TeaForum.org

Baisao wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:10 pm

I’ve made Tobetto a lot. I feel that 60° is spot on. It’s a very nice tea but unforgiving of hotter temperatures except in later steeps. You should be able to get 6 steepings from it, so you do get your money’s worth.

Indeed, #5 and #6 (86°C for 2 mins) were both very enjoyable, even though the pot had to wait for half a day. #7 at 98°C for several minutes didn't bring much. I ate a bit of the tea, it was quite nice, too, crispy fresh.

Drinking Obubu tencha this morning. Smooth, mellow, vegetal, a hint of cooked peas and nuttiness but not to the degree I so often find unpleasant in Long Jing. Mmmm.

Today I drank the “pre-rain” Pan’an County Long Jing 43 from Red Blossom Tea Co. This is not Xi Hu Long Jing, but Yue Zhou Long Jing.

I’m still pretty new to Long Jing, so it’s hard to compare it to anything else. HOWEVER, I will say I tasted a distinct note of Parmesan cheese especially present in the finish LOL. It had a hint of that sharp, salty, umami note in the sides of the mouth and back of the throat. But overall it was fairly light and buttery with a reserved nuttiness. It’s not the prettiest tea (lots of broken leaves), but I think it represents a pretty good value in the western Long Jing market today.

Have brewed grandpa style, and using two gong dao bei. The umami/Parmesan note came out more using the gong dao bei.

Nova02 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:57 am

I will say that the color is a little inconsistent, with around 15% of the leaves a lime green as opposed to the pale yellow that the rest of the leaves are. I don't know if this is a product of the lighter roasting that this dragonwell has compared to others I've seen, or if it detrimentally affects the quality of this tea. Any answers to those questions would be appreciated!

Would love to know more about this too. I've heard that most high quality chinese green teas should not have that deep verdant green color, but more of a pale yellow-green color. Here is some of what I found:

"The yellower the leaves the better, indicating less chlorophyll and younger buds which is a desirable trait for this style of tea."

"The earliest pickings are much more yellow in color and full of yellow and silver down. The leaves are quite small. Later pickings have less down and a more yellow green color with variagated darker shades. Only summer tea is going to be deep, deep green. Avoid overly green Dragonwell, as it is most likely not the real article."

"More sunlight exposure and higher temperatures mean more chlorophyll activated in the leaf and a greener color and flavor."

https://verdanttea.com/a-buyers-guide-t ... n-varietal

^^ I don't patronize Verdant Tea... I know there's a lot of drama surrounding Gushu-Gate LMAO, but their long jing buyer's guide has some solid information for beginners. I'm considering purchasing some of their long jing, in spite of everything haha

“More sunlight exposure and higher temperatures mean more chlorophyll activated in the leaf and a greener color and flavor."

And yet gyokuro is as green as they come and is grown with shade.

Baisao wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 21, 2022 8:09 pm

“More sunlight exposure and higher temperatures mean more chlorophyll activated in the leaf and a greener color and flavor."

And yet gyokuro is as green as they come and is grown with shade.

Yeah, I’m really not sure. I don’t know enough about plant biology and photosynthesis and chlorophyll production to analyze the differences. But I believe gyokuro production regions are warmer climate, lower elevation, later harvest... and the artificial shading of the tea plants spurs a chemical reaction in the leaf which causes an increase in the production of chlorophyll. But don’t they naturally see more sunlight during the growing season anyway?

IDK obviously cultivation techniques are highly specific to that region and style of tea and are really beyond my knowledge base.

Any plant biologists out there who want to shed a little light on this? Lol

Taiping Houkui from Hou Keng via Sazen.

Sazen's Anji Bai Cha. Looks & smells great. Ate a few leaves while drinking, since they didn't fully settle at the bottom after more than 6 minutes. The leaves were vary tasty with some unexpected umami, but I didn't detect much in the liquor. In fact, the tea was nice but a bit flat. Nowhere near the nuanced bouquet of their Taiping Houkui which I'm still thinking (dreaming) of. Still, a very pleasant start to this cloudy day (3g/260ml).

Gyokuro Chitose no Homare by Marukyu Koyamaen (8g in 100ml of water)

I like and I've tried a good number of sencha—one of the few tea types where I don't consider myself a complete newb. But the 3-4 gyokuro I tasted over the years never impressed me, so I assumed it's most likely just not my thing. But the last time I tried was, I think, in 2013, so decided to give it another go with this one, bought from Sazen. First preparation last week was interesting, certainly more so than what I had before, but maybe not quite intriguing and balanced enough, given the price points for gyokuro. The part I liked best was eating the leaves with some vinaigrette.

This time I decided to follow the manufacturer's instructions on the tin instead of Sazen's shorter steeping times, except I ran out of patience pouring the hot water from samashi to samashi, so instead of 5min@40°C I did 4:20min@50°C (8g/100ml). I don't know if the preparation made the difference, or maybe the first session helped me with acquiring the taste, but this time I was blown away and liked every bit of it. Second infusion 30s@60°C, third 40s@70°C (pretty steep gradient but it all tasted well & balanced to me). Luckily, I have another gyokuro in my next green tea order (this time a single-origin from TdJ) to explore further.

Casually brewing chinese green in an old pot. Start of a wonderful evening.

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 17, 2022 4:01 pm

Casually brewing chinese green in an old pot. Start of a wonderful evening.

Guaranteed to make any evening wonderful. Good choice! Just finished my stash and I’m craving more.

TeaTotaling wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 18, 2022 4:34 pm

Guaranteed to make any evening wonderful. Good choice! Just finished my stash and I’m craving more.

It was like a sedative. Made me so relaxed and sleepy. Who says only old pu can do this?

I’m enjoying a kyô-bancha from TDJ: https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=726

It’s unlike any tea I’ve had though I suppose it does have similarities with roasted hojicha, if only because the bancha is roasted and contains quite a few stems.

The leaves are large and glossy. Buds are absent. Some leaves are charred black from roasting. These lend a smokey characteristic to the tea.

The tea likes very hot water and handles it without extracting bitterness or astringency.

The first steep is a structurally crude and I may discard it next time.

Subsequent steeps are soft, round and comforting. It’s very, very sweet on the fore palate, perhaps because of the inclusion of stems. It’s smokey, though not in a direct way like a lapsang souchong, and has an incense-like aroma. One word keeps coming to mind as I write this: comforting.

I can’t say I’ve had a tea like it before. It would be a wonderful tea for cold days.

Baisao wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 19, 2022 2:40 am

I’m enjoying a kyô-bancha from TDJ: https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=726

I never had a tea like that myself. Thanks for sharing your impressions.

Baisao wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 19, 2022 2:40 am

I’m enjoying a kyô-bancha from TDJ: https://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php ... cts_id=726

It’s unlike any tea I’ve had though I suppose it does have similarities with roasted hojicha, if only because the bancha is roasted and contains quite a few stems.

The leaves are large and glossy. Buds are absent. Some leaves are charred black from roasting. These lend a smokey characteristic to the tea.

The tea likes very hot water and handles it without extracting bitterness or astringency.

The first steep is a structurally crude and I may discard it next time.

Subsequent steeps are soft, round and comforting. It’s very, very sweet on the fore palate, perhaps because of the inclusion of stems. It’s smokey, though not in a direct way like a lapsang souchong, and has an incense-like aroma. One word keeps coming to mind as I write this: comforting.

I can’t say I’ve had a tea like it before. It would be a wonderful tea for cold days.

Such high praise for such an economical tea! This must be a real gem!