What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
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Balthazar
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Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:03 am

Bok wrote:
Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:06 am
Again with the deep roast Dongding from Hojo. The first impression holds until now after a few brews, this is a real nice tea.
What a stunning photo!
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Bok
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Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:41 am

Balthazar wrote:
Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:03 am
Bok wrote:
Sun Jul 04, 2021 7:06 am
Again with the deep roast Dongding from Hojo. The first impression holds until now after a few brews, this is a real nice tea.
What a stunning photo!
Thanks!
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Bok
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Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:44 am

having the Daxue Jiadao Shiru foguoyan 2020 tonight.

First impression of the dry leaves in the hot vessel are promising, a nice fragrance is entering my nose…

What surprised me the most was an unexpected flavour sensation that went from the first sip in the back of the sides of my mouth… mmh can’t really describe what that was, but it’s a nice flavour. Never had that, or maybe never paid attention to this kind of thing. Or maybe something with my mouth is wrong.

Like all the teas I had from them before, the line is clear, clean and elegant. No roughness or apparent faults. A bit more roast comes out in later steeps but not in an unpleasant way, leaves still have a dark green colour.

The only thing I could possibly complain about is that it falls off after three rounds (not including the rinse, which was delicious by the way). But that is often the problem, and also maybe not the point of Yancha. It’s not a tea with endurance, so better enjoy it while it’s best.

Again, highly recommended, it’s exceptionally nice Yancha compared to the competition. Sophisticated and elegant teas all through the board.
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Balthazar
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Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:13 am

Bok wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:44 am
But that is often the problem, and also maybe not the point of Yancha. It’s not a tea with endurance, so better enjoy it while it’s best.
That's a good observation. I sometimes consider this a virtue.

On most days I'll have two different teas, and from spring until autumn at least one of them is likely to be be a sheng puer. If the other tea of the day has the same (or worse: better) endurance I'm not likely to be able to finish both before I go to bed (and I'm not the biggest fan of finishing up teas on day 2). The optimal scenario for me is one "endurance tea" and one short-lived per day. I've found most liubaos to fall into the same category as yancha in terms of endurance (generally speaking, broad stroaks, etc.).
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Bok
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Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:28 am

Just the aggravating circumstances with Yancha is price. Less endurance makes them all the more precious treats.

Less value for money, wasn’t it for that special crave inducing something, that only Yancha has. Sigh…
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debunix
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Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:32 pm

30 year old Dong Ding from Wistaria Tea House, a tea Victoria introduced me to recently and thank goodness more was still available.

The scent of just the dry leaves of this one is insane: fruity, earthy, spicy, sweet....clearly roasted, but not smelling of the roast. It's amazing. I'm prepping only a tiny bit of leaf because it's already warming up too much for a long session of hot tea, so it is just 1.9 grams, which will have plenty of room in Petr's treebark pot.
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about 100mL water just off the boil, 30 seconds or so: the smells rising off the liquor, enjoyed in a tallish Tetsuki Nakao Spring Galaxy yunomi to capture the scent, are just as promised from the dry leaf. It's sweet, honey and raisins and dried cherries, so nice.

Another infusion, 1 minute or so, so similar, deep honey dipped dried fruits, hints of spice. Mmmm.
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Lost track of time with the third, but let it go several minutes...and still so, so good. Thick liquor, deep flavor, rich scent, beautiful color of the liquor.
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Victoria
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Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:58 pm

debunix wrote:
Mon Jul 12, 2021 1:32 pm
30 year old Dong Ding from Wistaria Tea House, a tea Victoria introduced me to recently and thank goodness more was still available.

The scent of just the dry leaves of this one is insane: fruity, earthy, spicy, sweet....clearly roasted, but not smelling of the roast. It's amazing. I'm prepping only a tiny bit of leaf because it's already warming up too much for a long session of hot tea, so it is just 1.9 grams, which will have plenty of room in Petr's treebark pot.

Image

about 100mL water just off the boil, 30 seconds or so: the smells rising off the liquor, enjoyed in a tallish Tetsuki Nakao Spring Galaxy yunomi to capture the scent, are just as promised from the dry leaf. It's sweet, honey and raisins and dried cherries, so nice.

Another infusion, 1 minute or so, so similar, deep honey dipped dried fruits, hints of spice. Mmmm..
So happy to hear you are enjoying Ancient Heights @debunix especially since you also enjoyed at our last tasting the early 80s DongDing that @phyllsheng shared with me a while ago.
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LeoFox
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Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:01 pm

Been enjoying a wild baozhong that has not seen any fertilizer. Compared to its fertilized cousin, it definitely has a weaker flavor and thinner body, but the aftertaste is more refreshing and longer lasting. The flavors are also more transparent and inviting. Brewing with relatively less leaf and more time pulls out more depth. It is a very cooling and calming tea. My best results have been using 3.5-4g in 100 ml kobiwako clay starting at 3 minutes. This took a bit of time to figure out; I had started with 7.5g in 110 mL for 30s which works well for its fertilized cousin.
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Ethan Kurland
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Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:18 am

LeoFox wrote:
Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:01 pm
Been enjoying a wild baozhong that has not seen any fertilizer. Compared to its fertilized cousin, it definitely has a weaker flavor and thinner body, but the aftertaste is more refreshing and longer lasting. The flavors are also more transparent and inviting. Brewing with relatively less leaf and more time pulls out more depth. It is a very cooling and calming tea. My best results have been using 3.5-4g in 100 ml kobiwako clay starting at 3 minutes. This took a bit of time to figure out; I had started with 7.5g in 110 mL for 30s which works well for its fertilized cousin.
I admire your patience & work to find ideal parameters & also admire your ability to know distinct differences between the fertilized BZ & wild. About how many tea sessions did it take to come to your conclusions?
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LeoFox
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Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:30 am

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:18 am
LeoFox wrote:
Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:01 pm
Been enjoying a wild baozhong that has not seen any fertilizer. Compared to its fertilized cousin, it definitely has a weaker flavor and thinner body, but the aftertaste is more refreshing and longer lasting. The flavors are also more transparent and inviting. Brewing with relatively less leaf and more time pulls out more depth. It is a very cooling and calming tea. My best results have been using 3.5-4g in 100 ml kobiwako clay starting at 3 minutes. This took a bit of time to figure out; I had started with 7.5g in 110 mL for 30s which works well for its fertilized cousin.
I admire your patience & work to find ideal parameters & also admire your ability to know distinct differences between the fertilized BZ & wild. About how many tea sessions did it take to come to your conclusions?
Thanks, Ethan! About five. The high ratio shorter steepings were very flat but had powerful and very long lasting retronasal aromas. Then I tried high ratio longer steepings which became unbalanced and bitter. Then I did the same but at 5g and found the longer steepings still bitter but more profound. Then I went down to my current 3.5-4 and found a good match. Paired with this clay, the body is also thickened. With longer 10 minute+ later infusions, I am even getting a lot of flavors that remind me of high quality mao feng. The powerful retronasal effects are still present. This tea is very refreshing and I am tempted to only drink this tea for a while.

I think this shows that for an unfamiliar tea, a small sample that only lasts 1-3 sessions would not be sufficient.

Below are from my earlier attempts, which were unsuccessful
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Bok
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Wed Jul 14, 2021 9:20 am

Inspired by Mr Fox, some Baozhong for me as well. It’s been re roasted once since it’s harvest last year.

Same as Kobiwako, this Duanni pot gives it some nice body. Cheers!
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Bok
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Wed Jul 14, 2021 9:51 am

following up and to finish the evening is the remainder of previously mentioned Shiru yancha from Daxue Jiadao. This time a little more leaf in a little less clay space... I think I like it better this way, just a tad more dense and kick coming out of the leaves.

What a nice way to finish the evening...
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LeoFox
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Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:57 am

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Wed Jul 14, 2021 8:18 am
LeoFox wrote:
Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:01 pm
Been enjoying a wild baozhong that has not seen any fertilizer. Compared to its fertilized cousin, it definitely has a weaker flavor and thinner body, but the aftertaste is more refreshing and longer lasting. The flavors are also more transparent and inviting. Brewing with relatively less leaf and more time pulls out more depth. It is a very cooling and calming tea. My best results have been using 3.5-4g in 100 ml kobiwako clay starting at 3 minutes. This took a bit of time to figure out; I had started with 7.5g in 110 mL for 30s which works well for its fertilized cousin.
I admire your patience & work to find ideal parameters & also admire your ability to know distinct differences between the fertilized BZ & wild. About how many tea sessions did it take to come to your conclusions?
An interesting thing about this naturally farmed tea is that it has been gaining flavor every day as it gets more oxidized. I've been forced now to readjust to a brewing parameters maybe closer to how you brew: still about 3.5g in 100 mL - but starting at about 1.5 minutes and then doing a long series of less than 20s brews. The resulting tea is more aromatic and in terms of body, actually comparable to what i had been doing before. I feel this is an interesting property of some naturally farmed Taiwanese teas - instead of going flat- they start increasing in power. Alternatively, it could be my clay pot that is being heavily seasoned by this tea. I tried brewing the pot empty a few times, and it tasted kind of like that tea!
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Bok
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Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:12 am

Long time I’ve not used this pot, tonight’s the night to quench its thirst with some heavy roast Dongding, yum yum.
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Andrew S
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Sat Jul 17, 2021 1:27 am

I've been working, slowly, through a few of the Daxue Jiadao offerings. I've been perhaps a bit distracted by old tea when I've had spare time, and everyday tea when I haven't.

I've now played with the foshou and foshou handcrafted, and the full roast jiulongke bujiantian, and I'm now playing with the full roast zhuke rougui.

Need a bit more time to draw any conclusions or to make any useful comparisons to my other yanchas.

At the very least, they've all tasted quite nice so far...

Andrew
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