I recently spoke with a Taiwanese tea merchant. Although hard to
understand, he made several interesting comments. One is that you have
to distinguish between the green, oolong, and black tea "process" and
the green, oolong, and black tea "tree." Most Taiwanese tea, he told
me, comes from the "green process" of an "oolong tree." I assume he
means that their tea is relatively unoxidized and comes from a varietal
of Camellia sinensis typically used to make oolong tea.

Does that make sense? Or is it more likely that he's referring to
altitude or ecological factors?

Another question: he brews pu-erh in a large glass kettle, removing the
leaves every three days but adding them more often, and boiling the
concotion before each serving. Is this normal? Is it safe?

Tom