It's All About Tea — da hong pao

Both Da Hong Pao and Shui Xian are highly revered Wuyi Oolong teas. They share similar qualities of yan yun, a robust mineral taste, and pleasantly lingering sweetness. Perhaps in the modern tea world, Da Hong Pao rings more bells than its cousin, Shui Xian. Nevertheless, they are both teas worth trying. So what exactly makes them different? (Read more)

What is your favorite tea type? For many the answer is — oolong!
What makes oolong so favored? Perhaps its multidimensionality, the variety present within this single tea category. A lightly roasted oolong has a resemblance most similar to green teas, while a dark roasted oolong will resemble black tea. Nevertheless, it is neither. It is in between and can not be imitated. (Read more)

All throughout China, Taiwan, and other parts of East Asia, the bubble tea trend has reached its peak, with crowds of youth lining up for a big cup of the ice-cold tea beverage. Yet we still find small groups of elderly folk sitting somewhere shaded in a park, enjoying hot Gong Fu style tea.

For the westerner it is counterintuitive, to be drinking hot tea for hours on a hot, muggy day. Many of the older people, however, know the secrets of Chinese medicine and know exactly which beverages to drink in the summer to keep the body cool. (Read more)

One of the things that makes Wuyi Rock Tea different from all other oolongs is the roasting process that it goes through. This process is not only one step, but a few distinguished steps.

When yancha is only in the first stages of processing it's still quite vegetal and floral, much like a green tea. Only at the end of the processing will it gain its characteristic taste that we all love. (Read more)

Similarly with Cha Qi, as many gongfu-ers that exist, the many definitions of Yan Yun you may hear.

In Chinese, Yan means rock, which is also where the name Yan Cha comes from — Rock Tea.

Yun, on the other hand, is much more abstract and is more of a feeling, or a knowing, than it is anything of the physical realm. (Read more)