What Oolong Are You Drinking

[debunix]

Song Zhong #5 from Tea Habitat, brewed up in my Chao Zhou pot. Floral, fruity, sweet: plum, citrus blossom, buckwheat flowers. So nice.

[plod]

Okay, I'd just ask HY Chen for his unlisted 'Roasted High Mountain' Oolong. He had it listed last year so I just keep ordering it. It is both very good and very reasonably priced. Mon Dieu! I even mix it with his pricier Heavy and Medium Roasted 100 year garden oolongs

Ca alors! That settles it then, on the list it goes. Thanks again!

[plod]

Got around to trying HY Chen's charcoal heavy roasted. Very robust, but smooth. Chocolatey-raisin aromas, some chocolate and baked whatnot in the taste. Mostly about the feel for me, though, which is great.

I'd let the tea air in a little jar for four or five days, and it opened up quite a bit in that time. Will let the last of the sample rest for another five days or so, see if it keeps changing.

[Victoria]

Got around to trying HY Chen's charcoal heavy roasted. Very robust, but smooth. Chocolatey-raisin aromas, some chocolate and baked whatnot in the taste. Mostly about the feel for me, though, which is great.

I'd let the tea air in a little jar for four or five days, and it opened up quite a bit in that time. Will let the last of the sample rest for another five days or so, see if it keeps changing.

Was this his Charcoal Heavy Roast 100 year garden? So rich.

Today I had Te Company’s ‘Frozen Summit Reserve’ , Elena’s medium roasted 1,100 meters DongDing from Nantou County. I had 1st opened the packet in February I think, I wish I left the leaves inside the original opened packet with a clip and placed that inside a double lidded stainless tea caddy. The leaves after so many months would have been fresher and not as muted as they are now. Gone are some of the more complex walnut evergreen floral notes, it’s like they have been flattened out. I am happy she was able to meet HY Chen last year, maybe even buying from him now, not sure though so I’ll ask her over Christmas when I’m in the city.

[debunix]

Today I had a very nice session with Da Hong Pao from WingHop Fung. I came in the middle of their closing sale for their original LA Chinatown location some months ago, and bought two large packages of DHP for a steep discount. The tea has a nice touch of mineral taste, and is mellow and tolerant of diverse brewing conditions--perfect for drinking at work. It is smoother than my staple SeaDyke TKY, and quite a nice change for this use.

[plod]

Was this his Charcoal Heavy Roast 100 year garden? So rich.

Yes! Agree. Like a pocket fireplace + brandy.

Have tried out the light roast version a few times now. Very tasty and full, but less interesting than his others after a while. Has some roasted qualities, chocolate and nuts, combined with a greener sweetness. Certain similarities to a Gui Fei Mei Ren, but less honeyed of course.

Gong fuing in both teapot and gaiwan (6grams to 100ml), the complexity died out after the third brew and the brews rapidly turned flatter and more vegetal. However, this tea works perfectly as a mid-level tea. I've done 3 grams in a brew basket, around 200ml of water. Good for at least three brews.

[Victoria]

Was this his Charcoal Heavy Roast 100 year garden? So rich.

Yes! Agree. Like a pocket fireplace + brandy.

Have tried out the light roast version a few times now. Very tasty and full, but less interesting than his others after a while. Has some roasted qualities, chocolate and nuts, combined with a greener sweetness. Certain similarities to a Gui Fei Mei Ren, but less honeyed of course.

Gong fuing in both teapot and gaiwan (6grams to 100ml), the complexity died out after the third brew and the brews rapidly turned flatter and more vegetal. However, this tea works perfectly as a mid-level tea. I've done 3 grams in a brew basket, around 200ml of water. Good for at least three brews.

Interesting to hear how much leaf you are using Plod. Most morning lately I grab HY Chen’s Medium or High roast 100 year garden DongDing and use 12gr/240ml (8oz)/208f/70sec so my leaf to water ratio is 1.5: 1 . I like to hydrate early in the day so use Hokujo's larger 250ml kyusu. Like you I find his light roast much less interesting, and unroasted not interesting at all. I’ll going to try roasting those myself at some point.

[Victoria]

Essence of Tea’s 'Half Hand Made 2014 Rou Gui' wuyi oolong, a kind gift from Pedant. A rich, spicy sweet, aromatic, long lasting roasted yancha. On the third steep a woody smokiness came through, maybe too much so, but then subsided nicely in later steeps. Perfect autumn warming tea. Using a lot of leaf helped extend the steeps with the last round going on for several days, starting on a Monday going all week thru to Sunday with 24-48hr steeps at the end.

Hoya twisted crystal sake pitcher, Hokujo red clay cups and yusamashi, with 200ml bell shaped Taiwan (?) pot.

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[CWarren]

2016 Winter Lishan Wild Organic Oolong Tea from Kyarazen and Hau Ying Chen. Silky smooth, notes of gardenia and plenty of happy after feels.

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[debunix]

That looks delicious. I still have one unopened package from the 2017 buy but am not sure which tea it is (away from the tea chest as I write this). I know I bought a little of everything and all have been superb.

[plod]

That looks and sounds pretty great. Is that a Kyoto-style cold glaze gaiwan?

Interesting to hear how much leaf you are using Plod. Most morning lately I grab HY Chen’s Medium or High roast 100 year garden DongDing and use 12gr/240ml (8oz)/208f/70sec so my leaf to water ratio is 1.5: 1 . I like to hydrate early in the day so use Hokujo's larger 250ml kyusu. Like you I find his light roast much less interesting, and unroasted not interesting at all. I’ll going to try roasting those myself at some point.

The leaf/water ratio depends a lot on how I brew it though. For quicker sessions (or hydrating), I go with a far lower ratio, longer steep times and fewer steeps. Works pretty well with the light roast 100yr garden! The amount of leaf in previous post was carried out with a porcelain gaiwan and fairly short steep times. I think 45s for first steep, 30s for the two following, then 45s, 60s, 90s, long, longer.

When trying to figure out teas, and especially rolled oolongs that are proving uncooperative, I sometimes use a lot (more than stated upthread) of leaf and shorter steep times, both to help keep up temperature during steeps and to push the tea. I have on occasion tried a ton of leaf, very little water and long steeping times to produce some weapons grade elixir. Interesting, to be sure, but more of a thorax-based experience than I normally look for in teas.

[plod]

I usually ignore all Black Friday shenanigans, but might take advantage of it this year to get some Tie Guan Yin of the greener kind, from various places I haven't bought from in a while. A good TGY was what turned me back onto serious tea, and oolongs in particular, after a slump a long time ago. As I've went on about upthread, I've had this peculiar hankering for lighter oolongs lately, and I'm wondering if such teas can still do anything for me. Feeling nostalgic, I guess. Thinking of that song Lilac Wine (the Betty Blake & Zoot Sims version, of course!).

Anyone else drink TGY (other than HY Chens Muzha variety)? Or tried revisiting the lighter oolongs of their past?

[debunix]

I got some really nice light-roast/green style TGY from Jing Tea Shop not that long ago, and made the mistake of opening the bag and not immediately vacuum sealing portions of it for better storage. The first few days it was brilliant, but it quickly lost that bright intense floral quality that I remember so well. The end of the bag is still quite tasty, but not fabulous like the first pots were.

This is one of those teas that I'm sure someone is vacuum sealing in 7g pouches for ultra-fresh single pot servings, somewhere.....and I need to find out who/where and get some.

[plod]

I got some really nice light-roast/green style TGY from Jing Tea Shop not that long ago, and made the mistake of opening the bag and not immediately vacuum sealing portions of it for better storage. The first few days it was brilliant, but it quickly lost that bright intense floral quality that I remember so well. The end of the bag is still quite tasty, but not fabulous like the first pots were.

This is one of those teas that I'm sure someone is vacuum sealing in 7g pouches for ultra-fresh single pot servings, somewhere.....and I need to find out who/where and get some.

Ha, I just ordered exactly that from both YS and white2tea. Also a somewhat larger pouch of something I'm even more sceptical of (50g of "Imperial TGY" from YS) to try out as a daily office tea. Get that floral, green boost, help keep my eyes peeled for spreadsheet errors.

Will report back on those, but probably in a month's time or so. Shipping plus rest.

[debunix]

Now enjoying another fine session with the Da Hong Pao I got at Wing Hop Fung's closing sale, and trying to define what it is that I like about it so very much: there is a particular quality that is not the rock taste--that's there, but in the background at present--but rather a spiciness, cinnamon-sugar and allspice--and this after some of it was forgotten overnight in the thermos. Such a splendid forgiving tea.