What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Bok]

The old claim about "working harder to get nutrition..." is just that; an old claim.

that is interesting!

So far I only had two of these teas where the seed grown had been specifically mentioned. In both I noticed something that is normally a defining characteristic of authentic Laocong Shuixian, the so called Congwei. And again in a Japanese Sencha from C.Japonica from 100+y old trees.

One of the Taiwanese teas had been grown in a more rugged mountain terrain, where the surface soil is poor in nutrition, not sure if that has something to do with it.

[carogust]

@Tillerman It might be that the processing of the leaves doesn't "bring out" the potential of the leaves. I've seen mentions that character of old tree oolongs can be compromised if the processing is not proper.
There are also other factors like the soil etc. that might hide the difference of seed-grown vs non-seed-grown bushes. It is only a single thing in the myriad of factors that have an impact.
Not 100% sure on either of these claims. Just possible explanations I've heard/thought up.

[Tillerman]

Tillerman It might be that the processing of the leaves doesn't "bring out" the potential of the leaves. I've seen mentions that character of old tree oolongs can be compromised if the processing is not proper.
There are also other factors like the soil etc. that might hide the difference of seed-grown vs non-seed-grown bushes. It is only a single thing in the myriad of factors that have an impact.
Not 100% sure on either of these claims. Just possible explanations I've heard/thought up.

@carogust, you are absolutely correct; there are many factors that affect the flavor of our tea and production skill is one of the major ones. My point is that seed vs. cuttings is not likely one of these. The evidence to date shows that, when plants of each type are grown side by side in the same garden and processed in the same way by the same tea maker, there are no appreciable differences in flavor or in the chemical composition of the leaf.

People who claim that seed grown teas are fundamentally better than those from cuttings are barking up the wrong tree. Sure, some of the great teas of the world are seed grown, but I don't think that is what makes them great.

[Bok]

Second go at the same lowest elevation tea from Kenting: this time in old Zini, it’s even better like that! The tea seems very skill fully roasted, it’s a pretty high roast, yet the leaves are super green! The tea has a velvety, creamy finish which I’m not used to find in low elevation, or roasted teas... very pleasing to drink!

[Balthazar]

That pot is a real beauty, Bok!

[Bok]

That pot is a real beauty, Bok!

Thanks! It was a rare find, normally this style is not as refined in the curves. And it makes real good tea!

[Noonie]

I initially brewed this Dan Cong tea in a gaiwan (Mi Lan Xiang Feng Xi from Camellia Sinensis). This evening I'm enjoying it in a Chaozhou pot from Yunnan Sourcing. Takes off any edge off that was there. Really happy with this tea for the value.

[debunix]

Best infusion yet with 2014 Phoenix Village light roast Shui Xian Oolong from you non-sourcing. This is a tricky tea that is taken a while to understand.

It is responding best with strong floral notes when infused briefly and fairly dilute a bit like a Dan Cong; treating it more like a typical high roast version with high concentration and longer steeping made it taste almost soapy and better; using slightly cooler water and flash infusions but still relatively high leaf to water ratio like a fine light roast Taiwanese oolong did not work. Random one-off experiments when it got pushed to the front of the TV cabinet from time to time were failures.

Ignoring it in the back of the cabinet for a long time, giving a hint of aging, and then infusing briefly and very dilute has worked a treat. Must now wonder if any part of the improvement was the high proportion of fines as I emptied the bag into the pot!

[oolongfan]

More oolongs from Ethan Kurland
Da Yu Ling - High mountain, lightly oxidized green oolong. My first introduction of this was from a sample kindly gifted by Ethan on my ast order. This session was from ome that I had ordered. Originally I had planned on waiting until after my next round of kidney tests, but when the appointment was rescheduled for later...I could not resist openning this package. Beautiful notes of sweet spring gras freshly cut but without the vegetal aspect. Sweet pea and delicate florals. Perfectly balanced with absolutely no vegetal spinachy notes. About as far away from the modern nuclear green oolongs as one can get. The texture is thick and oily, contrasting with the delicate refined flavor profile. Even when pished, this tea never becomes vegetal or bitter..or even unbalanced.

Today's session was tasted backwards. By this I mean that rather than being part of the openning session of teas, I tasted this dead last after a series of shengs and one ripe...violating every tasting law imaginable. Despite this faux pas and tea saturated palate, the delicate flavors of this tea shone. I had literally just finished a coco laden ripe puerh but for some reason suddenly wanted to have some of this tea. I expected everything to be subdued, assuming the ripe puerh would still be dominating my palate (and after so many shengs). Instead this DYL tasted as fresh adn nuanced as if I had just started my tea session. I would recommend this to anyone who thinks they don't like green oolongs.

Oriental Beauty (Thng Fang Mei Jea) - I have written about this before and love it so much that I bought more. Proust has his madeleines as his muse for the Remberance of Things; this tea is mine. Memories of 1970's era NYC Chinatown: sweet incense, candied Chinese plums, molasses/dark sweet soy sauce, the fleeting aroma of salty sweet roast Pekin Duck, a green tart sweet sour apple consumed on the way for a repast of dim sum are just some of the memories evoked by this tea. Stunning and unique.


1998 Aged Lishan 22 Years - Tasted many times and yet still discovering new ways to brew this. This vascilates between ceder aromatic wood, golden plums, and honey, preserved lemon, and grain, chewy buckwheat honey. A wonderful example of an aged oolong that has retained its fruit flavors and not become muddled with roast flavors. In some ways tastes younger than it years for the preserved fruit notes and lightness yet still has deeperprofound aged note. The aromatic ceder and fruit notes remind me of Norbu's 2007 Mei Zhan against deeper more aged notes. Very unique and has challenged my concept of aged oolongs.

[d.manuk]

I'm drinking 2019 Winter Farmer's Choice Baozhong from Floating Leaves Tea. 2g/100ml 200F and intuitively steeping for longer. These sessions taste much better than a higher leaf ratio in my opinion, I taste much more creaminess and floral subtlety without it being overpowering. Plus I can drink more throughout the day this way.

[klepto]

I've been exploring the Wuyi oolongs for weeks now, each one I try offers something different. You can go from Rou Gui which is highly enjoyable for someone with a sweet tooth like myself to Bai ji guan(white cockscomb??) which can taste like snap peas to mushrooms. I like it all so far and it helps to develop my taste buds at the same time. I forget the name of one of them that tasted exactly like raw cinnamon and a white sweet potato.

[Ethan Kurland]

I'm drinking 2019 Winter Farmer's Choice Baozhong from Floating Leaves Tea. 2g/100ml 200F and intuitively steeping for longer. These sessions taste much better than a higher leaf ratio in my opinion, I taste much more creaminess and floral subtlety without it being overpowering. Plus I can drink more throughout the day this way.

Your parameters for the Baozhong are the same or close to the same for how I prefer to prepare most tea. The teas that I drink that are closest to the Baozhong that you mention are higher elevation Taiwanese (dayuling & gaoshan). I find many subtle flavors can be overwhelmed by longer steeping & also that harsher notes can appear with both longer steeping & too many leaves that simply are not noticed by my palate with the gentler preparation.

[Bok]

I've been exploring the Wuyi oolongs for weeks now, each one I try offers something different. You can go from Rou Gui which is highly enjoyable for someone with a sweet tooth like myself to Bai ji guan(white cockscomb??) which can taste like snap peas to mushrooms. I like it all so far and it helps to develop my taste buds at the same time. I forget the name of one of them that tasted exactly like raw cinnamon and a white sweet potato.

Interesting, the Baijiguan I had was more like a flowery fruity explosion, more akin to Dancong.

[Bok]

Xinrenxiang Dancong, bought a while ago in Guangzhou’s Fangcun market. Killer performance of my latest Chaozhou teapot, once again confirming that clay from this area is, if not the best, at least an excellent choice for brewing their own native teas! Yum!

[Tillerman]

The package hadn't arrive yet and I was getting seriously worried. I'm spending the quarantine period in Canada, at my daughter's apartment (long story for another time) and had run out of tea. The package contained reinforcements from Napa. So I poured the very last of my leaves into an infuser (I do have one yixing pot with me but it wasn't appropriate for this brew.) Ya shi xiang from the Zhou family in Chaozhou. Delicious, long and satisfying. I suppose it was a bit like a final cigarette before facing the firing squad.

Nathalie and I went for a walk together to relieve a bit of the boredom of quarantine and to get some exercise. When we reached her apartment again, blessed savior (Connie, my wife), the parcel was there. Tea stocks replenished. But the pure joy of the last of that ya shi xiang will, I think, be an enduring memory.