Mr. Chen’s Heritage Wenshan Bao Zhong Spring Tea, Lot 860 from Taiwan Tea Crafts

Mr. Chen’s Heritage Wenshan Bao Zhong Spring Tea, Lot 860

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Flowers, Astringent, Berry, Bitter, Butter, Custard, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Grass, Green Beans, Hazelnut, Honey, Parsley, Pastries, Plants, Smooth, Spinach, Sugarcane, Sweet, Sweet, Warm Grass, Tart, Thick, Umami
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Togo
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 4 g 6 oz / 178 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “The quarantine sipdown continues. This is another good Baozhong from TTC though a notch below the winter harvest. I steeped it grandpa style as usual with Baozhongs. Nice buttery lilac-y flavor...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “What a superb Bao Zhong this is! An almost unparalleled complexity of aromas, a well-defined yet balanced profile, and a full body make it one of the best within the category that I had a chance to...” Read full tasting note
    95

From Taiwan Tea Crafts

We all know tea is more than a bush, a leaf in a bag, and a beverage. It’s also a craft through which the maker’s story is infused. Sometimes, the story that’s being told in your cup is one that goes beyond the realm of the present moment. In very rare circumstances, it can reach out through time and gives us a sense of the history behind a type of tea, a terroir, and, if you’re lucky, a country’s heritage. This is when it becomes a true multi-dimensional experience and this is certainly the feeling we got from our first encounter with Mr. Chen’s Heritage Bao Zhong. Mr. Chen is 91 years old. He was born under the Japanese occupation and was 28 when they left the island in 1945. At about the same, time he started producing tea in the hills not far from Pinglin next to the family’s ancestral stone house where he still resides and continues, to this day, to practice his craft with the help of his son (not the other way around!). Apart from the few mobile phones laid on the furniture, stepping into his house is like visiting a living museum of rural life in Wenshan. Tasting his Bao Zhong tea offers the same experience which can also be reproduced in your own home! His Bao Zhong tea is slightly more oxidized, like it used to be, before today’s trend to greener teas. This imparts another layer of mineral complexity to the tea and a rounder texture. Still, the aroma of buttered green beans with distinctive floral overtones is definitely there. Nothing aggresses the senses. For the love of Bao Zhong tea but also for the love of Taiwan, and Mr. Chen, you must experience this tea.

Style of tea: Green Oolong Tea
Picking Date: May 2019
Oxidation level: Very Low
Baking Level: None
Terroir: Wenshan
Administrative Region: New Taipei City
Picking Style: Hand Picked
Cultivar: Qing Xin
Garden Elevation: 600 m

About Taiwan Tea Crafts View company

Company description not available.

2 Tasting Notes

90
676 tasting notes

The quarantine sipdown continues. This is another good Baozhong from TTC though a notch below the winter harvest. I steeped it grandpa style as usual with Baozhongs. Nice buttery lilac-y flavor accented with wildflowers, honey, and nectar. Hyacinth lingers in the mouth after it goes down. Some delicate vegetal tones settle in as it continues to steep. There was lots of broken leaf in here which affects how quickly it infuses but still avoids any bitterness.

Flavors: Flowers

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 g 8 OZ / 236 ML
1 comments
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tea-sipper
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That’s it. I’m having a Bao Zhong tomorrow. :D

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95
Recommended
947 tasting notes

What a superb Bao Zhong this is! An almost unparalleled complexity of aromas, a well-defined yet balanced profile, and a full body make it one of the best within the category that I had a chance to try.

The dry leaves already have a great depth of aromas with notes of pastries, custard, flowers (lily), and other green plants. The bouquet changes considerably in a preheated gaiwan. There is a strong floral honey-like scent, complemented by steamed spinach and egg yolk. Finally, after the rinse I get mostly notes of freshly cut grass and honey. Later in the session, the aroma reminds me of a mix between Si Ji Chun and Qing Xin varietals.

First infusion tastes tart, buttery and grassy. It has a smooth onset with a hit of umami and flowers, and a slightly bitter finish. The aftertaste is then sweet and very floral. Second steep introduces a very interesting mix of flavours such as green beans, rucola, and orange gooseberry.

The following ones are then progressively more juicy, nutty (hazelnut), sweet (sugarcane), and floral. There is a bit of astringency around steep 3, but nothing that would detract from the overall experience. The aftertaste in the later stages of the session is cooling with a strong custard note and hints of parsley.

One of the things that elevate this tea ahead of its ‘competitors’ is the mouthfeel. It is very mouth-watering and bubbly with a velvety texture initially that gets more oily as the session progresses.

Flavors: Astringent, Berry, Bitter, Butter, Custard, Floral, Flowers, Freshly Cut Grass, Grass, Green Beans, Hazelnut, Honey, Parsley, Pastries, Plants, Smooth, Spinach, Sugarcane, Sweet, Sweet, Warm Grass, Tart, Thick, Umami

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 45 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
1 comments
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ashmanra
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Sounds fabulous!

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