What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Andrew S]

Playing again with a small sample of a less-typical yancha cultivar - a 2012 ZhuangYuanHong (having finished a pack of a 2023 version of the same cultivar, but different tea, a few days ago).

There's not much that I can say usefully in terms of comparing the same cultivar across a decade of ageing, especially from different locations and different producers, but it still feels like a learning experience... at the very least, this 2012 version was quite nice to drink. The aged 'perfumed' notes (as I like to call them) were present, but the more primary, 'vegetal' notes came through as well (in a good way).

I've fallen back into the habit of having mostly the same teas every few days, subject to the weather: hongcha on dry, windy, cool days (which have been an atypical outlier this Summer down here), baozhong on hot days to cut through any oppressive humidity (which has felt very oppressive this Summer), and old puer or liubao whenever I wanted that different experience. And yancha for breakfast whenever the mornings have been cool or dry enough for that.

@i_viter: good to see that you're enjoying the aged teas from TheTea. I've had some which I've enjoyed quite a bit, and your post might encourage me to get some of their latest ones, although I'm now in the odd position of having too much aged tea (or tea for ageing), and far less 'fresh' tea... I'll put some of their 1999 baozhong into a bigger pot later today.

Andrew

[Andrew S]

And now, finishing that same sample of the 2012 HuiYuanKeng ZhuangYuanHong, and finishing a sample of a 2018 HongJiGuan from GuiYan, which I believe is outside the core area.

I found it interesting how the older tea had both aged notes (similar to, say, the plummy notes you get from a 90s puer that wasn't stored very humidly) and an underlying vegetal character that persisted across the brews (in a pleasant way - like walking through a greengrocer's vegetable section). The younger tea had some of those aged notes as well, but was more nutty, spicy, fruity and cake-y, and not as 'mineral'.

Andrew

[Sunyata]

No fancy pictures or anything... just sipping some good old 2017 TLH from Shuiliandong.

[GaoShan]

I recently revisited a couple Dancongs I bought from Wuyi Origin in 2023 that I found to be way too roasted when I initially tried them in early 2024. These teas are still very roasted, but they seem to have more fruity and floral flavours peeking through and to be less abrasive. The Ling Tou Baiye had a lovely peach note and good longevity, and the Dong Fang Hong I drank today had some pronounced oakwood notes plus honeydew, orange, and other citrus fruits. These are actually more enjoyable teas than I thought they were a year ago. Not sure if my palate has changed or age has done these teas a favour.

I've also been enjoying a roasted Alishan oolong from Ethan. The roast complements the floral, buttery Alishan instead of drowning it in sourness/charcoal. This tea is a great value for $20 for 50 g. His Perfect Oolong is perfect, as always, though I was less happy with his Si Ji Chun, which I found to be less floral than I hoped and to lack longevity.

[Andrew S]

I've been finishing a few yancha samples, getting towards the end of a packet of some very nice ShuiXian from what I understand to be a higher part of HuiYuanKeng - FengShuKe (枫树窠) , and enjoying some heavily-roasted 2002 TieGuanYin from LiShan.

I've also been finishing some of Ethan's teas when the temperature or humidity has gotten too high - although a part of me wants to keep a packet for the next few decades to see what happens to the last of his tea...

Andrew

[pathlesstaken]

Enjoying some Tieluohan from Purple Cloud brewed western style. I've been enjoying western style oolong in this pot - I've found the tea to end up a decent bit sweeter than porcelain or glass. High roast goes especially well. These pots were used to brew Wuyi originally (well, this one is for coffee), and I can certainly see why.

[Sunyata]

I've been finishing a few yancha samples, getting towards the end of a packet of some very nice ShuiXian from what I understand to be a higher part of HuiYuanKeng - FengShuKe (枫树窠) , and enjoying some heavily-roasted 2002 TieGuanYin from LiShan.

I've also been finishing some of Ethan's teas when the temperature or humidity has gotten too high - although a part of me wants to keep a packet for the next few decades to see what happens to the last of his tea...

Andrew

Gujing and Fengshuke are considered the top 2 micro-terroir within Huiyuankeng, which is the largest (alongside Wuyuanjian) of the sankeng liangjian. Within the zhengyan core, there's also alot of areas with strong sunlight (matouyan of wuyuanjian, or just about any stuff that comes from a -yan like foguoyan, bishiyan, etc), and areas with higher altitude (sanyanfeng, lianhuafeng or a -feng). I tend to avoid them as the emphasis is on high layers of aroma-forward teas. Generally, though with exceptions, yancha connoisseurs go for tea that is grown in lower elevation, buttressed by high rocks, shaded from sunlight for most of the day, and in areas with alot of moisture.

[Bok]

A Shuixian from Anmo to settle down tonight. Interesting tea, some fresh green notes coming through an otherwise roasted tea. Quite delicate and balanced, very clean.

[Andrew S]

Dancong time down here - getting back to trying some samples to learn more about this tea that I've neglected for many years.

The first one was a 2023 YouHuaXiang from DaAn - nicely bright and refreshing character, with a cool aftertaste.

The second was a 2016 HuangZhiXiang - this one was quite interesting, because it started with a very mild flavour (and very little aroma), but it had a nice, pure, 'watery' mouthfeel that encouraged me to keep going, and then from the fourth brew onwards it suddenly seemed to wake up and develop a lovely line of juicy red berry fruits that ran through from the start into the very long aftertaste. I can still taste it quite a while later...

Andrew