Beautiful clouds in the South. Not south of my window, where the sky is uniformly, hopelessly gray, but south of Sichuan on the border with Laos, Burma and Vietnam. That??s Yunnan, land of rainforests, misty mountains and golden monkeys, the mythical Shangri-La.
It reminds me of a line in a song by Italian songwriter Francesco Guccini, aptly titled Asia and vaguely inspired by Marco Polo??s journey to Cathai.
Among tropical flowers, among screams of sweetness, a slow, gentle breeze slid/
Whistling through the net, it brought the scent of silk and spices
Except in Yunnan, it would bring the scent of tea. The province is the cradle of tea. The Camellia Sinensis plant probably originated from here and it certainly grew in the wild. Yunnan teas are heady with altitude. They are mostly produced at 3200 to 8200 ft. What makes them unique is the tea bush variety that is grown in this area, with its large, Assam-like leaves. Yi, Jumeau-Lafond and Welsh call black Yunnan tea ??le grand seigneur de Chine, ou même, peut-être, le grand seigneur du thé.?
But Yunnan greens are a good match for its black. This is the birthplace of Chun Mee and it also makes an excellent plain Yunnan green, as I discovered today. In my slow move towards uncharted Chinese territory, I tried Special Teas?? Yunnan Green Imperial.
As I opened the package, an intensely sweet scent assaulted my nostrils. Vanilla sprang to mind. Used to the earthy scent of black Yunnan, I was rather taken aback. But the incongruous vanilla vanished from the brew, which I got by steeping two heaped teaspoons in 6 oz water for two minutes. Instead, the golden green cup had a vegetaley scent with a fleeting earthy notes.
OK, I confess. My first description of that note was??not unlike cat pee. But it sounds disgusting, whereas the scent of this Yunnan was everything but. It was satisfyingly robust in the mouth, and slightly unctuous, with a vegetaley flavor enriched by grassy field notes. The vanilla-like accents of the dried leaves came surprisingly out in the finish. A lovely tea of many layers, not unlike a Titian.