SICHUAN TEAS

The only place I found real sichuan green tea was when I lived there or when I return there. The rest is riff-raff. Prices are pretty cheap, though, that's the good news. Gong Fu Black Tea from Sichuan? That hardly seems accurate...I didn't even see Gongfu Cha until I came to the South of China.

Mydnight replied:

Don't Chinese refer to shu Pu Erh as black, and fully fermented tea as red? And don't lots of people, all over China, gongfu pu erh, even shu?

Best,

Rick.

Dear Shen,

Do please let us all know if you find some more good "sichuan gongfu" hongcha out there. The best I've had was a very cheap one from Chengdu itself, which has since all been consumed, and I'm looking to resupply with something tasty. :)

Sichuan greens: have you found a good Internet-available Emeishan Zhuyeqing? Similarly, I'd love to know if so.

Kind regards, and toodlepip,

Hobbes

Not only that, but gongfu has more than one meaning. It doesn't only refer to a brewing method, it also gets used to refer to red tea itself, or at least, decent red tea. You sometimes see that transliterated as Congou. I suspect the vendor is using Gongfu in that sense, or maybe they're saying the tea is good enough ("Gong Fu

*Quality*") for multiple steeps.

/Lew

Mydnight, how do Sichuan people drink their tea? Gaiwan, teapot, or...?

It seems that, in many cases, it means, a superior tea that is good enough to be served to esteemed guests and, as you said, holds up. Shen

Hello Hobbes, In terms of the black tea, I can honestly say that I am very pleased with Teaspring's Sichuan Gong Fu Black (I wrote this in another couple of posts which seems to have been lost en route to the group). It is rich and dark, very malty with pronounced unsweetened chocolate overtones. (My thoughts very close to Teaspring's description) One of my favourites right now! They even suggest serving it with milk which apparently enhances the cocoa flavours. They imply it is similar to a blend of Keemun and Yunnan Golden tips and refer to it as a "very fine Hao Ya". I did find an Emi Shan green from Sichuan at Golden Teahouse and I ordered some. I will let you know my (very subjective) opinion when it arrives. Here's the link:

You may be able to find similar in your neck of the woods searching for "Green Bamboo Leaf". Regards, Shen

About 90 percent of Sichuan people put their pretty green tea in tall glasses and drink it that way. Not much of a brewing method per say, but they do fill the cup halfway to let the tea steep a bit before filling the rest of the glass. Some people use a metal pot or one of those restaurant-style pots but those are few and far between. Like I said, I never heard of Gongfu tea in Sichuan and I lived there for about 8 months.

I also haven't heard Gongfu and red tea in the same sentence before. The Chinese refer to red tea as red tea and black tea as black tea. I still get confused about the English terminology for Chinese tea most of the time though, so forgive me.

Zhu Ye Qing isn't everyone's cup of tea to be honest. Unless you get a better grade of it, it really can come out rather grassy and astrigent. The higher grades and the "qie she" grade of the tea can be wonderful.

Are you sure you don't mean Que She (sparrow's tongue)?

/Lew

Sorry, I left out an "I"? ..

But anyway, that green is really nice. I especially like the "green bean" flavor...lu dou. It's just a really clean, sweet, and crisp green tea.

Are you visiting Sichuan anytime soon? :)

Yep, in about 2 weeks. Unfortunately most of the spring tea has probably been consumed by now, though. Summer tea is pretty low in quality but still a nice stock tea to have for consumption.

Upton has a Sichuan Zao Bei Jian listed in their Chinese black tea section under "Other Congou". I haven't had any for probably a year and a half, but enjoyed it very much the several times I purchased it. I remember it being similar to how you described the tea from Teaspring.

Blues