Hello, all,
You all know what a novice I am - but, I am learning. Today, we stopped
at Imperial Tea Court in Berkeley and tried Putuo Organic Green and
Imperial Green. The sales person was very young and knew as much as I;
so, of course, I didn't get a whole lot of information.
Imperial Tea Court has a tendancy to "rename" romantically and
obscurely, its teas and I have no idea what Imperial Green is, other
than $26.60 an ounce and absolutely crisp and tender and grassy, sweet
and delightfully smooth with hardly any astringency in last bits. The
organic Putuo (I have read a bit about these teas from this region
((mountain area)) in China and this was very fresh and had the sweet
aroma of dew on morning grass.
My husband had a honey-tasting black keemun - Imperial Keemun Hao Ya,
whose golden...

"Shen" sbcglobal.net> writes:

I had tried an ounce of it too in years past. It was, as you suggest,
delightfully smooth and nuanced; and the leaves are especially beautiful and
well formed, delicate, and uniform. For the price, don't you think Roy Fong
owes us a bit more explanation about what we're drinking?

Never tried it, but sounds as though I ought to.

I know that one too. If I understand your word "woodsiness" corectly, this
tea should not be woodsy, in my opinion. It should be sweet, honeyed, winey,
rich, but not woodsy. Woodsy is a quality I associate with the cheaper
offerings, not the imperial. And what do you mean by the color having
betrayed its woodsiness?

Michael,
I agree with your expectations of Mr. Fong. He seems to have been very
successful operating enigmatically. (LOL!)
I have written my queries and will post as soon as I hear from him.
In regard to the woodsiness and the colour: I merely meant that in
spite of the warm, delicate, golden colour, the tea had chutzpah (I
think that's how it's spelled?).
And, since I am a painter, the woodsiness was more of a characteristic
of atmosphere it brought to mind. Sorry, I wasn't too clear. I know
there is a definite "tea" language and inmy newness I may have used the
incorrect adjective.
Just to say: the teas were wonderful and I surely wanted to know
more......
Shen
Michael Plant wrote:

This is the answer I just received from Mr. Fong. I am annoyed at his
response and am debating whether to tell him so.
Geez, the tea costs a small fortune. Good, yes. Wonderful, maybe. But,
what's the big deal about telling me where it came from or what it
is????
Here's his response: (Jeanna,BTW, is my first name)
"Dear Jeanna,

Thank you again for your support, the Putuo Compassion tea is the real
name, this tea comes from the Putuo Mountain, reputed to be the home of
the Goddess of Compassion (Guan Yin), it is also known as Putuo Fo Cha
(meaning the Buddhist tea of Fatuous Mmountain). As for the Imperial
Green, this is not a well known tea outside of the area that it comes
from, we name it Imperial Green, the Imperial standard is our highest
standard, this standard tea must be exceptional in workmanship, taste
and visually pleasing as well. As for the tea's Chinese name, I am
afraid that it is proprietary information that we can not review.

Respectfully,
Roy Fong/Imperial Tea Court"
Shen wrote:

Shen wrote:

This is complete shenanigans. I would never support this vendor, and
will never. Someone else (or maybe Shen) mentioned the snow dragon
water tips (or whatever they call it) a while back and I found it also
to be a lame tactic.

Shen wrote:

Says it all, eh? Fatuous Mountain.

"Many paths lead up the Fatuous Mountain:
some smooth, some rough, and all silly."
-Tofu Roshi (attrib.)

There may be lot of reasons a vendor can't tell you more about their
teas. I suspect in this case it is an exclusive arrangement with the
supplier. The vendor gave it his own name in lieu of a tradename.
Pedigrees are nice but in the end taste matters the most. My guess ji
pin wang guan yin which means equisite king guan yin.

Jim

Shen wrote:

Actually, it sounds to me like it could be "Fo Shou" which means
Buddha's hand. I asked a few people and there is not tea that
translates to anything close to "Imperial", btw. But, Fo Shou is a
Wulong and not a green tea.

It seems that Putao Mountain is in the Zhejiang province. There are
several variations of greens there that are sold there under a varying
of names. If the leaf sorta looks like Longjing, it could be a tea
called "wu niu cha" that is produced there. Could you provide pics of
the tea?

[Shen]