Dean /6/04

> "Michael Plant" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Isn't it gettin' on time for those winter Bao Zhongs to start rollin' in?
>>
> Michael,
>
> Perhaps you buy your Oolongs from B&M shops, but if you do use internet
> sources, which ones do you think have the best selection and quality?
>
> Thanks,
> Dean


Dean,

I'm at something of a lose here myself -- wish Laylage were around; she
knows -- but it seems Brian of ShanShui down in Washington DC is a major
player. For me these are finicky teas, not in the brewing but in the
finding. Sometimes they're great and just right, sometimes too "viscous,"
sometimes too thin. It's the melon flower flavor and aroma that hook me. The
year before last, IPOT offered a really great one. Last year's IMHO was not
as fine. I'm just an amateur, though; the mood of the moment weighs in
heavily. (All the above about Bao Zhong.)

More generally, Oolong-wise, I get off on the IPOT Monkey Picked Competition
Ti Guan Yin, although I've been out of it for quite awhile. Some remarkable
ones I've tasted from Taiwan Tea. I had an aged dark Oolong and a Li Shan
from The Oolong Tea Store in New Jersey that I liked a lot. Also, I've
enjoyed those I've had from ITC, but I don't enjoy their prices. I tend away
from the flowery light green Oolongs and more toward the complex ones with a
(slight) resiny, steely, and or woody overlay. The truth? I usually like
the one I'm drinking at the moment best.

B&M? Took me a couple minutes. Bread&Mortar, Bread&Roses, Bread&Tea. Got it
now. I buy teas from The Big Apple (Something) in NYC on Howard Street
between Broadway and Lafayette, a gungfu tea place with internet.I've been
known to buy at Ten Ren's shop, but less and less, since they're too big now
for my tastes, having bragged to me about their hundreds of locations in
China, PR of, that is.

Best,
Michael