Those who carefully followed our “arrival” notice may remember we announced the arrival of a 70’s Bao Zhong in June/2007. But nothing was offered at that time.

This 70’s MuZha Bao Zhong was acquired from Mr. Chen of San Ho Tang (Xi-Zhi Hao) in 2006. He obtained this precious aged oolong from a long-time customers who used this oolong to exchange Mr. Chen’s aged pu-erhs. When I heard the existence of this aged oolong, I immediately asked Mr. Chen to send me a sample, and so he did.

The sample impressed me as something really unique, almost hard to describe its aroma/taste. Lots of mellowness and superbly smooth, a bit of vanilla scent blended with chinese medicine-like (reminded me of 70’s Guang Yun Gong) aroma. But there was a touch of ethereal refreshing feeling that made it distinct from aged pu-erhs. Sometimes it reminded me of of the crispiness of Liu An basket tea and its melon-like fragrance. Oh, I want it!

But there was a touch of “wet” feeling that bothered me. The wetness in it loosened the structure. It is a common problem for aged oolongs.

I put a little tea on the mini roaster, and very soon I could feel the humidity being driven out with the hot air. So this was the reason we did not offer it after the announcement. This diamond was masked by some “dirt” that need to be removed before its beauty can really shine.

After confirming with Mr. Chen and his friend regarding the storage history of this bao zhong, I was ready to give it a “hot air bath”. I used the larger roaster to treat just 2lb of it. Using 60~80 degree setting on the roaster and turned over the tea every 30 mins, this roasting job took me a whole good Saturday to finish. The next day I tried the tea and was very happy with how clean and more “focused” it turned out. So I did the same roasting to the other 2lb of it.

The complexity of this Bao Zhong is amazing. You can find images of aged pu-erh (oh yes, it was sold as “Hun Yin San Cha (loose pu-erh)” before in Taiwan ) in it, and you can find images of yen cha in it, too. It reminds me of many different teas, but in combination it is so unique on its own. Really worth a trying!

Guang