samarkand > wrote:

hi samarkand,
sorry for coming back so late, but I wish to thank you for answering
with such a detailed explanation. I knew it was not a "fresh" tea, but
it liked nontheless. And you confirmed what I had in mind about generic
packages.
Very much appreciated

Angela

> hi Dominic,
>
> The box packaging is generic. The company that produces this box has
> several of similar designs in different colour. These boxes are designed as
> gift-packs. Hoever, some tea companies who prefer to package their own teas
> but refuse to pay a design fee on the packaging will approach this company
> and have their teas packaged in the design as you see. The tea company can
> also customise the package to include the name of their own tea.
>
> In this case, Angela's last post with the pics showed that the company *may
> be* called 'Ling Yan'. The name of the tea is in the 4th pic of the
> previous post, called "Ling Yan Ming Qian Cha" - The pre-Ming (early spring,
> around early March) tea from Ling Yan.
>
> Unfortunately, both the name of the tea and the area of production are
> ambiguously generic. However, since it says "Ming Qian", early srping tea,
> this rules out very much the White Tea speculation. White tea is produced
> in the later months. It is a green tea using young flush with lots of down,
> similar to the Bi Luo Chun.
>
> The other 4 characters all over the box in pic 3 are "Han Mo Ming Xiang" -
> Han Mo means to pen a letter, here it indicates also the fragrance of the
> ink; Ming Xiang means fragrance of Tea.
>
> The lines of characters at the bottom of the gold box in the centre are
> excerpts from a poem by Admiral Zheng Ban Qiao, but it is misquoted in the
> large print...the lines read, in translation:
>
> A few sprigs of black inked Orchids
> On paper from Xuan De,
> Bitter Tea in a cup
> From the kilns of Cheng Hua.
>
> Kinda *Hakku* I guess, to evoke a tonal picture.
>
> The tea, is from Ling Yan. Ling Yan can be a company, or a place. As a
> place, there are at least three with the same names in China, but my guess
> is the one in Jinan city in Shangdong province. This is the place where the
> monks first advocated drinking green tea to stay alert through long prayers.
> This area still produces green tea that looks similar.
>
> I think that's about all.
>
> Danny


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