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12/11/2012

When buying tea

When just thought I probably have tasted a lot of tea in my life, then I was surprised by a tasteless tea (from tea bag with nice name and beautiful paper box packaging) .

Good or bad quality tea (even for CTC or tea dust packed in tea bag) has some kind of aroma and taste. But that tea that I dronk in a prestiege restaurant in Brussels last Friday was absolutely NONE. There was no any sense of natural or aromatic aroma with the dried tea bag and tea; there is no taste, just a cup of warm water with tea color. The tea was labelled as pure tea, but I wonder where, what and how it was made of.

What you are looking for when buying tea?
  • Brand that sounds nice or famous?
  • Tea name? How much you know about tea? Are you aware there are many different quality classifications for same type of tea name? Certainly green tea or black tea (red tea in Chinese) is tea category but not tea name.
  • Price factor? It is subject to what kind of quality of tea you like to drink.
    Taiwan Hongshui Oolong that has unique characters from both Taiwan Oolong and Red Tea
  • Individual preference? Some people prefer pure and fine quality tea, some people prefer aromatic flavored tea. There is no right or wrong choice, but a plain simple individual choice.
Are you looking for pure and fine quality teathat can match with your restaurant and/or hotel's image? Please contact us. We provide:
1) Pure and fine quality tea from Taiwan, China and Darjeeling
2) Consultancy and training
Belgium Chinese Tea Arts Centre
Mei Lan Hsiao
GSM: +32-494-506899

龍井茶

昨日一位湘西的朋友問龍井茶的名稱的來由. 霎時我一下子沒想起來, 只想到杭洲的虎泡泉.  第一時間想到的是泉水或是地名. 但是在那一刻中卻也沒想到到底是哪裡.  湘友說是歷代皇帝取的名字. 聽起來好像很有可能, 我就問他, "是哪位皇帝?". 他說不知道. 回到家後一夜都在想這件事. 今早起來第一件事就是重新溫習龍井茶的歷史.

沒錯, 在諸多野史傳說中, 龍井茶確實是有跟清朝乾隆皇帝有一段故事, 但是龍井茶已有1200多年的歷史, 最早是在元代四大名家之一虞集 (1272-1348) 在他詩中提到龍井茶.

<遊龍井>

仗藜入南山, 卻立賞奇秀,
所懷玉局翁, 來往絇履舊
空餘松在洞, 仍作琴筑奏
徘徊龍井上, 雲氣起晴晝
入門避沾灑, 脫屐亂苔甃
陽崗扣雲石, 陰房絕遺构
澄公愛客至, 取水挹幽竇
坐我薝蔔中, 餘香不聞嗅
但見瓢中清, 翠影落群岫
烹煎黃金芽, 不取谷雨后
同來二三子, 三咽不忍嗽
講堂集群彥, 千蹬坐吟究
浪浪雜飛雨, 沉沉渡清漏
令我懷幼學, 胡為裏章綬
由此詩中我們可知, 龍井茶的茶名不可能是清朝乾隆皇帝所賜的. 在杭州確實是有一龍井村. 我幾次去杭州, 在往獅子峰拜訪西湖龍井茶園與採買茶的路上有經過該"龍井村". 該村可以說是今天去杭州西湖一遊的人都會去的觀光景點. 據資料, 在龍井村有龍井古泉流于其間. 所以 龍井茶是因龍井村而知名還是因茶而村改名, 這雞與雞蛋的互連關係, 誰前誰後說實在是有說不清理還亂呢. 
 
當然西湖龍井是在龍井茶中由於杭州自古的美譽最被人知. 龍井茶的產地除了杭州西湖以外還有錢塘龍井與越州龍井. 在杭州西湖產區產的龍井叫做西湖龍井, 這些年西湖龍井的價格被炒作的太過火. 價格令人咋舌. 其它兩地(錢塘與越州) 產的龍井俗稱為浙江龍井. 而它們的芽葉, 香氣與口感說實在也真的不比西湖龍井遜很多. 而價格也實在些.

中國茶名的取名經常是依地方名字而取,有的是在地名後面再加上芽葉的特色. 有的當然是以葉片特色取名. 但是用心的人就會留意那茶名前的產地名稱. 比如說龍井茶, 武夷大紅袍, 君山銀針, 洞庭湖碧羅春, 黃山毛峰, 廬山雲霧...等等.
蕭美蘭
比利時中華茶藝中心
8/12/2012 安特衛普, 比利時