When you make tea in a park or in a garden, access to boiling water is often the biggest challenge. In such circumstances, a large teapot can be a good solution. It will provide a lot of tea and doesn't need to be refilled too often with water located at a distant place.
A large tea bowl is another alternative that works best with green teas or Baozhong. (However, it wouldn't suit ball shaped Oolongs, which require a lid to open up well).
While waiting for the spring 2022 harvests, I'm revisiting my 2021 Baozhongs. Here, I'm brewing the
First Garden Harvest Qin Yu Baozhong. This organic Baozhong from San Hsia is made from a new cultivar (obtained by combining qingxin Oolong and Jinxuan), Nr 22. For me and several of you, it's probably the most intense and surprising Baozhong of 2021. The other one I find very light, and incredibly powerful is this
Jin Guan Yin from a new (and maybe unique?) tea plantation in Taiwan.
The presence of various cultivars is what makes Baozhong interesting. They add variety to the aromas and flavor profiles. In the high mountains, on the other hand, the most suitable cultivar is Qingxin Oolong. What brings variety in this category are the terroirs, the different mountains and their varying soils and elevation. That's why Baozhongs are not really competing with high mountain Oolongs, but they have their own charm and 'raison d'être' (purpose)!
Once you've entered the world of Oolongs, the door of Baozhong is wide open!
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