What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
Andrew S
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Location: Sydney, Australia

Tue May 10, 2022 7:07 am

The temperature down here has plummeted to around 20 degrees Celsius recently (aka a 'cold' day in Sydney), so I've been playing with some roasted Taiwanese teas.

There's something about Dong Ding / hong shui / Muzha TGY and similar styles of tea that just feels comforting, cosy and warm to me for some reason. Perhaps I'm influenced by the fact that Dong Ding was one of the teas that encouraged me onto this journey early-on. I tend to prefer the more-oxidised versions and somewhat more-roasted versions, but they all have a place for me. Even the simple ones.

@Teachronicles: my, what good eyes you have... 50s puffed lid, as I understand it. It's this one: viewtopic.php?p=38910#p38910 and viewtopic.php?p=39576#p39576. It's picked up a little shine, since it's my go-to pot for brewing yancha very strong. Perhaps I'll post some photos on the Yixing page.

Andrew
Teachronicles
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Thu May 12, 2022 12:08 am

Andrew S wrote:
Tue May 10, 2022 7:07 am
The temperature down here has plummeted to around 20 degrees Celsius recently (aka a 'cold' day in Sydney), so I've been playing with some roasted Taiwanese teas.

There's something about Dong Ding / hong shui / Muzha TGY and similar styles of tea that just feels comforting, cosy and warm to me for some reason. Perhaps I'm influenced by the fact that Dong Ding was one of the teas that encouraged me onto this journey early-on. I tend to prefer the more-oxidised versions and somewhat more-roasted versions, but they all have a place for me. Even the simple ones.

Teachronicles: my, what good eyes you have... 50s puffed lid, as I understand it. It's this one: viewtopic.php?p=38910#p38910 and viewtopic.php?p=39576#p39576. It's picked up a little shine, since it's my go-to pot for brewing yancha very strong. Perhaps I'll post some photos on the Yixing page.

Andrew
What size is it, if you don't mind me asking? I just joined the tiny teapot club, and am really enjoying being able to brew a very strong cup with just 3-4g of tea (40ml pot). It also very economical with painfully expensive yancha and dancong.
Andrew S
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Location: Sydney, Australia

Thu May 12, 2022 5:41 pm

@Teachronicles: welcome to the small-pot-clan. This one is 60mL or thereabouts. I usually fill it with 8g or more of those dark styles of yancha when I want a very strong brew for just a few infusions (whereas normally, I use a 1g : 10mL ratio for yancha, and brew them for shorter steeps and more infusions).

But sometimes I go through a whole packet of tea before figuring out what the best way to brew it might be for me. I'll keep learning to imitate the strong Chaozhou style (mostly through trial and error), because it often presents a tea in a very good way, but I'll also keep using my less-intense normal method, which works well for a lot of teas and can highlight different qualities.

I've just taken out a nice dark tieluohan - time to find a small pot for it...

Andrew
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LeoFox
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Thu May 12, 2022 6:37 pm

Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 12, 2022 5:41 pm
This one is 60mL or thereabouts. I usually fill it with 8g or more of those dark styles of yancha when I want a very strong brew for just a few infusions (whereas normally, I use a 1g : 10mL ratio for yancha, and brew them for shorter steeps and more infusions).
...
I'll keep learning to imitate the strong Chaozhou style (mostly through trial and error), because it often presents a tea in a very good way, but I'll also keep using my less-intense normal method, which works well for a lot of teas and can highlight different qualities.
Your less strong way is already overwhelmingly strong for many people💪

It makes me wonder if you would like gyokuro, the shade grown green tea from Japan intended to be brewed 5g/ 30 ml starting at 50 C for 100s
Andrew S
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Thu May 12, 2022 10:44 pm

@LeoFox: perhaps, though green tea is usually too 'cold' to be comfortable to my constitution, and if I get any of it, it'll probably expire by the time I'm half-way through the packet. I've usually only had green teas as leaves floating in a glass.

I wonder if mt preference for a strong cup of yancha has driven me to favour the more roasted and more oxidised styles of that tea, or if it's the other way around. I tend to think that I'm just driven to darker and warmer styles of tea, and that dark yancha rewards me when it's brewed quite strong. I don't really go past a 1:10 ratio for the lighter styles of yancha (which I've been enjoying in my Chaozhou pot).

Those 7g of tieluohan went into a 55mL zhuni pot this morning, and that pot now looks rather out of place next to a massive pot that's brewing some lazy old loose puer...

Andrew
Andrew S
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Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am

I tried my first 'infrared-roasted' hong shui wulong today from Tea Masters (part of a little parcel that I got a year or two ago, after suddenly realising that I had run out of pretty much any Taiwanese tea, and panicking).

A sample size of one tea and one attempt at brewing it isn't much to draw any conclusions from, but this one felt quite thin and simple, though I admit that I was brewing it lazily in a big pot, and I should try pushing it harder in a smaller pot.

Has anyone else had much experience with the style? I assume that it is a fairly recent / novel development, but I don't know...

Meanwhile, I've gotten more pleasure over the last few days from some more conventional "Mr Chen light charcoal roasted Dong Ding" from TheTea and some Muzha tie guan yin from Tillerman.

Andrew
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Bok
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Thu May 19, 2022 2:20 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
Meanwhile, I've gotten more pleasure over the last few days from some more conventional "Mr Chen light charcoal roasted Dong Ding" from TheTea
Only someone who doesn't come a lot to Taiwan would call their tea Mr. Chen whatever, haha
Literally everyone I have bought tea from, who is from the central tea producing regions has been surnamed Chen... :lol:

Quite the revealing detail from a vendor haha
Andrew S
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Thu May 19, 2022 2:43 am

I just checked their website: to be fair to them, based on another tea's description, perhaps this particular "Mr Chen" was intended to be a reference to "Cheng Po Chung – renowned and rewarded (he won several Lugu Tea competitions) tea master"...

Frankly, an anonymous "Mr Chen" on the packaging might sound better to me than a named "tea master" on the website, but I am not aware of the particular status of the named individual. The tea itself is nice enough, but I've been spoiled by a few other nice teas recently, including a very nice heavily-roasted Taiwanese tea that I just finished...

Andrew
Andrew S
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Thu May 19, 2022 5:48 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
I tried my first 'infrared-roasted' hong shui wulong today from Tea Masters [...] this one felt quite thin and simple
Tried it again just now in a smaller pot and brewed pretty strong - this tastes like roasted water, I'm afraid.

Perhaps I could call it slow-roasted water, if I were to be kind - I admit that it is not the most horribly offensive tea. It is just thin, dry, drying, empty, and lacking in tea flavour, with an aftertaste that should stop.

Andrew
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LeoFox
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Thu May 19, 2022 6:58 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
A sample size of one tea and one attempt at brewing it isn't much to draw any conclusions from, but this one felt quite thin and simple, though I admit that I was brewing it lazily in a big pot, and I should try pushing it harder in a smaller pot.
Are you doing no less than 10g/ 100 ml for taiwan oolong? I imagine that if you are not, any taiwan roasted oolong will taste like water to you, given your usual practice with yancha
Andrew S
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Thu May 19, 2022 7:13 am

LeoFox wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 6:58 am
Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
A sample size of one tea and one attempt at brewing it isn't much to draw any conclusions from, but this one felt quite thin and simple, though I admit that I was brewing it lazily in a big pot, and I should try pushing it harder in a smaller pot.
Are you doing no less than 10g/ 100 ml for taiwan oolong? I imagine that if you are not, any taiwan roasted oolong will taste like water to you, given your usual practice with yancha
I can see the concern in your voice... Don't worry, my usual old puer / Taiwanese tea / other normal tea ratio is a mere 10g to 160mL, adjusted accordingly for volume and slow or quick pours.

Big pot brewing earlier today was 10g in around half a litre, give or take, and lacking in flavour or substance (after some flavourful hongcha earlier in the same pot).

Small pot tonight was 10g in 160mL zini, and worse.

I admit that I was taken aback by this tea - everything else I've had recently has been somewhere between decent and excellent, and this was an exception.

I've reset myself with around 11g of dependable yancha in a 90mL pot, and everything feels okay again.

Andrew
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LeoFox
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Thu May 19, 2022 9:16 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 7:13 am
LeoFox wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 6:58 am
Andrew S wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 1:17 am
A sample size of one tea and one attempt at brewing it isn't much to draw any conclusions from, but this one felt quite thin and simple, though I admit that I was brewing it lazily in a big pot, and I should try pushing it harder in a smaller pot.
Are you doing no less than 10g/ 100 ml for taiwan oolong? I imagine that if you are not, any taiwan roasted oolong will taste like water to you, given your usual practice with yancha
I can see the concern in your voice... Don't worry, my usual old puer / Taiwanese tea / other normal tea ratio is a mere 10g to 160mL, adjusted accordingly for volume and slow or quick pours.

...

I've reset myself with around 11g of dependable yancha in a 90mL pot, and everything feels okay again.
I don't understand how 10g/160 ml of taiwan oolong can be expected to even approach the power of 11g/90ml yancha - and I think you start around 1 minute or so for the yancha to produce your ultra concentrate?

I'd think 20g in 160ml of taiwan oolong starting with 1.5 minutes might be closer (maybe still weak for you because this stuff is rolled tight so you may want to rinse first)
Andrew S
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Thu May 19, 2022 2:59 pm

@LeoFox: sorry, I should have been clearer:

1) with yancha, I use 1g per 10mL with relatively normal steeping times for multiple infusions, or slightly higher ratios with longer (circa 1 minute) infusions for only a few concentrated brews;

2) with all other teas, I tend to use around 1g per 16mL ratios and relatively normal steeping times for multiple infusions;

3) I don't really aim for strong or concentrated brews in general, but rather have found that that is my preference for yancha (not other teas).

So I'd never brew Dong Ding or high mountain tea to achieve the level of concentration that I can get from yancha, just like someone wouldn't try to make an espresso in a French press.

Andrew
swordofmytriumph
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Mon May 23, 2022 3:32 am

Drinking Floating Leaves 2022 Spring Diva, and it is fabulous, one of the best teas I've had in awhile. It's heavily oxidized, so it's very fruity and almost tropical with deeper darker notes throughout. If tea was music, this tea would be a lovely bass voice. It tastes very sweet, especially on the back end after swallowing I'd almost swear there was sugar in it, if I didn't know otherwise. In the first two steeps it has a nice thicker mouthfeel as well. Also it's handling longer and more numerous steeps with ease without getting that bitter-leaning grassy taste that I find lighter oolongs tend to get if steeped too long or too many times. A very impressive tea. I'm glad I got extra of it! I'm on my fifth steep and it's only just starting to slow down.
Andrew S
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Mon May 23, 2022 8:03 pm

Tillerman's Winter 2020 Laoshi Dong Ding in a fairly big pot for me today.

Very enjoyable; I'm sure that it would reward a bit more effort and care on the part of the brewer than I can give it today, but it is also very forgiving of this casual approach to brewing.

Andrew
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