Lewis 9/29/05

> "Jenn" > writes:
>
>> [...]
>> About Unfermented, Maybe why some white teas are high in stimulation?
>> Or maybe because theyre buds?????
>
> Exactly: buds have more caffeine than mature leaves.
>
>> [...]
>> Oh one more thing are there oolong type teas made like puers?
>
> Yes:
>
> http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcar...ase=you+zi+cha


Lew,

Let's take this a bit further. A Pu'erh can be "raw" (green) or "cooked"
(oxidized/fermented) when it enters the aging process in its cake (bing),
brick (feng), or bird nest (tuo) form. Surely there are variations in the
degree of cookedness in the leaf on the way to storage, and thus anything in
the middle would be an "Oolong" by definition, right? Except that once the
tea enters true poo production, it's Pu'erh not Oolong. In the case of the
tea stuffed pomelo that babelcarp speaks of, I take it the actual tea
therein is/was Oolong? But, something deep inside me says that ultimately it
tea can be Oolong or tea can be Pu'erh, but it's got to make up its mind and
claim its allegance at the end.

If you like you can attribute the brilliance of my logic to an overdose of
caffeine, thus I leave the subject line untouched.

Michael