Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

[kingslam]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by kingslam » Nov 6th, '12, 02:04

There are two kinds of Liu An.
One kind is wrapped and aged from green leaf.
However, SunYiShun Liu An is not prepared this way.
SunYiShun Liu An is fermented before wrapping and storage, so it often tastes old then its actual age.

[ImmortaliTEA]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by ImmortaliTEA » Nov 6th, '12, 05:25

I was of the opinion that SunyiShun produced both versions of the Liu An baskets and if I'm correct, in this article in Art of Tea Magazine they opened and tasted a 1940's version of SunYiShun Liu An. Why would they make such a big deal about it if it was the fermented variety as you say SunYiShun only produces? Here's the link:
http://www.the-art-of-tea.com/publicati ... ation.html

ImmortaliTEA-

[gasninja]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by gasninja » Nov 6th, '12, 10:57

There are two kinds of Liu An.
One kind is wrapped and aged from green leaf.
However, SunYiShun Liu An is not prepared this way.
SunYiShun Liu An is fermented before wrapping and storage, so it often tastes old then its actual age.

While it is true that NOW there are two types of lui an produced. I believe before it was stopped being produced in the 50's there was only green lui an but I could be wrong on that. I am also fairly certain Sun Yi Shun now produces green lui an .

[kingslam]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by kingslam » Nov 8th, '12, 02:29

I was of the opinion that SunyiShun produced both versions of the Liu An baskets and if I'm correct, in this article in Art of Tea Magazine they opened and tasted a 1940's version of SunYiShun Liu An. Why would they make such a big deal about it if it was the fermented variety as you say SunYiShun only produces? Here's the link:
http://www.the-art-of-tea.com/publicati ... ation.html

ImmortaliTEA-

I got my information off the Chinese websites, but it could be wrong.

[wyardley]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by wyardley » Nov 8th, '12, 02:59

I was of the opinion that SunyiShun produced both versions of the Liu An baskets and if I'm correct, in this article in Art of Tea Magazine they opened and tasted a 1940's version of SunYiShun Liu An. Why would they make such a big deal about it if it was the fermented variety as you say SunYiShun only produces? Here's the link:
http://www.the-art-of-tea.com/publicati ... ation.html

I got my information off the Chinese websites, but it could be wrong.

I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I don't think the operation(s) producing Sunyishun since the 80s or 90s is the same outfit that existed before the gap in production. As I understand it, tea produced under that name now is just trading on a famous name from the past.

But the ticket style and name are definitely copied from a tea that was produced before 1943.

Unfortunately, there's no full version online, but some of the other articles in that issue of AoT are worth a read, especially this one:

http://www.the-art-of-tea.com/publicati ... n-tea.html

Basically, according to the author of that article, because the gap in production was so long, even people in that area may not know exactly how the tea was produced -- in other words, a lot of knowledge was lost somewhere along the way, and also, while there is obviously a "right" answer, it may not be clearly agreed on.

I summarized a little bit of the information from that issue in these two threads, in case it's any help, though I don't have a clear answer on how the old liu'an is produced (I've always been under the impression it was essentially raw tea, but I don't have anything to back that up):
viewtopic.php?p=215995#p215995
http://teadrunk.org/topic/256/liuan-and ... roduction/

[futurebird]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by futurebird » Mar 26th, '13, 12:42

Liu'an is fast becoming one of my favorite teas. I love the flavor and it does good things for me. It's categorized as an 'old man's tea' here in HK, but I love the stuff! Also since it's less popular, well aged loose liu'an is also very reasonably priced. I could very realistically drink this stuff all day every day.

I got some of the 'fragrant' variety from a dealer near me too. The little flowers really pack a lot of aroma (overpowering early on), but the tea itself is very, very nice, especially in later infusions. Great hui tian and a very pleasant light date flavor, and I can get around 15 good infusions from it.

Wow. I like it too. It has a medicinal taste, but in a good way. I find it's good in the winter. Like cold medicine.

[jayinhk]

Re: Liu An/Liu Bao Cha

by jayinhk » Mar 27th, '13, 00:47

I hear it's good with dried mandarin peel; I personally prefer to drink it straight. It's very calming and settles my stomach like a good shu.