Luk On

[Drybonz]

Chinese tea made from stems... anyone have experience with it?

I received a couple samples recently and one was ok... the other was pretty interesting. Made from old trees I think... the stems were smaller in this one, but each infusion quickly produced a very full-bodied, dark, reddish-brown broth that had a bit of a roasted flavor, with perhaps a slight hint of a tobacco flavor.

It was interesting and definitely worth trying if you can pick some up. It's not too expensive.

 

[Kazeryu]

Where did you get yours from? That sounds like something I might like to try.

 

[Doc4]

I've not tried it ... just an on-luk'er so far.

 

[Drybonz]

Where did you get yours from? That sounds like something I might like to try.

I got mine as a sample from GoodTea, which is a Czech site. I'm sure you can probably get it other places too... it is popular in China, from what I read.

*edit* Here's a link to that site if you are interested. http://www.goodtea.eu/Catalog.aspx?av=26&mi=6 The Old Ying Kee is the one I liked the most, and I also had the Luk On branches, which was good... more mild.

 

[Kazeryu]

placed an order. I can't tell if I overpaid for shipping or not.

In one place it says 5 euro flat rate to rest of world, free shipping after 50 euro.
http://www.dobrycaj.cz/Article.aspx?id=51#Poštovnézdarma

In another it says other countries pay various rates based on czech postal list rates, free shipping in EU after 150 euro, worldwide after 200 euro.
http://www.dobrycaj.cz/Article.aspx?id=54


edit: I sent them a message about the mismatch.

 

[Drybonz]

The shipping is high. They are slow to ship. Acutal shipping is slow, and the website doesn't discount for VAT exempt. It's honestly not the best. That is why I was suggesting you could find it at another place. But if you don't mind waiting a couple weeks and paying the shipping they aren't bad.

 

[nff]

i'v had a tea made from bao zhong stems. they called it "branches of serenity" and its actually really nice. super sweet flavored.

 

[Drybonz]

Nice picture. The Luk On would basically be a roasted version of this. Not sweet at all, but has a roasty flavor, kind of like a genmaicha, I suppose. There are other versions that are more leaf, and without the larger stems... like the Old Ying Kee I mentioned, above.

 

[Kazeryu]

Wow, so I received my order yesterday. Nine days from the Czech Republic - fast!

I was googling up a storm trying to figure out where the tea fit into my organizers and it seems that Luk On, Liu An, and Liu Bao are all different readings/dialects for the same tea. So it goes into box #3!

I'll try some this afternoon, although I may put my thoughts in the Liu An thread (in the hopes that it might catch on)

 

[Drybonz]

Wow, so I received my order yesterday. Nine days from the Czech Republic - fast!

Awesome... which one did you get?

 

[Kazeryu]

Luk On/Liu An:
Jade Orchid and Old Ying Kee.

Other stuff to make the shipping worthwhile:
Water Sprite (Shui Hsien/Xian) from White Cliff
Bai Mu Dan
Tie Guan Yin Class "A"


I'm going to go eat lunch now, and I'll try Old Ying Kee sometime after that. (I was finishing off yesterday's leaves this morning)

Also a correction to my earlier comment - Liu An and Luk On are different readings/names for the same thing. Liu Bao is very similar but not quite identical.