I recently spoke with a Taiwanese tea merchant. Although hard to understand, he made several interesting comments. One is that you have to distinguish between the green, oolong, and black tea "process" and the green, oolong, and black tea "tree." Most Taiwanese tea, he told me, comes from the "green process" of an "oolong tree." I assume he means that their tea is relatively unoxidized and comes from a varietal of Camellia sinensis typically used to make oolong tea.
Does that make sense? Or is it more likely that he's referring to altitude or ecological factors?
Another question: he brews pu-erh in a large glass kettle, removing the leaves every three days but adding them more often, and boiling the concotion before each serving. Is this normal? Is it safe?
Tom