Talking about Chinese tea-drinking, I found it is much eaiser to start
from some "classic names". China was a huge country of agriculture,
and tea were sitting at the top of the culture, those classic name
become classic not for good at nothing! And as a matter of fact,
different dynasty has different classics(inheriting plus exploring),
and by Qing dynasty, there were about 40 kinds of classics.

So, if you guys want to taste something went through history and still
popular, I would love to recommend the following:
Lonngjing (dragon well, name protected, green tea), Tie Guanyin (from
Anxi county, Fujian province, Wulong), Da Hongpao (from WUYI mountain,
Wuyishan City, Fujian provice, Wulong), Xinyang Maojian (from Xinyang
city, Anhui province, green tea), Qimen Hong Cha (also called Qi Hong,
from Qimen county, Anhui province, black tea), Biluochun (from
Dongting Mountain, Suzhou city, Jiangsu province, green tea), Junshan
Yinzhen (from Junshan Mountain, Yueyang City, Hunan province, white
tea), Liuan Guapian (from Liuan county, Anhui province, flower tea),
Puer (from Xishuangbanna area, Yunnan provice, Chinese black)... this
list will be too long to continue...

BTW, about black tea, I found there is a big mistake when this typeof
tea was first translated into English. The "black tea" in English was
mapped to the Chinese name "Hong Cha", which means red tea literally,
while in Chinese language there is a type of tea called "Hei Cha",
which means "black tea" literally, and Puer is of the top in this
type.

People could easily found there is a saying of "shi da ming cha",
which in English "Famous Tea Top Ten", but different organisation have
different versons, and normally has a local commercial consideration;
after I collected all versons of "Shi Da Ming Cha", I found there were
about 14 kinds! And they are all from the 40s classics in Qing
dynasty. But unfortunately I haven't got any English text for these, I
am building an English web site on these and hopefully you will see it
soon. To those who could read Chinese, the following is a full list of
those 40s kinds of tea in Qing dynasty:
http://kanpou.china.com/fenlei/05.html

soooooooo glad to see there are sooooooooo many Chinese tea fans
outside China, reallllllly glad to meet you all!




Mike Petro  wrote in message
news:...
> Of special note is that the web page with the text that DLG quoted is
> a good "Rosetta" example as it has both English and Chinese side by
> side on the same page. http://www.teanet.com.cn/html/huiyuan35.htm
> 
> On 25 Apr 2004 08:08:21 -0700, dalu_guo@hotmail.com (DLG) cast caution
> to the wind and posted:
> 
> >some information for your reference:
> >
> >I got the following information from HUNAN GUZHANG TEA INDUSTRY GROUP
> >CO, LTD, CHINA
> >
> >Qian Yun Brand Guzhang Green Tea has a long history.It`s bud had been
> >a tribute since Eastem European countries in 1950, It was present at
> >Leiping International Falr in 1957, It was popular in Hongkong and
> >Southeast Asia marker in 1- 980,got the high quality product
> >Certificate by the Foreign Trade Ministry in 1983  ,  It won a Hunan
> >Provincial Lotus Medal in 1985 and a gold medal in 1988 in China
> >First
> >Food Fair. In1991,it was awarded the title of excellent new produ-
> >ct in the exhibition of the ten year achievements of Chinese food
> >industry.
> >Guzhang Green Tea is unpolluted and of excellent quality,It has a
> >fine
> >and compact form with white needles ,  a straight and elegant shape,
> >a
> >green color, a strong and heavy -fragr ance, a pure and refreshing
> >taste. The tea water is bright a- nd of yellow-green color , long
> >term
> >drinking of it is able to relieve intermal heat , prevent cancer ,
> >refresh mind as well  asbrighten vision and prolong life. It has been
> >well receiv- ed   by the customers.
> >Qian Yun Brand Guzhang Green Tea has 200g, 600g packageing, you are
> >welcome to taste it.
> 
> 
> Mike Petro
> infofilter@pu-erh.net   http://www.pu-erh.net
> remove the "filter" in my email address to reply