What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
oolongfan
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Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:21 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 6:16 pm
oolongfan wrote:
Mon Dec 23, 2019 7:52 am
suggestions. a few new ones perhaps.
I am drinking an aged oolong (from 1998). To me it feels gentle. I drank it twice in Tainan with several tea masters aged 50 - 75 years old who drink this tea in great quantity in tea sessions lasting a few hours. Some of them only drink aged, roasted oolong (LIshan because they are from there).

I've been told that there was a time when many people in Taiwan only drank roasted tea, that its taste is what they associate with good tea.

Most importantly for you, oolongfan, it is likely that such tea may not mess up your body. I don't know for sure; &, probably nobody could really say. I know for sure that I can drink it all day without any problem.

Of my 3 aged oolongs, the oldest is the gentlest, as seems logical. I use water 2 degrees higher than I do for the other 2 & steep a little longer to get enough flavor, which is simply an excellent taste of roast without char. (The other 2 are not quite as simple in taste; but, all are similar.)

Anyway, in one person's experience by use & by what he has perceived, aged roasted tea seems easy on the body.
Thanks you for such a lovely detailed reply. Your suggestions make sense to me. I roast my own coffee and have experienced the effect of roasting on the potency of caffeine. Lighter roasted coffees retain a stronger caffeine potency despite the perception that a darker roast is somehow 'stronger/more potent'. In some countries, raw unroasted coffee beans are ground into a powder and blended to produce a poweful caffeine filled concoction (their version of an energy drink).

It makes perfect sense that a roasted aged tea might have a gentler impact on my endocrine system. I have tried to aged roasted oolongs from Norbu from the '70's and '80s which I recall being very gentle. At the time I had elevated cortisol so I was not drinking as regularily as I am now...so sadly did not really get to experiment. Now that things are more normalized and I am drinking on a weekly basis again, aged oolongs will be on my list to try.

If it is OK with the mods, can you post a link to your aged oolongs. I have, sadly, not yet tried any of your teas and would like to do so, especially any aged ones.
Last edited by pedant on Wed Jan 01, 2020 10:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: mod edit: fixed quote
Ethan Kurland
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Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:57 am

oolongfan wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:21 pm
If it is OK with the mods, can you post a link to your aged oolongs. I have, sadly, not yet tried any of your teas and would like to do so, especially any aged ones.
In the vendor section I have a thread under name. An updated list is the next to last post. Cheers
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Tillerman
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Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:50 pm

I welcomed the New Year with a session that featured the 2019 Tieluohan from the Chen Family in Wuyishan. This turned out to be not only the nicest tea I have consumed this year (ha ha) but one of the best over the past 12 months. The roast is excellent and the tea is beautifully structured in the mouth. the flavor gently fills the mouth. The touch of astringency is a beautiful addition and the tea is long and persistent. I highly recommend this tea from Wuyi Origin.
Ethan Kurland
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Sat Jan 04, 2020 1:05 pm

Tillerman wrote:
Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:50 pm
The roast is excellent and the tea is beautifully structured in the mouth. the flavor gently fills the mouth. The touch of astringency is a beautiful addition and the tea is long and persistent.
What a beautifully written description of a tea that sounds wonderful! Thanks.
Noonie
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Sat Jan 04, 2020 7:01 pm

Sometime in the summer when a couple of the Taiwan online vendors had a sale I bought quite a bit (for me) high mountain oolong...the greener style from 2019. Last few years I really enjoyed this style of tea, lately though it is not doing it for me. I have a couple more bags of it in my tea fridge and I just don't see myself opening it anytime soon. Question - leaving it in the fridge unopened, will it get worse in the next six months...or be about the same? I will not completely give up on it, but I don't want to open it--try it a few times--and leave it in a canister for months (which is what happened to the current bag).

On the other hand, I had bought 25g of a roasted dong ding and really enjoyed it. It's not that I always favor darker teas, as I still drink sencha most every day, but that green style of high mountain oolong...meh.
Guy_Juan
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Sat Jan 04, 2020 7:27 pm

Tillerman wrote:
Sat Jan 04, 2020 12:50 pm
I welcomed the New Year with a session that featured the 2019 Tieluohan from the Chen Family in Wuyishan. This turned out to be not only the nicest tea I have consumed this year (ha ha) but one of the best over the past 12 months. The roast is excellent and the tea is beautifully structured in the mouth. the flavor gently fills the mouth. The touch of astringency is a beautiful addition and the tea is long and persistent. I highly recommend this tea from Wuyi Origin.
Is that Wuyi's Boutique Tieluohan you are drinking or their regular offering. Just wondering as I have 25g of the Boutique arriving any day. Sadly it's now sold out.
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Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:52 pm

Noonie wrote:
Sat Jan 04, 2020 7:01 pm
Question - leaving it in the fridge unopened, will it get worse in the next six months...or be about the same?
Unopened vacuum pack should be fine, even for more than 6 months.

I don't know which gaoshan you or who it is from & don't want to know. What I do know is that sometimes a break away from a specific tea is a good idea to refresh one's appreciation. Also using different parameters for a tea that I have been drink daily in quantity changes the brew enough to make it more interesting.
Noonie
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Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:01 am

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sat Jan 04, 2020 10:52 pm
Noonie wrote:
Sat Jan 04, 2020 7:01 pm
Question - leaving it in the fridge unopened, will it get worse in the next six months...or be about the same?
Unopened vacuum pack should be fine, even for more than 6 months.

I don't know which gaoshan you or who it is from & don't want to know. What I do know is that sometimes a break away from a specific tea is a good idea to refresh one's appreciation. Also using different parameters for a tea that I have been drink daily in quantity changes the brew enough to make it more interesting.
Thanks @Ethan Kurland
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klepto
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Sun Jan 05, 2020 9:29 pm

New oolong drinker here, I have procured a haul of some nice samples and currently drinking a Dan Cong oolong called Old Grove Honey Orchid and one I don't know the type called Buddha's Hand.
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Bok
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Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:31 pm

Had the good fortune of spending a night drinking one good yancha after another with a new acquaintance: Tieluohan times two, Laocong Shuixian times two, with lovely congwei, some others where I do not recall the names, but from a place in the groves of Wuyi with very little sunlight, which produces some exquisite flavour and a slightly aged Rougui which did not have the typical up-in-your-face-anyone-can-like-me flavours that make Rougui such a popular yancha, but a little more maturity and character instead. Nice! And very educational, no roughness, itchy tongue, or any other unpleasantness, just pure and clean quality tea.

These moments are best savoured and enjoyed, without thinking about how to purchase one of them – they are unaffordable anyways :mrgreen:
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Bok
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Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:20 pm

Must be my lucky week, after Tuesday, I yesterday had the probably once-in-a-lifetime chance to taste a real Chen Ah Qiao from 1982! Those who don't know who that is, he was the most famous person making Dongding ever, they called him Dongding King in the heyday of this tea in the 70-80s. It is probably one of the most sought after teas among Taiwanese tea aficionados. There are places where they charge 5000NT for a single session of this tea, although I have been told by knowledgeable sources that the tea is fake.

Anecdote: If I am not mistaken Chen HY is his grandson. My thoughts and impression on this tea are still settling, just one comment ahead: None of any DD I had ever tasted before is even close to it. So not close it has almost nothing in common. His grandson still has a loooong way to go to reach that level :lol:

The tea we had had not even been re-roasted since it had been made! That is some skill there.
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Victoria
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Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:36 pm

Bok wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:20 pm
Must be my lucky week, after Tuesday, I yesterday had the probably once-in-a-lifetime chance to taste a real Chen Ah Qiao from 1982! Those who don't know who that is, he was the most famous person making Dongding ever, they called him Dongding King in the heyday of this tea in the 70-80s. It is probably one of the most sought after teas among Taiwanese tea aficionados. There are places where they charge 5000NT for a single session of this tea, although I have been told by knowledgeable sources that the tea is fake.

Anecdote: If I am not mistaken Chen HY is his grandson. My thoughts and impression on this tea are still settling, just one comment ahead: None of any DD I had ever tasted before is even close to it. So not close it has almost nothing in common. His grandson still has a loooong way to go to reach that level :lol:

The tea we had had not even been re-roasted since it had been made! That is some skill there.
Glad you got to try this Bok. Curious, what was the flavor profile and how was it different from any of Tillerman’s Laoshi DD (since he has a variety of new and aged DD that you liked)? Aging of course will really change whatever was the original profile. I’ve had a few 80s DD here at tastings, they were super rich yet mellow. Can’t remember exact profile though, except they were very good.

I think Chen Ah Qiao is not directly related to HY Chen, but rather used HY Chen’s grandfather’s farmed DD to roast.
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Bok
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Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:01 pm

Victoria wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:36 pm
Glad you got to try this Bok. Curious, what was the flavor profile and how was it different from any of Tillerman’s Laoshi DD?
Not in the slightest. A whole different tea.

I also got to try younger version of what I was told would come closer to how CAQ's was when the tea was freshly made. This is according to people who had his teas when they were younger in their original state. Also seems to have to do that tea leaves back then were closer to what today would be called "ye fang" or semi-abandoned leaves, left on their own. The young version I tried was indeed a modern yefang tea.

Similar to Tillerman's, very high oxidation, a little roasting and that's it.
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Victoria
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Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:15 pm

Bok wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:01 pm
Victoria wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:36 pm
Glad you got to try this Bok. Curious, what was the flavor profile and how was it different from any of Tillerman’s Laoshi DD?
Not in the slightest. A whole different tea.

I also got to try younger version of what I was told would come closer to how CAQ's was when the tea was freshly made. This is according to people who had his teas when they were younger in their original state. Also seems to have to do that tea leaves back then were closer to what today would be called "ye fang" or semi-abandoned leaves, left on their own. The young version I tried was indeed a modern yefang tea.

Similar to Tillerman's, very high oxidation, a little roasting and that's it.
So did you have any aged DD at Chen Huan Tang (Laoshi), as a comparison?
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Bok
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Thu Jan 16, 2020 8:25 pm

@Victoria yes I did. Of course brewed by a different person yields a different result and I don’t know for sure what kind of quality he made for me, but it was still radically different to the CAQ. I’ve had other aged dongding and other aged Taiwan Oolongs, none had this kind of explosion of fragrances and layers, changing from cup to cup.
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