying it comes from such and such a mountain area in such and such a province from such and such a leaf variety. That would not compromise Roy's exclusive arrangement. I suspect that this tea is probably common and cheap where it comes from, and also common and cheap in other parts of town. Hype. Michael

Agreed, but I *never* see the need to hide or obfuscate the origin of your tea. Some of the best tea shops I have ever visited are more than happy to give you this type of information freely... why shouldn't they? If anything it is bragging rights, "This tea is so-and-so from whatsit-mountain and they only produced 10 pounds of it this year and I have 6 of them so $400/lb. is quite a bargain." But in my experience it is more often "I bought this little known outside of China/Japan tea for $100/lb. and it is very good and unique so I will sell it for $400/lb. and claim it is very rare and of mystical origins."

No serious tea drinker would buy an expensive tea with undisclosed origins and only one third-party source. If anything it robs you the opportunity to learn about the tea fully and appreciate it properly, it also leaves you high and dry if they stop carrying it or go out of business.

This Roy is welcome to run his business any way he sees fit, it just doesn't sit well with me. Jim, if you see this, please give me some more info or at least a link about that tea you mentioned as it is unknown to me and I'm always trying to find new Chinese greens.

- Dominic

I respectfully beg to differ, Dominic. In China, according to several of my Chinese friends here, there is far less emphasis on pedigree and far more on taste. If it tastes great, it's worth the money; if not, it's worthless. A lot of the insistence on information about the tea is a western thing. Or so I'm led to believe. Michael

Putuo Mountain is on an island near the mouth of the Yangtze, I think.

Are you sure this isn't wu niu *zao* cha?

/Lew

I think Mr. Fong is saying that he did the work of finding the tea he calls Imperial Green, and he wants to monetize his work by keeping the information secret. I have a lot of sympathy for the idea that "information wants to be free" - I've written free software myself - but those of us who learn enough about tea, as Michael implies, have alternatives. By the way, I don't think I can name a well-known North American vendor selling Chinese teas that publishes all of its sources.

/Lew

Yep, left out one bit. Wu Niu Zao Cha is quite nice. The more your brew it, the sweeter it gets. You ever try it?

Most tea shoppes will sell a mysterious it's expensive, you can only buy it here for tea snobs who couldn't care less about the pedigree. On the other hand I buy plenty of inexpensive penny/gram teas from India,Ceylon,China from unknown plantations. The problem isn't what the seller isn't telling you but telling you it is tradename X when it is Y. My local tea shoppe sells something called Imperial Gold Oolong and the Supreme version. Initially the owner only knew it by those names but some research showed it is tradenames for expensive and more expensive green TGY. The owner makes his own secret breakfast,afternoon blends since he is English. They are a little more expensive than his normal stock. In this case I think it would be possible to zero in on the type with a sample but I leave that to others with money to spend. If pedigree is important do your homework first before you buy. I like qualifier names for TGY such as Huang and Jin which helps differentiate.

Jim

Dom> > Jim, that does not prevent ITC from at least saying it comes from such and

Well, my primary point is that even the American vendors to whom you allude usually provide the location whence the tea comes and whatever information they have about its variety. This does not reveal source. It is minimal. I still smell a rat, or at the least a big gross insect. Michael

No. So many teas, so little time...

/Lew

I think we may mean two different things and not on the same page. I'm not fussy about knowing a full pedegree and I would think many are not... I meant more along the lines of just knowing some basics: Area it is grown and basic info like that.

I'd like to know the region my tea is from with more exactness than just "China" it helps me understand a bit more about the tea personally, the climate, the people, etc. I place ALL of my emphasis on taste, to me that is all that matters. That is why I often find less expensive alternatives that taste just as good.

My main thing still is that I could never see buying some super-expensive tea that comes with no information at all and is available from only one vendor. That is my main point of contention still. I'm all for custom shop blends and house teas that come with no real extra info, but these are generally low priced teas, not $400/lb. like this "Imperial" tea. That is not on the up and up in my book.

- Dominic