Tie Guan Yin is a type of Oolong tea

When one of my friends told me “I like Tie Guan Yin and Oolong tea”, I knew that he was one of those confused by many tea names floating around. I quickly explained to him that Tie Guan Yin was in deed a type of Oolong tea.

Based production region, Oolong can be devided into four categories:

Oolong from South FuJian. The most famous one is AnXi Tie Guan Yin. One thing that needs to be pointed out is that while Tie Guan Yin means oolong teas made of leaves from Tie Guan Yin tree in AnXi, Tie Guan Yin only means oolong teas processed with the Tie Guan Yin technique in Taiwan.

Oolong from North of FuJian. The most famous one is WuYi rock tea. Da Hong Pao, Xiao Hong Pao, Rou Gui are all WuYi rock teas.

Oolong from Guang Dong. The most famous one is Feng Huang Dan Cong. Feng Huang Shui Xian is a popular tea among Cantonese tea drinkers.

Oolong from Taiwan. Oriental Beauty, Dong Ding Oolong are all famous examples of Taiwan Oolong.

More talks regarding Oolong tea can be found at our Oolong Talk .

Linda
http://www.teahub.com/

Experts proved from genetic toxicity test that Pu-erh was fairly safe to drink

Recent news from the First Yunnan Pu-erh Tea International Forum reported a genetic toxicity test conducted by Professor Qingjin Liu of Tea Research Institute at Southwest Agriculture University. Professor Liu and his colleagues analyzed 1 year, 5 year and 10 year Pu-erh samples from representative tea factories, and concluded that Pu-erh made by regular tea factories was fairly safe to drink. Professor Liu and team analyzed three Pu-erh samples and one baked green tea sample, and none of them showed mutagenicity to prokaryotic cell, eukaryotic cell, and reproduction cell.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
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Majority of Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun are from Si Chuan

Recent news from ChengDu Business Paper said that 80% Long Jing (from Zhe Jiang), Bi Luo Chun (from Jiang Su) on the market are actually from Si Chuan. According to the news, unethical business people purchase Si Chuan teas at low prices and sell them as Long Jing or Bi Luo Chun at 3 to 4 times the paid prices.

An expert told the reporter that appearance of real Long Jing and Si Chuan tea, Zhu Ye Qing, are quite similar. It is very hard for regular people to tell the differences. Experts from Tea Research Institute also said that Long Jing demanded high prices while its production was low. Therefore, some business people produce Si Chuan Long Jing to make high profits.

For real tastes of authentic Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun, check out our selections. More talks and videos regarding Long Jing and Bi Luo Chun can be found at our Green Tea Talk .

More from our blog: Reading Long Jing Tea Leaves - learn to identify faked Long Jing.

Tea Lovers at TeaHub
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How to brew green tea?

Chinese people have developed many different green tea brewing methods. Based on leave adding timing, the methods can be divided into three categories: upper adding, middle adding and bottom adding.

Upper Adding: Pour hot water into a teaware to full first, and then add tea leaves. This method is suitable for teas like Bi Luo Chun. See our special brewing method for Bi Luo Chun.

Middle Adding: Pour hot water into a teaware to 1/3 full, add tea leaves and brew for awhile, and then fill up the teaware. This method is suitable for teas like Huang Shan Mao Feng.

Bottom Adding: Add tea leaves to a teaware first, and then pour hot water into the teaware. For best results, you may add high temperature hot water to ¼ to 1/3 full, let the tea leaves brew for awhile, and then add lower temperature hot water to ¾ or full. This is a very common brewing method and can be used for all green teas. Teas like Long Jing are recommended to be brewed with this method.

Glass, tea cup, teapot can all be used to brew green tea. For high quality teas, glass is better as it allows you to observe the nice leave presentations. As many people know, green tea should be brewed with water with comparatively lower temperature.

Please check out brewing instructions we developed for each individual of our green teas on our site at www.teahub.com/greentea.htm.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
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