Liu Bao

Where it grows

The districts recorded against this tea, all of them in China. Elevation is given as the band the district is recorded at, not a measurement of the garden this leaf came from.

• Wuzhou — 100–700 metres

  How firm this is: Inferred from general knowledge of the district rather than measured or taken from a source that states it.

The plants it is made from

Cultivar is the level below the variety group: a named selection of the tea plant, propagated as clones from one parent. Most consumer writing stops at the country and the category, which leaves out the layer that decides how the leaf behaves before anyone picks it.

The national standard defines Liu Bao around a place's population rather than a cultivar, and admits clonal selections made out of that population. A given basket may therefore be seed stock, selection, or both.

• Cangwu Qun Ti Zhong — Camellia sinensis var. sinensis

  A population rather than a selection, so the useful description is of a range and not of a plant: mixed arbor, semi-arbor and shrub forms with large and medium leaf, propagated historically from seed. The standard's own definition is a collective name for the tea plants native to the county, which makes it a statement about a place before it is a statement about a plant.

How it is made, in order

Read top to bottom: the list is the production sequence, and the sequence is what makes this tea its category rather than a neighbouring one. The same leaf from the same bush becomes a green tea or a black tea depending on where the heat falls relative to the bruising, so reordering these steps would not vary the tea — it would produce a different one.

1. 1. Withering — Reduces water content, softens the leaf for later handling, and permits early enzymatic and aromatic development.
2. 2. Kill-green (fixation) — Denatures polyphenol oxidase and related enzymes, arresting enzymatic oxidation.
3. 3. Rolling and shaping — Ruptures cell walls to expose leaf juices, and forms the leaf into the shape it will hold through drying and storage.
4. 4. Drying — Reduces residual moisture to a level at which enzymatic, microbial and oxidative change effectively stops, stabilising the leaf for storage.
5. 5. Wet piling (wo dui) — Supports microbial and thermal transformation of the finished leaf, converting harsh young character into a darker, softer profile.
6. 6. Ageing and storage — Allows slow oxidative, microbial and thermal change to continue in stored leaf, gradually converting sharp young character into darker, rounder and sweeter character.

The route it is made by

The steps above are what happens; this is the named production route they belong to, with the other teas made the same way.

• Liu Bao — A dark tea route in which the warehouse is part of the manufacture rather than what happens afterwards — the basket stage is scheduled, not incidental.

  Where it is practised: Wuzhou and the surrounding districts of Guangxi. A substantial part of the historical trade went to South-East Asia, and Malaysian and Singaporean warehouses hold a distinct body of older material.

What its chemistry turns on

Every true tea contains caffeine, catechins and amino acids, so listing them would say nothing about this one. What differs is what the processing above does to them — and that is the same list of steps, read for its chemistry instead of its craft.

The compounds that substantially decide what this tea is: Gallic acid, Organic acids, Theabrownins.

• Withering
  • creates Geraniol
  • creates Linalool
  • creates Linalool oxides
  • creates Theasinensins
  • raises Methyl salicylate
  • raises Nerolidol
  • raises Soluble sugars
  • lowers cis-3-Hexenol
  • lowers Green-leaf volatiles
  • lowers Leaf lipids
• Kill-green (fixation)
  • locks 2-Phenylethanol
  • locks Anthocyanins
  • locks Catechins
  • locks cis-3-Hexenol
  • locks Green-leaf volatiles
  • locks L-theanine
  • locks Leaf lipids
  • locks Methylated catechins
  • locks Theogallin
• Rolling and shaping
  • converts Leaf lipids
  • creates Theaflavins
  • raises Pectins
• Drying
  • creates Strecker aldehydes
  • raises Beta-damascenone
  • raises Thearubigins
• Wet piling (wo dui)
  • converts Catechins
  • creates Gallic acid
  • creates Theabrownins
  • raises Organic acids
  • raises Pectins
  • lowers ECG (epicatechin gallate)
  • lowers Soluble sugars
• Ageing and storage
  • raises Gallic acid
  • raises Pectins
  • raises Pheophytin
  • raises Thearubigins
  • lowers Catechins
  • lowers Chlorophyll
  • lowers Tea cream

These are statements about the leaf and the cup. What any of these compounds does in a body is a different kind of question and is not answered here or on the pages linked from it.

History

Shipped from Guangxi to South-East Asian tin-mining communities from the nineteenth century, where it was drunk in large quantities by Chinese labourers. The basket-ageing tradition and the market for aged Liu Bao both come from that trade rather than from a domestic Chinese fashion.

TeaHQ synthesis — TeaHQ's own reading of well-attested general knowledge, with no single source behind it.

Brewing

• Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)

  5–7 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Needs: Gaiwan

  Open in the brew assistant

• Boiling and decoction

  0.5–1 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Open in the brew assistant

• Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot)

  5–7 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 6 authored infusions

  Needs: Yixing teapot, Fairness pitcher (cha hai), Tea tray (cha pan)

  Open in the brew assistant

• Western brewing (teapot or mug)

  1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Western teapot

  Open in the brew assistant

• Boiling aged and dark tea (zhu cha)

  0.8–1.5 g/100 ml · 98–100 °C · 1 authored infusion

  Needs: Kettle, Brewing saucepan, Tea strainer

  Open in the brew assistant

Vessels this tea suits

Recorded against the tea rather than against a brewing style, because the vessel does not always follow from the method — a whisk needs lateral room whatever the schedule says, and compressed leaf needs a pick before any method applies at all.

• Brewing saucepan — An ordinary open saucepan, which is the correct and traditional vessel for every preparation where tea is boiled rather than steeped — masala chai, noon chai, butter tea, salted milk tea, boiled dark tea. It is listed because the equipment for the world’s most-made tea preparations is usually a pan, and catalogues of teaware tend to leave that out.
• Boiling teapot — A dark tea traditionally taken as a boiled drink rather than a short-infusion one.
• Nixing pottery teapot — Nixing clay and Liu Bao come from the same province, and the pot is the local vessel for the local dark tea.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the rinse, which leaves a dusty first cup
• Assuming it is a kind of pu-erh — it is a separate regional tradition

When the cup goes wrong

Written against dark tea and pu-erh as a category rather than against this tea in particular, and worked back from the symptom to the likely causes in order. 15 apply to the category; the first 6 are shown.

• Every infusion in my gongfu session tastes the same — The cups are pleasant and interchangeable, with none of the change from steep to steep the method is supposed to show.
• My clay pot has changed how the tea tastes — A tea that tasted right in porcelain comes out muted, differently scented, or carrying something that was not in the leaf.
• My first infusion is always the worst one — The opening cup is thin, dusty or flat, and the second is markedly better — consistently, across different teas.
• My gaiwan is too hot to hold — The rim and lid become uncomfortable within seconds, the pour is rushed, and tea ends up on the tray.
• My gongfu tea is bitter even at five seconds — The timer says five or ten seconds and the cup is over-extracted anyway, with the later infusions dropping off sharply.
• My pu-erh cake will not break apart cleanly — The cake resists the pick, then gives way suddenly into powder and fragments rather than intact leaf.

Every diagnosed brewing problem

If you like this

Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.

Compare this tea with another

Written comparisons

Where TeaHQ has set this tea against another in full, rather than deriving the comparison. Each one is a written page with the points of difference argued out.

• Chinese dark teas compared — Four dark teas from four provinces, each with its own fermentation practice. They are grouped as one category and share less than the grouping suggests. Put the two side by side
• Liu An Gua Pian vs Liu Bao — A green tea from Anhui and a dark tea from Guangxi whose names collide in English transliteration and nowhere else. They are about as far apart as two teas can be. Put the two side by side
• Liu Bao vs shou pu-erh — Two fermented dark teas from different provinces, both smooth and earthy, arrived at by different mechanisms and different storage traditions. Put the two side by side

Guides covering this tea

• What is dark tea, and what is pu-erh?
• Storing pu-erh and dark tea: humidity, airflow, and the argument about both
• Old leaf, stem and stalk: the parts of the plant that are not the bud
• Storing tea in a humid climate, where the general advice inverts
• Reading a pu-erh wrapper: neifei, neipiao, recipe numbers and tongs
• Sugars, pectins and polysaccharides: the compounds behind texture