I had never heard of Liu Bao tea until I found it on the PuerhShop.com website… and since this is my first Liu Bao I don’t know if it is good or bad compared to other ones.
I found this little article on Red Circle tea about how Liu Bao is made incase you’re interested: http://www.redcircletea.com/blog/?p=183
Anyway, onto the tea, this comes in a paper bag, excellent, no plastic always a bonus! I guess this tea is good when it’s aged as well, which means it’s probably better to store it in paper so it has a chance to breathe. The dry leaf does look a bit like a loose leaf pu-erh and I did pick up on some camphor notes just from smelling this in the bag.
I am steeping this gong fu style and I am really just loving it! There’s a slight hint of camphor here and the tea has some interesting notes similar to pu-erh, like woodsy and earthy but is much lighter, with excellent sweetness and a round mouthfeel. A bit of fruitiness is lingering there in the background. And I wish I wasn’t still a bit congested because I’m sure there are some things present here which I can’t even pick up on yet.
I will definitely be re-ordering this, very nice!
I just adore a good liu bao. the one I posted about from Camellia Sinensis was particularly lovely, very clean… I have some more on the way at the moment, a raw version. From what I understand Liu Bao has both cooked and raw versions like pu’er. I will be checking this one out as well now.
nice! Where did the raw one come from? I will for sure be looking for others.
finepuer.com, who notes it as green. I have had one that was akin to shu pu, and some bao an liu an which reminded of an aged green. chawang shop also stocks a lot of liu an, liu bao, anhua hei cha, etc… I am hoping to place an order with them asap, as they also have a na ka cake i’ve been romancing in my head for a few weeks. :)
awesome – thanks for the tips. you are a bad influence on me! j/k! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the green one.