What Oolong Are You Drinking

[StoneLadle]

Having some 2018 MiLan DanCong medium roasted..... trying a modern ZiSha pot made out of 90s ZiSha. Brewing 1/4 pot as this is a 500ml pot, give and take 50ml. The brew is very aromatic and fragrance very refined. The aroma of DanCong fills the air around the brewing table and lingers on in the nose and mouth.

Cheers!!

mind bending sorcery again...

[Ethan Kurland]

Organic Jin Xuan Green Oolong from Thailand:

The tea that I have been drinking is rolled which may influence how very long the leaves & stems of this unrolled tea look to me. The foil pack holding holding only 50 grams seems is bigger than the packs of 100 grams of rolled tea that I have.

The dry light brown tea is pretty enough to give one hope that it will produce a tasty brew though I don't detect any aroma coming from the dry tea.

It is easy enough to drink. Nothing offensive about it. It is almost totally tasteless at first. There is mild aftertaste very slightly sweet & equally slightly vegetal. The most positive effect is some dryness produced in my mouth. Lately I have not been drinking anything to induce that experience; thus, I am reminded that I like acridity sometimes.

It is notable that the same tea if allowed to oxidize considerably more becomes much more flavorful & dynamic. Also, lightly oxidized jin xuan from Taiwan is green (not light brown), usually rolled, & produces a strong vegetal brew (distasteful & bitter for me).

What can one do with an inoffensive, almost tasteless tea? It will do well for times one wants to lightly flavor some water throughout a day. Grandpa style steeping of leaves that very casually are covered with water of various temperatures to be consumed without much care. It won't be a bitter drink & will have some flavor as one travels, works, walks, etc.

[Bok]

Last night the luxury of a double Yancha session, one more casual DHP-type and the other a luxurious Laocong Shuixian - a rare treat I give myself in these troubling times

[carogust]

Every time I see a cup of dark yancha I get vivid memories of its taste... so nice...

[YumCha]

An extremely sweet and floral Organic Ti Kwan Yin.

[debunix]

"Wild Style" DHP from Old Ways Tea....dry, minerals, astringent, earthy. Quite tasty.

[StoneLadle]

An extremely sweet and floral Organic Ti Kwan Yin.

Green or roasted??

I been on a TGY/TKY bender recently.... All roasted, and properly roasted at that...

[debunix]

2020 Spring Shan Lin Xi from Tillerman, enjoyed Grandpa style in the Flower of Forgetfulness. I had a rather packed pot of this tea last night, but today's grandpa session is so comfortable, lightly floral, sweet alpine meadows turning gold, and yes, buttery. So fine.

[LeoFox]

Enjoying a nice rougui this morning.

Bright red fruits behind a medium to strong roast. The aftertaste is like medium roast coffee, cream and maybe some lychee - and it is so long lasting. Caffeine rush is strong, but after it peaked, i felt very alert. Filled the whole house with sweet rou gui smell.

8 g in 110 mL in pre 90s ruyi teapot.

[StoneLadle]

@LeoFox I'm reaching for some Rougui right after finishing this post!

The past few days have been a journey through assorted traditional toasted TGY and aged oolongs from Taiwan...

Interestingly, while sipping thru a pot of 2015 Dancong yesterday I kept getting orchid flavours that kept bringing me back to TGY ...

[LeoFox]

Enjoying Tieguanyin ‘Iron Goddess‘ from Té Company in NYC. Aromatics are off the charts, musky, malty, and deep. Liquor parallels aromatics, and is super-rich. Elena described it well, “like an old man smoking cigars on side street hickory benches. It is the peat whiskey of teas.” The empty cup aroma is thick. Maybe the best TGY I’ve had yet.

Steeped in Yamada Sou mayake 160ml kyusu.

Victoria
Your review that this may be the best TGY you have ever had inspired me to look into this tea. I think they have a free shipping special right now.

Seems to be a Taiwan Muzha- style of heavily roasted TGY made from a blend of Ying Zhi Hong Xin & Jinxuan.

I haven't had ying zhi hong xin before: most of the TGY from taiwan ive had is jin xuan, tgy or tgy +jin xuan blend cultivars - all typically for a lower price point from taiwan vendors than offered by Te company. Would you say the ying zhi hong xin added a particular quality attribute to the brew?

Hi LeoFox, I’m not sure about the different cultivars used in TGY that I’ve enjoyed, but the quality of leaf and skill in processing will be a big factor in outcome and price point. Most Muzha I’ve had was just so-so, and thinner than roasted DongDing, but I think that’s just because the grade wasn’t AAA. Also, not sure why there is a distinction between Tieguanyin and Muzha since they are both produced in the same area, and look similar. Maybe other members can shed some light on the distinctions if any.

Finally brewed the Te company iron goddess. This was also a test run of Peter Kuo's teapot. @StoneLadle's recent roast TGY sessions added motivation.

At first i was slightly skeptical because the tea came in non-vacuum sealed paper bags. However, once I saw the dry leaf, I knew this was going to be good: loosely rolled balls of dark brown leaf exuding a tantalizing hint of smoke and brown sugar.

Brewed 9g /150 mL boiling filtered water in Peter Kuo wood fired pot
Paramters:
Rinse/25s/20s/30s/40s/1min/1min30/2min30/5min/20min

The scent is smoky, like a mix of very light cigar and expensive incense. The taste begins with the cigar and incense smoke that immediately opens up to sweet, creamy toffee and wood barrel flavors, that build up layer after layer far into the after taste. In later rinses, the smoke and the toffee coalesce. Clean and aged shu pu ehr flavors also emerge: dried dark fruit and sweet chinese red bean paste (possibly from aging? No idea how old this is).

This was an amazing session. There was no unpleasantness from the tea. The teapot performed even better than i expected. It poured super fast, and with such ease. By far the easiest brewing instrument i own. Also, this may be in my head, but hot water directly from the pot seems slightly sweet, so it may be boosting the body of the tea. No idea if it mutes, because i havent done any comparisons.

[StoneLadle]

Nuggets of fire man... Whoa might have to get my hands on these puppies...

[polezaivsani]

@faj, was it you painting EoT's Horse head cliff SX in leather and raspberry tones a while back? Well, it sounded plenty enticing and here i am, recalling it a day after a session still puts a smile on my face. I was a bit surprised not seeing the usual moss and sweetness from it and found soup a bit thin, though that might be due to me being scanty with the leaves. Now the fun part! Got plenty of wet leather from the shorter initial steeps. And looking for the raspberry to show up was seeing more the raspberry leaves than berries. Pushing steeps a bit longer did the trick though - surprise and delight! The wet leaves - those smelled fantastic, old and warm mineral rich rock and more leather, really comforting. The drink - that was energizing a good deal, like being struck with a column of fire. The brain got pumped up at once, throwing shivers more than once. And then the warmth got down the spine, pretty much putting the whole of me into high gear. The problem was that it was late Sunday eve and i wasn't in the mood for any more adventures . Thankfully it didn't take hold of me for long.

[faj]

faj, was it you painting EoT's Horse head cliff SX in leather and raspberry tones a while back?

Guilty as charged. I rarely am very specific in my tasting notes, but this time I was, and the reference was "raspberry pie", as in cooked jam and dough. Very different from the "raw raspberry" I often taste in gyokuro.

The drink - that was energizing a good deal, like being struck with a column of fire.

I do not think I am very sensitive to the energy of tea. If anything, I more often get a relaxing, sleep-inducing effect, which might simply be the result of drinking tea being relaxing, or an activity I tend to indulge in at moments of the day where things are quieter.

[polezaivsani]

... the reference was "raspberry pie", as in cooked jam and dough. Very different from the "raw raspberry" I often taste in gyokuro.

I must've been off to the store by time i got to the raspberry .