Lushan Yunwu 庐山云雾 (Lushan cloud-fog)

[annebonnie]

Hello,
I am still a dilettante in tea brewing, so please excuse my savage approach to this fine tea. these are only my personal thoughts.

a Chinese friend brought me this specific tea from her family visit. I enjoy drinking it, it has a nice, gentle and soft taste.
since not long ago, I started loving to drink Kukicha for whatever reason. before that I drank lots of flower teas (mostly camomile and chrysanthemum tea). if in a fancy mood, I'd go and have some sencha or ginger tea.
so the lushan yunwu just serves my taste, it is a bit of everything I like.

the second and third brew came out best until now, sometimes I brew it up to five or six times. the tea has a yellowish colour, and often there are small tea leaf particles left on the ground.

the tea leafs are of a faded green colour, they are thick and juicy. their taste is luscious and slightly bitter in the end. I can see small darker spots of roasting on some of them.

my sense of taste is still coarse and untrained, but I hope to improve. I'm appreciating any comments

[miginaustria]

I also have bought Yunwu from a local teashop and find it an interesting tea. But it is not a tea that I have otherwise often found for sale, even on the internet.

James Norwood Pratt is very enthusiastic about Lushan Yunwu in his book, saying that the lack of sunlight makes it develop more slowly, increasing the amount of chlorophyll and leading to unusual flavors developing. He also cautions that almost none of this tea makes it out of China.

Does anyone know of any internet sources?

[woozl]

This is a great tea.
Reminding me of Jin Shan.
Very buttery, baby asparagus flavors.
Not a big help as they are sold out, but I can vouch for their teas.
Actually Mary-Lou indicated they were trying to aquire a 2nd shipment.
I'd enquire.....I still have a well sealed tin
http://www.teatrekker.com/store/tea/gre ... &+Mist.php

[Seeker]

I know of a place that carries/sells this tea, but I don't know if they are sold out currently or not; you'd have to check.
It is Teance in Berkeley, Ca. Website - just add .com.
They call it Lu Shan Clouds and Mist.
I absolutely love this tea!
It is hands down my favorite Chinese green.
Wooz! - you nailed it - buttery and perhaps baby asparagus flavors. Yum!
It is delicate to infuse - requires 140F and only 40sec - and add the tea to the water for the first infusion (don't rinse/"wake up" this tea). This tea becomes bitter and off if handled roughly in the brewing!
Cheers!

[Seeker]

Just checked and Teance.com has it in stock.
Oh, and, gaiwan, it's all about the gaiwan with this tea!

[Cha Nacho]

I actually just cracked open a sample of lu shan yun wu from holy mountain trading co. I think it was 5$ for an oz. It was very nice, I was impressed with the flavour and surprised with its richness. Anyway its another reliable option for ordering. Cheers

[annebonnie]

my way of drinking it was rinsing it (euh... what's wrong with that? i thought this was a way of treating delicate tea leafs, why is it too much of a strong treatment? is it uncommon for green teas or just for this one?) and pouring it from my gaiwan into the tea bowl, after 10-20sec (my indicator was the change of colour...).
i'm wondering, what do you mean by saying the gaiwan is important, seeker?

[Seeker]

Hi Annebonnie,
The not rinsing is just for Lu Shan (imVho) because I find it is a delicate tea, and it is very, very easy to oversteep this tea (though there may be others it is not recommended to rinse that I don't know of - I only know the teas I like and have experienced).
I say gaiwan (either glass or porcelain - not yixing or earthenware because too much heat is retained by the latter) because you have more control over the heat in how you manipulate the lid. Also in a gaiwan you have more overall control as you can watch the tea, the color of the developing infusion, how the leaves are developing as they unfirl/open/swell, and you can move the leaves as they infuse. All of these factors give you the best opportunities to create the perfect infusion of this tea for your tastes - especially with attentive experimentation and experience. BTW - I don't drink Lu Shan directly out of a gaiwan as it would continue to steep - but transfer the infusion to my chosen tea cup for the occasion.
Also, I would say each tea, and even each "vintage" of a specific tea responds best to its own parameters as far as temperature, length of infusion, etc - so I never go by just color alone - rather, I get to know this tea, this year of this tea that is in front of me and the set of parameters it likes in order to birth its finest infusion. And I match those parameters as I experience the tea through smell, taste, appearance, the temperature according to my touch on the gaiwan and tea cup - and it is the combination or gestalt of all these elements born through the evolving experience of each individual tea that shortly teaches me what this tea, in this moment needs to yield its most magical brew. When I'm finding my tea groove, this moment becomes my teacher, this tea in this moment becomes my teacher, and I do my best to be the humble student - tho I must admit, my impatience, my hurriedness, and my desire often get the best of me.