Chinese Tea 101

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by Zanaspus

Oolong. Where the Chinese are kings (ignore what folks say about Taiwan ). Again, lots of varieties, but three major groups. Anxi are lightly oxidised "ball" type oolongs. Dancong are lightly oxidised with some roast straight leaves. And Wuyi (the king in my book) Varying stages of oxidation but generally highly roasted.

Iron goddess of mercy or Ti Kuan Yin is the most famous Anxi.
Feng Huang Dancong for Dancongs
Big Red Robe or Da Hong Pao is the most famous (and a favorite of mine) Wuyi.

I've had some good semi fermented teas from mainland, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I don't find them better than tea from Taiwan. I like lightly roasted and fermented tea, so I gravitate to baozhong (pouchong) teas from northern taiwan. High mountain Alishan can be quite nice as well.

As you probably know, Tu Guan Yin is a different tea bush than most other teas, and I've found some chinese tea labeled TGY seems to be from the more common chinshing bush, based on taste. I've also had lightly roasted TGY from china which shocked me the first time I tried it. They call it jade TGY and it is quite different from what the taiwanese make in mucha. I've spoken with several tea shop owners in Taipei who say some people call tea TGY that is not made from that bush. Not a big fan of jinshing (xin juan), but I've had nice tea from cinnamon bush tea.

In any case, good tea is good tea and I've had good tea from mainland and Taiwan. I haven't found anything from mainland (and I've tried most of the ones you mention) that quite rings my bell, although I did have a monkey picked jade TGY from jing tea ship 2 years ago that was really nice and a TGY one of my Chinese students brought over for me was likewise quite nice, but the roasting is much less than I expect for a Taiwanese TGY.