What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
vuanguyen
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Sat Sep 26, 2020 2:12 am

@StoneLadle Thank you for sharing your brewing technique.

I am horrible at describing mouthfeel and body. I just skip to the bottom line…does it taste good or not :)

Mouthfeel: sour/tart/dry
Body: light
It is basically a roasted Oolong with a tart mouthfeel. Not a profile I am looking for.

I was brewing 4gm of tea to 80ml water at boiling temperature. I will try your suggestion of increasing the amount of leaves.

However, I think by increasing the amount of leaves to water ratio, I will increase the thickness of “body” but the sourness will unfortunately be more pronounced.

This is my first experience with an aged Oolong but my suspicion from reading other people writing is that they may have some degree of sour/tartness to all of them. I hope that I'm wrong.
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Bok
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Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:08 am

@vuanguyen sour notes are often an indication of a too humid storage.

Tieguanyin (Taiwanese) should have a specific sour note as it’s part of its favour profile.

Not sure what exactly tartness refers to...
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StoneLadle
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Sat Sep 26, 2020 3:18 am

...could be astringency...
Ethan Kurland
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Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:14 pm

It seems that tart and sour have different meanings for individuals.

It's a difficult situation: For tea for me, tartness is usually a positive factor, a flavor that adds brightness and/or complexity, a perkiness or lightness....For me for tea, sour connotes a taste that is not pleasant, leading a drinker to wonder if something is wrong (perhaps foul or rotten, decayed, etc.).

Words in the English language vary in meaning between the USA & UK & around the world. Then there is the problem of varying situations:

if one bites into a slice of lemon, initial sourness may result in a pleasant, refreshing experience while sucking on that slice for 10 seconds may lead to a sour mouth that one is sure to quickly rinse out.

I guess to be understood, one must add modifiers, such as writing, "a pleasant tartness".

I was recently asked if my aged oolongs were sour. They are not. (Of course, wordy me, wrote much more than that :lol:

I started my day by preparing 1160 ml of 1998 to search for tartness.

This aged oolong prepared from leaves from very high altitude were traditionally roasted (very carefully in bamboo baskets rotated about every 20 - 30 minutes for 2 - 3 days). During the 22 years spent in ceramic urns, the tea did not get ruined. Nothing happened to make leaves sour. I do believe that they weakened slightly because my usual ratio, 1 gram of leaves per 50 ml of water, needs to be adjusted. I use 1 gram for 40 ml for this tea most of the time (steeping the leaves 4 times for 30 seconds).

Today I used 1 gram of tea for 30 ml of water. Searching for tartness, I flash-brewed the first 3 infusions. I tasted each separately then put them into a large teapot that I use as a server. The leaves in the hot water for so little time did highlight tartness; yet, there it was not strong, far from being a dominating flavor. 5 - 10 seconds of steeping time (rounds 4 - 7) did downplay tartness. Even just a few more seconds of steeping resulted in a much more interesting, complex cup. (All 7 infusions combined was the best drinking. For the future I plan to do quick steeping (not flash) 1 gram per 30 ml to stack about 7 rounds.)

Drinking this tea in great quantity, I find that the benign taste of the roast (so nicely mellow) can feel more assertive while first putting yet another significant amount of it into mouth. Also, sucking in my cheeks will allow me to identify the tartness that blends into the stacked infusions. Cheers
Rmt
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Fri Oct 02, 2020 2:28 pm

Drinking a really nice oolong tonight. A lightly oxidized 2013 si ji chun from ville trær. Lovely aroma, and strong notes of honey like advertised! Bought 100g but I think I will stock up on this (if he got more).
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Teas We Like
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 4:11 pm

vuanguyen wrote:
Fri Sep 25, 2020 7:59 pm
With all the talk about Global Tea Hut and aging Oolong in recent posts, I was excited and motivated to purchase some aged oolong from GTH.
I bought their 1998 Cloud Freedom from Lishan mountain. Shipping was super fast. Less than 5 days.

Unfortunately, the tea was not great. I experienced this sour taste in my tongue. Not pleasant. If this is typical of aged oolong then I’m not impressed. Not my cup of tea. On a positive note, it had a calming effect and did not cause agitation like the aged Pu that I have been drinking. Also, that celadon jar is very nice :)

Maybe I will give aged oolong another try before giving up. Maybe purchasing from another vendor like TWL or from Ethan Kurland.

Ethan Kurland Teas We Like does your aged oolong have a sour taste?


ImageImageImageImage
Aged oolongs can become sour if they are stored in an excessively humid environment. It is a common storage flaw for this type of tea, aged oolongs that are sour are usually cheaper. Aged oolongs that go sour are sometimes reroasted after several years of aging - reroasting removes some sourness, but it also leads to losing some of the aged flavors. The aged oolongs on our website are not sour, and they have not been reroasted, they have been stored with low humidity. The competition silver medal we carry is pretty much as good as it gets, so if you don't like that one you probably don't like aged oolongs :D
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StoneLadle
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 5:31 am

Taiwan National Day today!

The tea of the day here is an aged Lishan Dong Ding gifted to me by @Bok...

It's a well oxidised medium roasted rolled ball tea typical of its type but so complex and integrated by good aging and showcases both the strength and quality of both the raw material and the hands that made the tea.

Given the day, I'm also brewing it in a Taiwanese pot!!


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Ethan Kurland
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 9:39 am

StoneLadle wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 5:31 am
.... an aged Lishan Dong Ding gifted to me by Bok...

It's a well oxidised medium roasted rolled ball tea typical of its type but so complex and integrated by good aging and showcases both the strength and quality of both the raw material and the hands that made the tea.
All of the elements that you wrote about rarely are brought together (top quality leaves, processing, & aging). So nice when they are!
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LeoFox
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:07 pm

Enjoyed a nice 2020 longfengxia from TTC in kobiwako. Found it to be intensely perfumed and flowery: mainly rose and some lavendar.
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 2:33 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:07 pm
Enjoyed a nice 2020 longfengxia from TTC in kobiwako. Found it to be intensely perfumed and flowery: mainly rose and some lavendar.
"Intensely perfumed" sounds unusual for that tea. Perhaps I am confused. This year I enjoyed what I spelled in English as "longfanshiu". It came from high up Shanlinxi & it was quite satisfying & presented flavors that seemed rather different than those you write about.
(Not important for me to know, just curious if they are the same. I think I have "evolved" in my purchasing of lightly-oxidized oolong, gaoshan, to being quite content with cheaper shanlinxi. The difference in quality between expensive dayuling etc. & quite reasonable shanlinxi seems very small while the difference in price is huge.)
Cheers
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LeoFox
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:25 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 2:33 pm
LeoFox wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:07 pm
Enjoyed a nice 2020 longfengxia from TTC in kobiwako. Found it to be intensely perfumed and flowery: mainly rose and some lavendar.
"Intensely perfumed" sounds unusual for that tea. Perhaps I am confused. This year I enjoyed what I spelled in English as "longfanshiu". It came from high up Shanlinxi & it was quite satisfying & presented flavors that seemed rather different than those you write about.
(Not important for me to know, just curious if they are the same. I think I have "evolved" in my purchasing of lightly-oxidized oolong, gaoshan, to being quite content with cheaper shanlinxi. The difference in quality between expensive dayuling etc. & quite reasonable shanlinxi seems very small while the difference in price is huge.)
Cheers
I've been drinking summer shanlinxi every day for the past 2 months, and in my post, i mainly focused on the difference between the cheaper summer shan lin xi from eco cha that i had been drinking and the Long feng xia from ttc that i opened recently. All else being equal, the LFX seems much more flowery. Another difference is that the summer slx has a distinctive green pepper note that became more bitter as i got to the bottom of the bag. The LFX didnt seem to have that, and is in general more fruit forward.

It is also likely my taste is off. My experiences with wines rarely match the vendor tasting notes.
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 8:21 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:25 pm
Another difference is that the summer slx has a distinctive green pepper note that became more bitter as i got to the bottom of the bag. The LFX didnt seem to have that, and is in general more fruit forward.

It is also likely my taste is off. My experiences with wines rarely match the vendor tasting notes.
I seem to be avoiding a lot of unwanted flavors, such as a green pepper note that can become quite bitter, by avoiding any steeping more than 10 seconds & not letting time elapse between infusions. The result may be thinner or lighter but does not seem really diminished to me.
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LeoFox
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Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:40 pm

Ethan Kurland wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 8:21 pm
LeoFox wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:25 pm
Another difference is that the summer slx has a distinctive green pepper note that became more bitter as i got to the bottom of the bag. The LFX didnt seem to have that, and is in general more fruit forward.

It is also likely my taste is off. My experiences with wines rarely match the vendor tasting notes.
I seem to be avoiding a lot of unwanted flavors, such as a green pepper note that can become quite bitter, by avoiding any steeping more than 10 seconds & not letting time elapse between infusions. The result may be thinner or lighter but does not seem really diminished to me.
What clay do you use?
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Sun Oct 11, 2020 8:16 am

LeoFox wrote:
Sat Oct 10, 2020 11:40 pm

What clay do you use?
For oolongs from Taiwan (roasted or unroasted) I prefer using my teapot that is glazed on the outside & unglazed on the inside. It was made in Taiwan & is a type often used there. (From pottery studio where Bok studied. Bok was selling similar ones.) It is not red clay, not like yixing. Use of common glazed porcelain is okay.
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LeoFox
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Sun Oct 11, 2020 1:15 pm

I recently received this canister of tea from a friend. It seems to be a wuyi grown dancong? I have never tried this style before. Does anyone have experience with this?
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