The longest tea leaf
Space Cowboy
twisted leaf almost like a twig ergo Zhi or Sprig. If you were
measuring this tea for brewing you could use a pharmaceutical tray and
count. The infused leaf is green, the taste astringent but a constant
through several infusions. The leaf slowly gives up its geometry and
taste. I would easily drink this tea in lieu of eating greens at a
bbq. Generally I can pigeon hole most Chinese greens. This one I
cant. I'll go back to the Chinese tea shoppe and get some more Dan
Congs to see if they are in a class by themselves. I've never drank
anything before that simply says I Am Tea.
Jim
PS I remember the store had Dan Congs to one side, and the Rock teas
to another.
Mydnight
Dan Chongs are Wulong teas from the Chaoshan area in Guangdong. If
you are looking for seriously long leaves, you should try to check out
those long, twisted Kuding tea leaves from Hainan. What you describe
is closer to that style of tea anyway.
Lewis Perin
Well, yes, but Kuding isn't tea: it's a member of the holly family.
It isn't unusual to see Pu'er leaves longer than 1-1/2 inches, though;
the name of the cultivar used for Pu'er, in fact, means "big leaf".
/Lew
---
Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
Space Cowboy
have to brew a whole tuo or beeng in a barrel which I will call the
SquarePeg method :-) to see the leaf size. Im also dont sweat
anything. I have some sheets of wild puer pressed by some tribe on
the forest floor (supposedly) which conveniently peels but I've never
noticed large intact whole leaf which could be the grain problem. I
have some other wild puer beeng but in practice the whole leaf wont
make it to the pot. I think puer is a mangling process.
Jim
PS Okay make me get out a ruler and measure the longest leaf I could
pick from the top of the bag, 2.5 inches.
Lewis Perin wrote:
> Mydnight <mys...@hotmail.com> writes:
>
> > On Aug 27, 9:37?pm, Space Cowboy <netst...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > > Dan Cong Huang Zhi about an inch and half long.
...woo...
> >
> > Dan Chongs are Wulong teas from the Chaoshan area in Guangdong.
...ssh...
Space Cowboy
but this tea is classified as a oolong but taste more like my Yellow
teas, ie I fell off the bush, dried out in the shade while twisting
myself into a popsickle, put myself in a bag. I cant see or taste any
oxidation. Thats the reason I want to get some more Xiangs to
compare.
Jim
PS I have a Dan Cong Feng Huang of smaller 1.5 inch length but
definitely oxidized.
Mydnight wrote:
> On Aug 27, 9:37?pm, Space Cowboy <netst...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> > Dan Cong Huang Zhi about an inch and half long. It is very stout
> > twisted leaf almost like a twig ergo Zhi or Sprig.
...up in smoke...
Lewis Perin
> What are you brewing with puer pieces longer than say 2 inches?
Most recently it was a bingcha a friend of mine got from Silk Road
Teas several years ago: a loosely compressed bingcha of much bigger
than normal size, wrapped in a bamboo basket, with very long stems and
the occasional tea fruit mixed in.
Michael Plant
>> What are you brewing with puer pieces longer than say 2 inches?
> Most recently it was a bingcha a friend of mine got from Silk Road Teas
> several years ago: a loosely compressed bingcha of much bigger than normal
> size, wrapped in a bamboo basket, with very long stems and the occasional
> tea fruit mixed in.
> /Lew --- Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
In addition, an unscathed Hou Kui (sp? - sorry) -- that is, "Monkey Leader" -- will give you some real long leaves. Unfortunately, so many vendors mail it in a broken condition, which ruins the presentation for sure, and perhaps the flavor as well.
Michael
Nigel
> It isn't unusual to see Pu'er leaves longer than 1-1/2 inches, though;
> the name of the cultivar used for Pu'er, in fact, means "big leaf".
>
Not out of a packet I admit, but the largest whole "big leaf" I found
on a bush long ago in Yunnan (and now framed on my office wall) is
27.5 cm long (10.63 inches) excluding stem. The longest Assam leaf I
have is 21.7 cm (8.54 inches) long.
Nigel at Teacraft
Space Cowboy
However Id have to break off a huge piece to see any leaf intact. The
display cake in the store had a whole unfolded leaf on top of the
cake. It probably took up 50% of the face. Mine didnt have a leaf
layed out as such. Im glad I just bought the Rou Gui sampler instead
of the expensive 50g pouch. It taste like my inexpensive generic
Fujian Wuyi.
Jim
PS The Feds at AIG called me and said they can no longer insure my
2001 Puer. They suspected it was some kind of derivative.