Source: Taiwan.
Baozhong is a unique style of tea which originally came from Fujian Province in Mainland China. As with other tea styles, the methods used to produce this type of tea came to Taiwan when people moved here from the mainland.
The name of this tea in Chinese is Bāozhòng, but it is often referred to as “Pouchong” in the West. The name is most likely a variation of the Mandarin Chinese word Bāozhuāng, meaning “package” or “to package” when used as a verb. Originally, this type of tea was wrapped in paper at some point during processing and/or marketing, and this “bāozhuāng” is where the name is said to come from.
Baozhong is fairly difficult to classify because, from a processing standpoint, it falls somewhere between an green tea and an oolong. It’s oxidation level is usually between 10% and 15%, while other “green” oolong styles from Fujian and Taiwan have an oxidation level of 20-30%. Basically what you can take from this technical discussion is that Baozhong is really in a class by itself, but we have decided to classify it as an oolong just for simplicity’s sake.
This Baozhong comes from a +/- 4,000 ft (1,200 M) elevation plantation in Nantou county, central Taiwan. It was hand picked & processed in late March, 2010. The liquor is crystal clear & yellow-green, with a lovely fresh & green aroma with hints of flowers and maybe just a touch of melon. The flavor profile is subtle & crisp, but it can best be described as fresh, green, mildly vegetal & a bit floral-sweet.