YiXing Government Will Resume Purple Clay Mining Soon

YiXing is famous for its Zi Sha (Purple Clay) wares. To protect limited Purple Clay resource, YiXing government banned Purple Clay mining in 2005. Although many real Purple Clay wares on the market now are made from Purple Clay mined prior to the ban, many cheap Purple Clay products are made from faked clays.

YiXing government announced recently that it will lift the mining ban by end of this month. This no doubt is a good news to Purple Clay collectors. According to recent news, actual mining location and quantity will be decided after necessary assessment.

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2010 Spring Tea Update

2010 is no doubt a challenging year for Chinese spring tea production. By estimate, spring tea production in Yunnan will experience 50% reduction due to the extreme draught condition. Recent news reported that 90% tea plantations in Yunnan are impacted by the draught. And the cold weather had delayed West Lake Long Jing harvest to late March, and production level is expected to be down. Bi Luo Chun harvest was also delayed by the cold weather. Down south, the cold weather also cost FuJian tea industry dearly. FuJian is the production region of black tea, white tea, and oolong tea. The cold weather not only caused delay of spring tea harvest, also impacted quality.

We will post updates as new teas become available.

Linda

www.teahub.com

Making Hong Pao Black Tea

How does the idea of mixing up Da Hong Pao with Yunnan Black sound? I came across this idea few weeks ago, and the blended tea turn out to be a blessing.

I mixed up our Heavily Roasted Da Hong Pao with Yunnan Black at 2:1 ratio, quickly rinsed the leaves then let them brew for 45 seconds. At first sipping, the familiar aroma of heavily roasted Da Hong Pao was prominent - toasty with osmanthus aroma dancing at back of the throat. The taste was soft, mellow, and sweet. The heavy rock mouth feeling of Da Hong Pao was balanced out by the softness and smoothness of Yunnna Black. What a pleasant surprise!

Linda

www.teahub.com

West Lake Tea Farmers Grow Back Long Jing Varietal Trees

According to recent news from West Lake, local farmers started to grow back Long Jing Varietal trees last year. Long Jing Varietal is traditional Long Jing tea tree. Long Jing #43 tea tree was introduced in 1970s, and gained popularity among tea farmers due to its early harvest time, which in turn translate into higher profit. There was a period that many West Lake tea farmers cut down their Long Jing Varietal trees to grow Long Jing #43.

Although Long Jing made from Long Jing Varietal and Long Jing #43 share many common characters, they also have some differences. Many long time Long Jing drinkers prefer the taste of Long Jing Varietal.

It is estimated that about 90% of Long Jing trees in West Lake area will be Long Jing Varietal by end of this year. Although Long Jing #43 may start harvest in early March, Long Jing Varietal harvest normally starts around late March. This dramatically cut short Pre-Ming production period. People are anticipating a price increase of this year's Long Jing production.

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Emerald Green Tea – a new star from GuiZhou

Although little known outside China, GuiZhou has long been the home of many famous Chinese teas such as DuYun Mao Jiao, GuiDing Yun Wu (Mist and Cloud). GuiZhou is the only low altitude, high elevation, low sunshine tea region in China. These unique geographic and weather conditions make it one of the best tea grown regions in China.

Emerald Green Tea was first introduced in 2001. Although it only has less than 10 year’s history, it has received many national awards. Mr. ZongMao Chen, the editor-in-chief of the famous Tea Bible, said that in 2001 “The Emerald Green Tea that I had in the past few days tasted strong after 7 infusions. Based on mine many years’ experience tasting teas, quality of GuiZhou tea has far passed that of many other teas, including famous teas such as West Lake Long Jing”.

Emerald Green Tea was made of one bud and two to three leaves from high zinc and selenium tea gardens in GuiZhou. This rare zinc and selenium gives additional medical benefits to this tea. Emerald Green Tea is high in tea polyphenols and amino acid and low in caffeine. Therefore, it has rich mellow taste without unpleasant bitterness.

We will be visiting the producer this summer. More to come!

Tea Lovers at TeaHub
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Zi Sha Tea Pet

If you do a tea tasting at your local tea shop, you may notice your host pouring teas over little Zi Sha displays while he/she serving you teas. Those little Zi Sha displays are called Tea Pet. Funny, right? Like the name suggests, tea pets are for you to take care of by pouring teas over them. Tea pets can be of many different shapes, some are like animals, some are like fruits, even Buddha.

Because tea pets are made from Zi Sha, they will change colors and absorb tea aromas and oils over time after being raised by teas. People collect aged tea pets. A good Zi Sha tea pet’s price can be more than doubled after being raised for two years. Not a bad investment if you enjoying sharing your teas with your tea pet!

Check out our tea pet selections at our online store!


Linda
www.teahub.com

Taiwan Oolong – the Names and Types

I was at a Taiwan Oolong tasting last week. The host was very kind and showed us quite a few Oolong from Taiwan. “Four Season”, “Jin Xuan”, “Alishan”, she called out the tea names while pour the teas. Not before long, I could tell people started to get confused. “What was the one we just tasted again?” So how many names/types Taiwan Oolong has?

People familiar with Taiwan Oolong are familiar with names such as Bao Zhong (Pou Chong) and Dong Ding/High Mountain. Those are names based on different levels of fermentation. Bao Zhong is 7.5% to 19% fermented, the lightest among all Taiwan Oolong. Dong Ding/High Mountain is 20% to 30% fermented. Oriental Beauty is 50% to 60% fermented, the heaviest among all Taiwan Oolong.

Names such as Four Season and Jin Xuan, on the other hand, are based on different varietals. Qing Xin Oolong was originally imported from mainland China. It is a good raw material for making Bao Zhong and Dong Ding. Jin Xuan (also known as Tai Cha #12) and Cui Yu (also known as Tai Cha #13) are new varietals developed in Taiwan in the 80s. Four Season got its name because it can be harvested in all seasons.

DaYuLing, Li Shan, Shan Lin Xi, and Alishan are four high mountain tea production regions in Taiwan. DaYuLing, located 2,300 to 2,600 meter above sea level, it is the highest among the four. Followed by Li Shan, which is 2,200 to 2,400 meter above sea level. Shan Lin Xi is at 1,100 to 1,800 meter above sea level, and Alishan is at over 1,000 meter above sea level. High mountain Oolong from DaYuLing is considered the best.

What are you drinking now?

Linda
www.teahub.com