by Jedi » Apr 26th, '09, 03:34
Greetings!
I was fortunate to drink some 30 years plus liu bao yesterday at an esteemed teapot collector's home cum shop. While oggling a few nice pieces by Gu Zhing Zhou's pupils, I was treated to a powerful gong-fu style brewing of this venerable tea. It was shown in loose form, on a piece of white paper, which also served as a funnel to direct the tea into the appropriate pot.
The tea resembled loose Pu Erh from afar, with a good ratio of leaf to stem, promising a full bodied brew. As is the preference of the senior members of the tea drinking population here (a status I am far from attaining), almost half the teapot was filled with leaves. The resulting brews (no rinsing) were dark, ominous, with a light yellow/green halo around the liquid. Aromas were varied, starting with a light caramel laced with herbs to a deep oaky bordeaux style perfume. In the mouth, each cup was consistently strong, providing plenty of interest with absolutely no sign of astringency. The flavours were of a deep woody nature, without the earthiness of Pu-Erh. In terms of Qi, the tea alerted the senses and inspired circulation without overtly exciting one. It was a hot day, but the tea did not make one uncomfortable.
Liu Bao / Liu An has a long history in Malaysia, having been brought by our tin-mining ancestors from China, to cure the body of dampness and to ward off evil spirits. Liu Bao would be brewed in large clay kettles and then poured into urns, kept warm on a low fire, to be drunk from a ladle hanging nearby. Over here, there isn't much to distinguish whether one calls the tea Liu Bao or Liu An, and I've never bothered to ask about the tea's provenance, knowing full well that most of what we're drinking these days comes from old stored stock. It's a much maligned 'utility' tea that is now making a renaissance as a 'fine tea' in the wake of the burst Pu Erh bubble. Most notably, back in October '08, an entire basket of 40 years old Liu Bao fetched the handsome sum of USD70,000.00, divided among four elderly gentlemen who pooled their resources to secure their retirement brews.
It's totally shot up to my shortlist of favorite teas.