Mr. Chen's Heritage Wenshan Bao Zhong Spring Tea, Lot 929

We all know tea is more than a bush, a leaf in a bag, and a beverage. It’s also a craft through which the maker’s story is infused. Sometimes, the story that’s being told in your cup is one that goes beyond the realm of the present moment. In very rare circumstances, it can reach out through time and gives us a sense of the history behind a type of tea, a terroir, and, if you’re lucky, a country’s heritage. This is when it becomes a true multi-dimensional experience and this is certainly the feeling we got from our first encounter with Mr. Chen’s Heritage Bao Zhong. Mr. Chen is 92 years old. He was born under the Japanese occupation and was 28 when they left the island in 1945. At about the same, time he started producing tea in the hills not far from Pinglin next to the family’s ancestral stone house where he still resides and continues, to this day, to practice his craft with the help of his son and daughter-in-law (not the other way around!). Apart from the few mobile phones laid on the furniture, stepping into his house is like visiting a living museum of rural life in Wenshan. Tasting his Bao Zhong tea offers the same experience which can also be reproduced in your own home! His Bao Zhong tea is slightly more oxidized, like it used to be, before today’s trend to greener teas. This imparts another layer of mineral complexity to the tea and a rounder texture. Still, the aroma of buttered green beans with distinctive floral overtones is definitely there. Nothing aggresses the senses. For the love of Bao Zhong tea but also for the love of Taiwan, and Mr. Chen, you must experience this tea.