Teach me to brew oolong

[LeoFox]

That's what most of us mean when we refer to ball shape. The good news is that it is real jin xuan based upon the vein pattern I see, but a lot depends upon processing.

The absence of wrinkles can indicate that it was steeped too long, too little leaf was used, or this is the end of a very long session.

It should not be spinach-y at all. It should be light, delicate, orchid-gardenia florals, with cream-like texture. If you have a gram scale, use 6g/100ml as a starting point. If you do not have a scale, add leaf to cover the bottom just enough that you can see the bottom of the pot in some places. I prefer a scale for starting out and for standardized tasting sessions.

I tend to over steep as I like a full flavor, too delicate and I can't taste it. I'll try more for a shorter steep and see if it helps.

The only other tea I drink is puer and sometimes I let it steep overnight

Oversteep but no vegetal?

Maybe try this

throw 15 g in your 250 ml preheated pot


Do a rinse with boiling water

Then wait until water temp goes down to about 90C

Do a 1 min 30s - 2 min steep

[mbanu]

This may be a good thing to try, though personally, I've found this is not ideal. The result is usually subpar for me, though probably better than the over steeped infusion.

While it is certainly preparable to infuse the tea correctly, the first time, it is also useful for the beginner to know that sometimes it can be rescued after the infusion proper is completed. And really, this is essentially what grandpa style infusions are all about.

Often I accept failure and drink the oversteeped or under steeped brew. I feel it can be educational and corrective

A lot of times these corrections are for when someone is having tea with someone else, especially someone who likes tea but not to the point of drinking bad tea for character-building purposes. Another thing that can work well with an oversteeped oolong is to serve it with something that is too sweet, as the one will distract from the taste of the other.