Additional Information
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Starting at $ 5.10
As we reached the bottom half of November, we expected that the winter tea season was over but the phone rang. Yuwen’s voice immediately shifted to a higher volume when replying. Spoken Taiwanese at high volume often appears to the listener as if people are arguing ferociously but the frequent courtesy words spoken implied that it was possibly Mr. Chen that was calling. You see, Mr. Chen is 96 years old and entitled to all the respect that elders are due but it now needs to be delivered at a higher volume due to his venerable age. Mr. Chen quickly diverted all our questions about his health as we could sense that he was excited to discuss his new winter production that he had just made. We were surprised that he had such a late crop as Wenshan winter teas were all picked and made in October. He explained that he pruned his bushes late this summer and it took a bit more time to get a decent picking table to crop. After receiving samples of the three consecutive productions made in the second week of Nov., we opted to take all three as they were that good! After sorting the tea at our facility and removing the many tiny tea tree nuts and stems, the finished tea shows an inviting lustrous green colour that livens-up when water is poured. The leaves are even and smallish and deliver a flowing buttery foundation on top of which fresh buttered green bean and pastoral flower aromas linger nicely. This is not a brash “in your face” Wenshan Bao Zhong tea boosted by chemical fertilizers like many producers are proposing now, and that is exactly what makes it such an appealing choice. Mr. Chen does not use synthetic fertilizers in his garden and his leaves deliver the elegance of a well-balanced tea, like it used to be the case in bygone days. With the help of a quick low-temp baking by Yuwen to re-dry the tea and stabilize its aromas, this tea is now available to all as one of our most authentic of this winter 2023’s catalogue. For the love of Bao Zhong tea but also for the love of Taiwan, and Mr. Chen, you must experience this tea.
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We all know tea is more than a bush, a leaf in a bag, and a beverage. It’s also a craft through which the maker’s story is infused. Sometimes, the story that’s being told in your cup is one that goes beyond the realm of the present moment. In very rare circumstances, it can reach out through time and give us a sense of the history behind a type of tea, a terroir, and, if you’re lucky, a country’s heritage. This is when it becomes a true multi-dimensional experience, and this is certainly the feeling we got from our first encounter with Mr. Chen’s Heritage Bao Zhong. Mr. Chen is now 96 years old. He was born under the Japanese occupation and was 18 when they left the island in 1945. At about the same time, he started working in tea in the hills not far from Pingling next to the family’s ancestral stone house where he still resides and continues, to this day, to practice his craft with the help of his son and daughter-in-law (not the other way around!). Apart from the few mobile phones laid on the furniture, stepping into his house is like visiting a living museum of rural life in Wenshan. Tasting his Bao Zhong tea offers the same experience which can also be reproduced in your own home! His Bao Zhong tea is slightly more oxidized, like it used to be, before today’s trend to greener teas. This imparts another layer of mineral complexity to the tea and a rounder texture. Still, the aroma of buttered green beans with distinctive floral overtones is definitely there. Furthermore, his sloped garden is now semi-wild as the bushes receive no chemical fertilizers or other chemicals since many years now. This is reflected in the cup: A limpid, clean liqueur arouses the senses to a vibrant yet soothing moment of delight. What also helps is that Mr. Chen’s teas are very clean when it comes to pesticide residues. His teas repeatedly receive a N. D. (non detected) report over 450 chemical compounds the teas are tested against. For the love of Bao Zhong tea but also for the love of Taiwan, and Mr. Chen, you must experience this tea.
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Rinckel Henri-Pierre (verified owner) –
Very nice tea. The scent of the first infusion takes you among hyacinths under flowering linden trees. The aromas on the palate match the freshness. The second infusion gives off the same fragrances but with the addition of a surprising and delicate citrus note. No doubt about it, you have to know this high mountain tea.
nmatanski95 (verified owner) –
This is the best green oolong I’ve tried. I’m a fan of more oxidised tea so I generally dislike greener oolongs, but this is something else. Absolutely beautiful fragrance with very subtle not bitter taste and oily texture. And the grassy notes are very unique and fresh instead of being vegetal and overpowering. Amazing!