You can't always know how you'll like it in advance....
What Oolong Are You Drinking
Made some more of the same tea just now, but must have messed something up. Used similar leaf/water ratio as the last time, but in my zhuni lion pot. The tea seemed thin/weak, with a general lack of taste. A dull experience and disappointment.
Increased steep times to no avail. Either my eye balling of leaf amount was off, or the pot muted the taste :/ I will have to make some more in a gaiwan to figure out where I went wrong...
Increased steep times to no avail. Either my eye balling of leaf amount was off, or the pot muted the taste :/ I will have to make some more in a gaiwan to figure out where I went wrong...
If it’s real Zhuni and properly fired it should not mute anything. So unless you have doubts about your pots authenticity that could be excluded from the list of reasons.Rmt wrote: ↑Mon Aug 17, 2020 2:14 pmMade some more of the same tea just now, but must have messed something up. Used similar leaf/water ratio as the last time, but in my zhuni lion pot. The tea seemed thin/weak, with a general lack of taste. A dull experience and disappointment.
Increased steep times to no avail. Either my eye balling of leaf amount was off, or the pot muted the taste :/ I will have to make some more in a gaiwan to figure out where I went wrong...
Having the final brew of Winter DongDing. Refreshing aroma that negates our expectation of spring..... brings back fond memories of friendships forged over a cup of tea. A constant reminder on how different we are and at the same time indifferent in many ways.
Cheers!!
Cheers!!
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Winding down the night with a calming 30 year old WuYi MaTou Yan ShuiXian. Clean, refreshing yet very grounding brew after brew. The lasting aroma of aged yancha envelopes the nose, tongue and throat. Not a hint of muskiness nor foreign smell not belonging to an awesome brew of aged yancha.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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Sounds wonderful!OCTO wrote: ↑Wed Aug 19, 2020 10:46 amWinding down the night with a calming 30 year old WuYi MaTou Yan ShuiXian. Clean, refreshing yet very grounding brew after brew. The lasting aroma of aged yancha envelopes the nose, tongue and throat. Not a hint of muskiness nor foreign smell not belonging to an awesome brew of aged yancha.
Cheers!
This was included as a sample with my first order from Wuyi Origin. It is long, twisty, dark leaves
I prepared it in my tiniest clay pot,
and as often happens with Dan Cong, the long leaves did not fit in the pot until they were wetted and softening.
But as soon as the water hit the leaves, there was a wonderful aroma proclaiming ‘this is the real thing!’
The first infusion was indeed, richly scented, floral and fairly sweet, after a flash infusion just long enough to push the leads into the pot, close the lid, and pour out the liquid (with this little pot, the pour is actually rather slow), simply delightful. The next infusion still is full of rich and heady Dan Cong aroma and taste, with sweetness and a hint of spice and a subtle hint of bitterness that is a reminder that this is a proper Dan Cong demanding attention and respect. Taste buds are doing a tap-dance of happiness.
3rd infusion is still sweet, floral, Dan Cong! Mmm. 4th is starting to show a little more bitterness, but still the dominant notes are flowers and spice. This is a fine, fine tea. 5th infusion, still hardly more than a flash, still aromatic and spicy and rich, less sweet, and that edge-of-danger bitter note is still letting the other flavors dominate.
6th infusion, 10 seconds plus pour (maybe 20 seconds total), still that intoxicating Dan Cong odor, strong and lovely, but not so strong that it suggests any adulteration—just fine powerful tea. And the sweet is back a little more in this longer infusion, while the bitter took a step back again.
7th infusion, letting it go 15 seconds before my pour….sweet, spicy, floral, edge of but not crossing over to bitterness. A moments forgetfulness and a several minutes’ 8th infusion required dilution because the bitternotes were too strong although the sweet and spicy was also strengthened. And after this, on an empty stomach, I am feeling a little tea-drunk. Fortunately there is a little chocolate at hand (fruity Sambirano from Dick Taylor) to help provide some ballast for the next infusions.
9th infusion 45 seconds, still delightful. 10th infusion, a minute plus a bit, and it is starting to be over-the-top, a hint of soapiness, but still, worth trying one more longer. It’s too good to not to at least try! And a 6 minute 10th infusion was pleasant. I set it with cool water overnight to see what it does.....and the result is bitter, need diluting, and then the scent is just subtly there with a hint of sweet.
The leaves are long, and very firmly devoted to their folds and twists, but appear to be moderate sized leaves, 1/2-1 inch wide, 1 1/2-2 inches long, some with a hint of red but otherwise olive-green.
I’ve had one or two relatively inexpensive ‘Dan Cong’ teas, and then a handful of Imen’s marvels from Tea Habitat. This is the first Dan Cong I have had that is not from Tea Habitat that is of a comparable quality.
I prepared it in my tiniest clay pot,
and as often happens with Dan Cong, the long leaves did not fit in the pot until they were wetted and softening.
But as soon as the water hit the leaves, there was a wonderful aroma proclaiming ‘this is the real thing!’
The first infusion was indeed, richly scented, floral and fairly sweet, after a flash infusion just long enough to push the leads into the pot, close the lid, and pour out the liquid (with this little pot, the pour is actually rather slow), simply delightful. The next infusion still is full of rich and heady Dan Cong aroma and taste, with sweetness and a hint of spice and a subtle hint of bitterness that is a reminder that this is a proper Dan Cong demanding attention and respect. Taste buds are doing a tap-dance of happiness.
3rd infusion is still sweet, floral, Dan Cong! Mmm. 4th is starting to show a little more bitterness, but still the dominant notes are flowers and spice. This is a fine, fine tea. 5th infusion, still hardly more than a flash, still aromatic and spicy and rich, less sweet, and that edge-of-danger bitter note is still letting the other flavors dominate.
6th infusion, 10 seconds plus pour (maybe 20 seconds total), still that intoxicating Dan Cong odor, strong and lovely, but not so strong that it suggests any adulteration—just fine powerful tea. And the sweet is back a little more in this longer infusion, while the bitter took a step back again.
7th infusion, letting it go 15 seconds before my pour….sweet, spicy, floral, edge of but not crossing over to bitterness. A moments forgetfulness and a several minutes’ 8th infusion required dilution because the bitternotes were too strong although the sweet and spicy was also strengthened. And after this, on an empty stomach, I am feeling a little tea-drunk. Fortunately there is a little chocolate at hand (fruity Sambirano from Dick Taylor) to help provide some ballast for the next infusions.
9th infusion 45 seconds, still delightful. 10th infusion, a minute plus a bit, and it is starting to be over-the-top, a hint of soapiness, but still, worth trying one more longer. It’s too good to not to at least try! And a 6 minute 10th infusion was pleasant. I set it with cool water overnight to see what it does.....and the result is bitter, need diluting, and then the scent is just subtly there with a hint of sweet.
The leaves are long, and very firmly devoted to their folds and twists, but appear to be moderate sized leaves, 1/2-1 inch wide, 1 1/2-2 inches long, some with a hint of red but otherwise olive-green.
I’ve had one or two relatively inexpensive ‘Dan Cong’ teas, and then a handful of Imen’s marvels from Tea Habitat. This is the first Dan Cong I have had that is not from Tea Habitat that is of a comparable quality.
@debunix sounds like such a great session. The only high quality dancong I’ve had is from TeaHabitat, so good to know Wuyi Origin is another quality source.
I think that might have to do with how Yancha is priced compared to Dancong. At the same price Dancong will mostly be better than Yancha... so if you were to compare the two based on quality you’d need to get a Yancha of about double the price than the Dancong
That's a very good point, they also have a much larger price range for their yancha than their dan cong. Also some of this could definitely just be my personal taste.
Savoring HY Chen’s winter 2019 LiShan Primitive Wild with a light roast. It is so much better eight months after receiving it. It needed to rest a while. Smooth and creamy, herbaceous and aromatic, expansive in the mouth producing a lot of salivation and lingering aftertaste. Some of the nuggets in this 25g pack have stems attached, something I have not seen before in his LPWild. 8g/130ml/210f/1.35min in Yamada Sou 160ml mayake kyusu.
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I recently ordered several teas (mainly samples) from Essence of Tea. I was not that far from the minimum for free shipping, and I added a sample of their 1997 "Horse Head Cliff" Yancha. I recently had a session with that tea. I am not a Yancha specialist. I have had a few here and there, enough to know that I like Yancha, but not enough to know if any given Yancha is "good" by general standards, though I can say price was related to (perceived) quality. I had no previous experience with aged Yancha, and did not know what to expect.
I have commented on another thread that I do not drink tea with identifying aromatic similarities as a goal. I prefer to drink the tea for what it is, and generally, in my notes, compare teas to other teas (Y is somewhat like X, though a bit different because of Z). It sounds much less poetic and maybe I just lack sophistication in how I am able to identify aromas, but that is my approach. This being said, once in a while I get hit with similarities that are too obvious to ignore even without looking for them. Overall I liked this tea, but the most memorable aspect of the session is how strong and specific the aromatic similarities were.
I gave the tea a very quick rinse in the gaiwan and smelled the leaves. I was hit with a very intense, very immediate smell that was strongly reminiscent of recently waxed leather, like being in a shoemaker shop. Then I moved the gaiwan a bit, and refocusing I got extremely specific aromas of raspberry pie. I do not mean a "poetic" raspberry pie : it was like the smell of actual hot raspberry jam and cooked pie dough in my mouth. I did not have to do any analysis to get that, the sensory inputs directly activated the memory circuits associated with this specific past experience. I took quite some time smelling the leaves given how interesting it was. You know the optical illusion where you see a drawing and depending how you focus on it you see either a young woman or an old one? Well this olfactory experience was like this. It kept on alternating between waxed leather and raspberry pie, but never felt like a mix of the two. This impression carried in the cup, and lasted until the end of the session, both smelling the leaves (which remained very fragrant) and drinking the tea.
First infusion, very quick. "Hugely pleasant" was what I jotted down. Sweet, not as intense aromatically as the leaves, milder but aromatically connected. Nice thickness. Sweetness and acidity in good balance. Second infusion, still quick. Losing strength. Aromas easier to perceive as the tea cools down. Third infusion, about 10s. Softer, the aged aspect is more present (in relative terms, not absolute strength). Fourth infusion, about 30s. The tea is losing strength, but its character is intact, more than I expected. Fifth and sixth infusion similar, 1m and 2m respectively, a bit more acidity, faint bitterness. Seventh infusion, not timed but quite long. Very pleasant, strong raspberry pie aromas with acidity coming through that reinforces the fruity aspect. Eighth infusion, becoming similar to "depleted" Yancha, still pleasant to drink. I had one more, quite generic.
Interesting session, aspects of which were both new and quite striking.
I have commented on another thread that I do not drink tea with identifying aromatic similarities as a goal. I prefer to drink the tea for what it is, and generally, in my notes, compare teas to other teas (Y is somewhat like X, though a bit different because of Z). It sounds much less poetic and maybe I just lack sophistication in how I am able to identify aromas, but that is my approach. This being said, once in a while I get hit with similarities that are too obvious to ignore even without looking for them. Overall I liked this tea, but the most memorable aspect of the session is how strong and specific the aromatic similarities were.
I gave the tea a very quick rinse in the gaiwan and smelled the leaves. I was hit with a very intense, very immediate smell that was strongly reminiscent of recently waxed leather, like being in a shoemaker shop. Then I moved the gaiwan a bit, and refocusing I got extremely specific aromas of raspberry pie. I do not mean a "poetic" raspberry pie : it was like the smell of actual hot raspberry jam and cooked pie dough in my mouth. I did not have to do any analysis to get that, the sensory inputs directly activated the memory circuits associated with this specific past experience. I took quite some time smelling the leaves given how interesting it was. You know the optical illusion where you see a drawing and depending how you focus on it you see either a young woman or an old one? Well this olfactory experience was like this. It kept on alternating between waxed leather and raspberry pie, but never felt like a mix of the two. This impression carried in the cup, and lasted until the end of the session, both smelling the leaves (which remained very fragrant) and drinking the tea.
First infusion, very quick. "Hugely pleasant" was what I jotted down. Sweet, not as intense aromatically as the leaves, milder but aromatically connected. Nice thickness. Sweetness and acidity in good balance. Second infusion, still quick. Losing strength. Aromas easier to perceive as the tea cools down. Third infusion, about 10s. Softer, the aged aspect is more present (in relative terms, not absolute strength). Fourth infusion, about 30s. The tea is losing strength, but its character is intact, more than I expected. Fifth and sixth infusion similar, 1m and 2m respectively, a bit more acidity, faint bitterness. Seventh infusion, not timed but quite long. Very pleasant, strong raspberry pie aromas with acidity coming through that reinforces the fruity aspect. Eighth infusion, becoming similar to "depleted" Yancha, still pleasant to drink. I had one more, quite generic.
Interesting session, aspects of which were both new and quite striking.
Lala Shan Hong Shui from Floating Leaves Tea. There is a delicacy to this one that is very appealing, and I'm trying to figure out how to describe the elements of it that I really like: a little floral, fruity, and the light roast is invisible but clearly making a difference. It's like walking through a late spring wildflower meadow with grass starting to turn golden, while eating a Santa Rosa plum.
The first infusion was a little thin, and clearly it wanted just a little more infuson time. The second infusion is really, really nice. Oh my.
The first infusion was a little thin, and clearly it wanted just a little more infuson time. The second infusion is really, really nice. Oh my.