Finally…! Finally the parcel of 07 XZH Da Xue Shan cakes arrived today! I am sure many of you who pre-ordered this cake are as anxious as I am for its arrival! Sorry for the delay. We have started packing and sending them to you this afternoon.
Thanks so much for your patience and trust in us,
Guang 
Wuyi yen cha is a very tricky tea, and a very worthy one to explore. Even with the same tea, a slight change in water quality or temperature, using a different teapot or just a different tea cup, can result in a quite different taste/aroma, maybe better, maybe worse. But the reward when you make a nice cup of yen cha is totally bewitching.
Da Hong Pao, we all know it. Most of us have tried it. Some of you may have even visited the Tian Xin Yen cliff with the three big red letters “DA HONG PAO” carved on the wall and six “original” Da Hong Pao tea trees standing high and above. So, what if, I mean, if, the six super-protected and pampered tea trees could be not the original Da Hong Pao at all?
The story has to be started with the yen cha Maestro, Mr. Yao Yue-Ming (1931 ~ 2007). I received a book from a person who was elected as one of the twelve “Wuyi Yen Cha Da Hong Pao Heritage Inheritors” by Wuyi Shan City. The book was put together by Yao’s wife Mrs. Jing Tie-feng as a collection of thesis and articles by Mr. Yao.
On page 202 to 203, the book details Mr. Yao’s effort to rescue and identify Da Hong Pao since early 50s. According to Yao, Tien Xing Yen’s “Da Hong Pao” carving was done in 1927 under the request of monks to the local government,
in fear of the real Da Hong Pao trees would be randomly plucked and destroyed by tourists, so they carved Da Hong Pao on a higher cliff against other kind of tea trees. They are in fact “Chi Dan”, by no means the Da Hong Pao.
Yao started to search for the genuine Da Hong Pao since 50s. According to early research, the real Da Hong Pao could be in one of the three locations: (1) Bei Dou Feng (Feng means “peak”), and two sample cuttings were collected here naming Bei Dou #1 and Bei Dou #2, (2) Hou Yian Feng, (3) Tien Xin Yen (at a different location). In 50s, his team collected samples from the three locations. All samples were lost during early stage of the Cultural Revolution, and he was forced to leave his tea research lab. In early 60s, he, then was assigned to be a rice farmer, re-visited the three places. The trees were all nearly dying. He tried to saved some cuttings from the tea trees of the three locations, and grew them secretly at his spare time on the rice farm.
In the same growing environment, he found the tea trees from the cuttings turn out to have the same characters. He named those survived tea trees, following his teacher’s early work in 40s, as Bei Dou #1. From those tea trees more cuttings were propagated and the tradition of Da Hong Pao thus luckily saved by one man’s courage and passion.
There are many “legends” around Da Hong Pao, and most are superstitious or simply exaggerating. The continuing effort by the monks’ request in 1927 to Yao’s courageously effort to identify and rescue the yen cha’s heritage is truly what we can call – a legend.
Guang
This book was received from a dear customer and friend as a gift when he visited me in Houston last November. To thank him for the kindness, the best thing I can do I guess is to review this book and let more people know this nice yixing book.
This book is currently sold out on Amazon.com. I remembered I came across this book quite a while ago on Amazon, and its price was something like $200! I asked the friend where did he get this book (ooopsss… I know it’s bad to ask where did my gift come from 
), and he told me the bookstore in London: Han Shan Tang. According to him, the price was much reasonable than that from the almighty Amazon, but, again, it is out of stock there as well. So if you know any place to get this book, please feel to share with us.
A good tea book in English is hard to come by, and a good English book about yixing is hundreds times harder!
While I cannot say I agree every information or the author’s opinion in it, I like this book for (1) the photos of his collection are great, showing the details and displaying the beauty of each one of them, (2) information and opinions are clearly put forward (thanks to his lawyer background!), and his opinions are backed by his own independent thinking and experiments.
One most interesting points he emphasized in this book, and in fact 3/4 of the book are pictures of his collection to support his point, is that
… whenever a teapot suited a particular tea, the pot would take on a sheen and the tea would come out with stronger characteristics.
An example of his idea is shown in the picture: for each teapot, he tried many different kinds of teas to determine which one made the teapot “shine” and came out a nicer aroma/taste. Well, I sincerey admire his “get to the bottom of it” attitude. But it’s a very difficult topic to be persuasive for people. You see our yixing offerings on Hou De, as long as they have a good surface burnishing work done (or best, if they are really zhu ni), they shine no matter what kind of teas I put in.
And I wouldn’t doubt that asking a different person to perform exactly the same experiments he did on every teapot, the best-matching pairs would be very different from his results. It is, however, an excellent idea to try the most with your precious collection to see if they find their best tea match!
Another interesting point that he emphasized throughout the book is that:
…there are those who insist that the only way to prepare tea is to use the tiny shuiping teapots which became the fashion after the MengChen, and in the later Qing period. They maintain that those tiny teapots of some 120 to 180 cc can produce the best flavour because tea can be packed inside them. The truth is, stuffing tea leaves too tightly in such tiny teapots will not give them enough room to open out and release their fragrance into the water fully …
And he continues:
These people are prepared to stick to this view even when told that Gong Chun, who introduced the modern teapot to the world, made teapots around 300cc and so do the best potters of today.
I think he bravely challenged the “general perception”, and I agree mostly with what he said.
It’s true that in the Ming and early Qing dynasties, yixing teapots were usually larger than 300cc. Dictated by the moving of the social-economic center from northern cities to southern/coastal cities, the size of yixing teapots was gradually reduced to fit the living styles and aesthetic preference of those people who could afford them. Northern aesthetic taste preferred stately-looking pieces with famous calligraphers or painters’ work engraved, and zhi sha was the best material. For southern aesthetic taste, mostly scholars and rich businessmen, drinking tea became a very personal enjoyment, and with the knowledge of working zhu ni becoming mature (I will discuss this on a future post), red pieces made by zhu ni became the mainstream.
Zhu ni is a difficult clay to work with. Its has a higher shrinkage rate in firing, and it is so tender that it’s hard to produce a larger size. So just naturally the clay’s mechanical properties limit its size. And the small size fitted the Southern taste very well!
Mr. Lim rightly pointed out that works of most modern potters are larger than 300cc. I think a larger size gives the potter enough space to display/explore their creativity.
As for making a nice cup of tea, I feel that for teas that will expand significantly after brewing, such as Taiwan’s high-mountain oolongs or Dong-Ding, I get pretty good results with larger-sized teapots as long as I pre-warm the teapots well. For teas like Wuyi do not expand as much, I still prefer size around 150cc.
By the way, I found Hang Shan Tang has this book in stock: CHINESE YIXING TEAWARES FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE CHENG YANG FOUNDATION. This book shows a great collection of yixings from Taiwan’s prestigious Cheng Yang Foundation. Its descriptions are in both Chinese and English. I have a copy in Taiwan. For spending GBP 100.0, this is a nicer option than The Beauty of Yixing and it is in stock. The same book can be bought for US$95 (before shipping) in Taiwan’s e-tea.com, talking about more than 50% discount! But the shopping cart is in Chinese. No affiliation with both bookstores.
Happy Yixing-ing
Guang
There are only a few of tea-related books in English that are original, informative and accurate and I would recommend sincerely. And this The Story of Tea is definitely one of them.
I had the honor to meet the authors, Mary Lou and Bob, in last year’s World Tea Expo and later in Pasadena’s Pu-erh Appreciation party. They are a very joyful couple. And I was impressed by the fact although they already have a published tea book that is as heavy as your Principles of Accounting or Fundamentals of Physics textbooks, they were still active and passionate of visiting more places and learning more things in tea.
This book strikes a good balance between broadness and depth, comfortable story-telling style and detailed original information.
When I read the section of the manufacturing of White Tea in Chapter 3, I was amazed by the insight and knowledge of the authors on this unique fine tea, that most people know it only through the marketing hype around its health benefits. They rightly compare the traditional-style method against the modern-style method of manufacturing White Tea, much like the traditional method of making pu-erhs against the modern oven-drying method. They categorize the White Tea we can find in today’s market into three different kinds.
This book does an excellent job to browse through the worldwide tea producing regions and provide elaborate information on the characters of the teas from each region. I’ve found myself enjoy the reading and pick up quite a few new things to learn!
Mary and Bob kindly provide 10 signed copies to dear Hou De customers at a great discount price. So, check them out!
Guang
Ever since an interview article of the bamboo-carving master Mr. Weng Ming-Chuan in #1 issue of The Art of Tea, we have received several interests in his pieces. I contacted Mr. Weng in Oct/2007, but was told that he was going to have an exhibition in The National Museum of History in December so his works were not for sale until after the show.
Today a surprising parcel from Taiwan brought me the Exhibition’s photobook! It was such a great treat to the eyes, as the book was filled with breathtakingly beautiful bamboo-carved pieces (from tea utensils,tea whisk, incense spoon, paperweight, fan stand, to seals, etc.) Comparing to the ordinary bamboo/wood utensils that we normally use, they were like from a totally different planet!
I quickly put together some of the pieces from the photobook to share with you:
Aren’t they really timeless beauties that encompass the most sophisticate and refined elements of Chinese tea culture? We are planning to introduce some of his works to you in the very near future. Need to work fast before they are grabbed away!
Guang
Here is a simple poll:
Which TWO are your favorites among the five samples of the 98/99/2000 Arbor Tasting Set?
[poll=2]
We are collecting tasting notes/reviews from those of you who tried this tasting set. If you don’t have time to write the review, please simply send me an email to let us know the ranking (#1 to #5). If you send us reviews, please let us know if you want your name to be shown or be anonymous. Not a single word of your notes/review will be changed/edited.
Guang
Yesterday I was on the phone with the chief editor of The Art of Tea, Mr. Liang, regarding the progress of #4 issue. This issue is delayed by the publication of two pu-erh books in english (!) and the coming Chinese New Year. It is scheduled to be published just before or right after the Chinese New Year (Feb/7).
Our conversation moved to the pu-erh market recently. I showed him the 98/99 Arbor tasting set we are offering… he hesitated for a second and said, “I think the 99 Yi-Chang Hao “Zhuan” is not of 1999, but 2000″.
He then explained to me in detail that 99 Yi-Chang Hao “Song”-charactered and “Zhuan”-charactered used the same thin-papered material. Although 99 and 2000 “Zhuan” look the same on the wrapper, the 2000 one used a kind of thicker bamboo-fibered hand-made paper, which was what he saw on the picture of our offering I showed to him.
I am sorry and embarrassed 
by the mistake in the year of this cake. I know our dear customers want nothing but the authenticity and true information of Hou De’s offering. Luckily the Ooopps was caught before we start offering the whole pieces for sale.
For those of you who have bought and tried the tasting sample sets, you deserve to be refunded the price difference (~$1.50) for the 10g sample of “Zhuan” in the set. I created a coupon code for you to get $3 off from your purchase:
yichangzhuan
Please accept our apology.
Guang
Sorry for the delay in offering pre-arrival sales of 2007 autumn X-Zhi Hao. Mr. Chen of San Ho Tang has been traveled around so it takes a while for me to contact him to confirm the details of each cake. Besides, I have been indulged myself with the fun of re-designing the Hou De website (too much fun, that was how the database glitch happened).
Here are my tasting impression of the three Autumn “Gu Hwa” cakes of Xi-Zhi Hao:
The 2nd brewing of Pu Zheng brought out more pleasant sweetness, but the mouthful feeling remained saturated and solid. Plenty of yun to explore in the aftertaste. Overall a heavy, vigorous performer with very nice and thick consistency.It’s always a good habit to use your fingers to touch, squeeze and feel the unfurled leaves and stems. Especially the stems: usually plantation leaves get more woody and stiff feeling in the longer stems, while genuine wild or semi-wild leaves should remain soft and flexible.
What are your impressions of them?
The pre-arrival sale can be found on Hou De. They are expected to arrive around the middle of February.
Guang
After staring at my computer for almost a whole morning, I went to the backyard to enjoy some fresh air… and there Yuan was sitting on the deck browsing through a Pu-erh book! She seemed to really enjoy the strange-looking circles that came with so many different colors and on every page she turned!
Now this is what I call an Early Childhood Tea Education
Guang
This afternoon we started to preparing for the next major upgrade of our system. And accidentally the sale history between December/28/2007 and today (Jan/04/2008) was wipde out. Very sorry for the mistake. Luckily we processed orders very quickly so all orders made between this time window should have been sent.
If you have made purchases with us in this time window and found the order history missing when you log in your account, please contact us and let us know your order details. If you think you should have received your order but not yet, please also let us know and we will check for you.
Again, sorry for the dumb mistake I made. To compensate for your inconvenience, we will mail you a free shipping coupon code after we receive your email.
Only the sale history database was affected. We will shortly announce our system upgrade schedule and a 1-day downtime to implement the upgrade.
Guang