1. Home
  2. Tea Connoisseur's Forum
  3. Ren Cen Wulong

Ren Cen Wulong

Tonight I purchased some Ren Cen Wulong (ginseng wulong) from a shop near my flat that specialized in some teas from Taiwan. Not as many people drink this sort of tea because of it's sweet flavor, so I didn't know as much about it until tonight; I bought some lower grade before. I thought this tea was just a novelty and didn't know there was much depth here.

It's graded in about 3 or 4 cateories: A, AA, AAA, and no grade; AAA being the best. The AAA might be nearly impossible to find now because there aren't enough high quality tea trees to produce such good leaves. I learned the other day from an expert that has experience in planting tea trees himself that 3-4 year old trees (young trees) are the best when it comes to Taiwan teas (Gao Shan...high mountain) and Tie Guan Yin. The expert is from Taiwan/Fujian and has been in the business for

15 or more years.

The tea itself had a floral odor with a strong, sweet aftertaste. It has a very pronounced ko gan (residual flavor in the mouth) and it makes your throat feel sweet. The boss assured to me that it was AA, and had some certificates to back it up. All-in-all a good experience.

I recommend you pick up some if you have the chance; I think it would be a good beginners tea for your non tea drinking friends because it's fairly easy to appreciate. Also, if you are a teacher like me, it can make your throat feel better after a long day of lecturing!

Reply to
Mydnight
Loading thread data ...

Mydnight, thanks for the first-hand information, it's wonderful Could you please tell me what the difference is between hui gan, and ko gan that you mention in this post? I've been keeping track of my Chinese tea terms you see...

Melinda

Reply to
Melinda

Surely. I'll try to explain to the best of my understanding.

'Kou' means mouth. 'Hui' means after you drink something or you eat something, you can still taste the flavor. 'Gan' means the flavor between sweet and bitter.

'Kou gan' means that you can still feel the gan flavor in your mouth while 'hui gan' means you can feel the residual flavor (sweetness/bitterness) in your throat. You are mainly looking for hui gan when you drink tie guan yin or the Taiwan teas, and you usually have to pay a high price to experience real hui gan. A boss friend of ours let us try some Tie Guan Yin that probably retails for

1500-2000RMB for 500g and you can really feel the gan.
Reply to
Mydnight

Excuse-me for the idiot question. But the tea you are talking about is a "ginseng flavored tea" or a variety of wulong called "ren cen" ?

Kuri

Reply to
kuri

I believe that Mydnight meant "ginseng flavored tea" They use ginseng powder to add flavor to Wulong tea leaves. I don't really like flavored tea because top quality tea leaves would not be used to make flavored tea. .

Reply to
LLW

It's not just flavored like an additive. They take the ginseng in powered form and coat the outside of the wulong leaf in a special way. It is actually a variety of wulong called 'ren cen' wulong and is sold in Taiwan tea shops.

Reply to
Mydnight

TenRen has a series called King's Tea

formatting link
that uses Wisconsin ginseng and the best Taiwan oolong to create the desired accentuated oolong aftertaste. It isn't cheap. I've never tried any because I'm allergic to ginseng hot or cool.

Jim

Mydnight wrote:

Reply to
Space Cowboy

TenRen is the devil. They sell low quality tea as 'king's tea' for huge prices. Here on mainland China and back on the continent I've been to a few of their shops, and I've come to this same conclusion. I just recommend staying away from them totally.

Reply to
Mydnight

And, they do high quality wulong leaves to make some of the better ren cen wulong. They cannot make the AAA quality anymore because there is a lack of the higher quality trees to produce such high quality leaves.

Reply to
Mydnight

Well, for me it's still carrot tea. I like the Korean ginseng when it's stuffed in the chicken, but I don't want any in my wulong, especially in a good Taiwan tea.

There are department store corners and shop that have hundreds of variety. Maybe when I become old, I'll feel the need. They say you have to start at

40, no ? You're in advance. Well, if you like the taste, enjoy it !

Kuri

Reply to
kuri

Some of the highest quality ren cen can price out at like 1000RMB per half kilo, so I would guess it's not some novelty tea or parlor trick.

Reply to
Mydnight

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.