What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
Andrew S
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:40 am

Ending the day (or at least, the daylight) with a small pot of some circa 40 year old baozhong. Very calming... The taste (including the very long aftertaste) reminds me of old liu an, but the feeling is quite different. It's a more persuasive kind of calmness, compared to the forceful calming that I get from old liu an. I think I'm up to brew fifteen or so; I'll keep brewing it into tomorrow.

As to yancha, I find it interesting how people treat it differently to other kinds of wulong; I certainly use different brewing methods for it, and it somehow feels like a separate category for some reason. It feels warming and can have a potent feeling for me, like old tea, and unlike a lot of other kinds of young tea.

@teatray: it is interesting to read your comments about EoT and DXJD's yanchas. I found the latter to focus more on flavour and complexity, and the former to focus more on feeling and purity, for want of better descriptions, but that's a very broad generalisation which probably isn't very useful. Are you brewing them in a stronger style than usual, or are you applying the same parameters as with other teas? I've found them to reward strong brewing styles, but that's just me, of course, and others have different methods that work for them.

Andrew
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Baisao
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 2:31 am

Andrew S wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:40 am
Ending the day (or at least, the daylight) with a small pot of some circa 40 year old baozhong. Very calming... The taste (including the very long aftertaste) reminds me of old liu an, but the feeling is quite different. It's a more persuasive kind of calmness, compared to the forceful calming that I get from old liu an. I think I'm up to brew fifteen or so; I'll keep brewing it into tomorrow.
I assume this isn’t the aged baozhong from Liquid Proust? That one was a strong freezer burned taste. A complete waste and a reminder why we store tea properly.
Andrew S
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:01 am

Baisao wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 2:31 am
I assume this isn’t the aged baozhong from Liquid Proust? That one was a strong freezer burned taste. A complete waste and a reminder why we store tea properly.
No, just a very small sample from someone I ordered a fair bit of tea from. I don't yet know if there's any more of it. And I have not yet tried Liquid Proust.

You should feel free to elaborate upon your experience with your tea, though; I am conscious that I sometimes don't bother mentioning some underwhelming or disappointing teas that I have, and yet those kinds of experiences can teach us more than the good ones.

Some of the best moderately old tea that I've had has been aged baozhong; I've still got a few 50g packets of 70s baozhong that I got from EoT years ago and which I hesitate to open, since then they'll be gone forever. I recall a simple flavour, but a very strong feeling.

In contrast, I've also tried some 1966 Beipu aged wulong from Floating Leaves recently; it is a very mild tea, easy, simple, inoffensive, but nothing like a lot of other aged teas that I've had. I didn't buy it with any hope of finding a beautiful diamond in the rough, though; I bought it so it could be an everyday tea to drink at work, and it may fit that role quite well.

Andrew
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teatray
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:40 am

Andrew S wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:40 am
teatray: it is interesting to read your comments about EoT and DXJD's yanchas. I found the latter to focus more on flavour and complexity, and the former to focus more on feeling and purity, for want of better descriptions, but that's a very broad generalisation which probably isn't very useful. Are you brewing them in a stronger style than usual, or are you applying the same parameters as with other teas? I've found them to reward strong brewing styles, but that's just me, of course, and others have different methods that work for them.
Even if I haven't really drunk enough to judge yet, I must say EoT teas are giving me a pretty good feeling so far! I also found I like strong yancha. I use 8g and fill my small pot (which comes to exactly 100ml of water with wet leaf inside; first pour on dry leaf is probably 120ml or so). Seem to lean towards longer (& fewer) infusions, too. Zhang Hui Chun's 2018 Strong Roast Shui Xian with breakfast (strawberry couscous) today was really enjoyable with a short 1st infusion (or rinse that I drink) then 40s, 1m, 3m or thereabouts (but was already questionable at infusion #5, unlike earlier attempts with shorter initial infusions). But seems worth it to me. How strong would you go?
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LeoFox
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 12:00 pm

teatray wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:40 am
Andrew S wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 1:40 am
teatray: it is interesting to read your comments about EoT and DXJD's yanchas. I found the latter to focus more on flavour and complexity, and the former to focus more on feeling and purity, for want of better descriptions, but that's a very broad generalisation which probably isn't very useful. Are you brewing them in a stronger style than usual, or are you applying the same parameters as with other teas? I've found them to reward strong brewing styles, but that's just me, of course, and others have different methods that work for them.
Even if I haven't really drunk enough to judge yet, I must say EoT teas are giving me a pretty good feeling so far! I also found I like strong yancha. I use 8g and fill my small pot (which comes to exactly 100ml of water with wet leaf inside; first pour on dry leaf is probably 120ml or so). Seem to lean towards longer (& fewer) infusions, too. Zhang Hui Chun's 2018 Strong Roast Shui Xian with breakfast (strawberry couscous) today was really enjoyable with a short 1st infusion (or rinse that I drink) then 40s, 1m, 3m or thereabouts (but was already questionable at infusion #5, unlike earlier attempts with shorter initial infusions). But seems worth it to me. How strong would you go?
For that one I don't rinse- 8g in 75 ml- starting at 1 min 10-20s. Really seems this tea is designed for such treatment
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teatray
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:57 pm

@LeoFox Wow, now that's strong! Will give it a go.
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LeoFox
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:59 pm

teatray wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:57 pm
LeoFox Wow, now that's strong! Will give it a go.
I believe Andrew goes even harder.
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Baisao
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:56 pm

Andrew S wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:01 am
Baisao wrote:
Sun Jul 17, 2022 2:31 am
I assume this isn’t the aged baozhong from Liquid Proust? That one was a strong freezer burned taste. A complete waste and a reminder why we store tea properly.
No, just a very small sample from someone I ordered a fair bit of tea from. I don't yet know if there's any more of it. And I have not yet tried Liquid Proust.

You should feel free to elaborate upon your experience with your tea, though; I am conscious that I sometimes don't bother mentioning some underwhelming or disappointing teas that I have, and yet those kinds of experiences can teach us more than the good ones.
That’s a great point. I tend to avoid mentioning bad experiences because invariably I’ll be asked about vendors. I generally try to avoid doing that and shouldn’t have mentioned LP above.

That specific aged baozhong was gross. It tasted like a freezer because it had been stored in a freezer at some point. Though it was a gift it was sent directly to me by the seller.

I’ve had other another aged baozhong (purchased in the 2000s) and it had a strong rancid aroma that overpowered the vanilla notes. Maybe roasting could restore it but I haven’t tried. It would be nice to find an aged baozhong that tastes nicely.

I was also given a piece of an unknown aged sheng that had been recently stored in a freezer by a Taiwanese friend. It’s unfortunate because the qi was wonderful but it tasted like year old ice.

By contrast, I’ve had aged Taiwanese ‘yancha’ that were stellar. I suppose the process and roasting made them more stable. And not storing them in freezers!
Ethan Kurland
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Sun Jul 17, 2022 10:40 pm

A long time ago I was lucky purchasing "accidentally" aged boazhong. The 2 teas were from different vendors but shared the same story: Long forgotten while out of sight, they somehow developed into rare, very tasty tea. Both had not been roasted, but 1 of the vendors roasted his old tea after obtaining it.

I liked them which encouraged me to try several more aged teas w/ similar stories. All but 1 of those were awful.

I think the story of tea in a box at the bottom of a cupboard for 10 years has just about disappeared (& a lot of bad tea that usually comes w/ that story).

I think we do each other a favor when we report something obviously bad, really trashy tea and/or treatment from a vendor. Otherwise, I understand reluctance to call out a vendor just because a tea doesn't make one happy.
Andrew S
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Mon Jul 18, 2022 6:54 pm

Out of the few aged wulongs that I've had, I've found that I generally prefer the re-roasted kind to the never-touched kind, but then it obviously depends on how they were stored and how they were re-roasted. There are good ones and bad ones in both styles I suppose. Re-roasting runs the risk of killing the tea, and leaving it alone runs the risk of it developing a kind of sourness (which might be another way of describing the rancidity that you mention, Baisao). I wonder what happens to it when it freezes, though (and whether there's a risk of tea freezing while in transit)...

MarshalN used to post a lot about aged wulongs on his blog while he lived in Taiwan, but I assume that the days of finding amazing aged tea lying around in dusty tea shops are over, at least for people who don't live there and have good connections.

Today's morning tea: 2018 Huiyuan heavily-roasted tieluohan from Maple, brewed strong, but then I kept going for quite a few long infusions. A nice strong feeling of an alert kind of relaxation for me, with a deep flavour and long aftertaste. I've also brewed it in a less-extreme style previously, also to good effect. Today's session had a lovely kind of perfumed quality at the outset, for want of a better description.

Andrew
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Victoria
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Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:33 am

I still have an ‘80s BaoZhong that was a gift. Seems to have healing properties, it runs through the body and has a balancing effect. Was probably re-roasted a few times, good flavor profile with no sour notes (which I really don’t enjoy!).

This morning I was treated to a flavor explosion blast from yesterdays third steep of HYChen’s medium roast DD left overnight. At room temperature the flavors are much more pronounced, so enjoyable. Followed by Tillerman’s winter Lishan - viscous, buttery and so rich. When the Lishan cools in cup evergreen notes come out 🍃
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LeoFox
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Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:54 pm

A nice comfortable full roast shui xian from da xue Jia dao. This one doesn't seem to be as suitable for 1 minute 1g/1ml infusions without some bitterness. Shorter infusions, instead, are highly rewarding with very comfortable mouthfeel and roast flavors along with warming sensations. The tea can steep out for a long time



Dangerous tea that makes me want to keep having more sessions
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LeoFox
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Thu Jul 21, 2022 2:17 pm

Testing/learning about my zini pot with hojo yancha

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wave_code
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Fri Jul 22, 2022 3:27 am

Enjoying my Fukien top grade scorched earth death roast TGY this morning. I know generally Fukien isn't held in such high regard here, but I'm loving this and it feels like just what I had been looking for - unpretentious, super high roast, nice and sour. Not too far off from the Sea Dyke red box character, but you can tell the base material is better - its not so jittery and I get the same if not more yin yun and mineral notes with less astringency by brewing it harder. And the leaves do actually uncurl. Is it going to win any competitions for its subtle floral notes and its delicate processing? No :lol: But I'm digging it - works great in the heat and I'm sure it will be perfect for warming up in the winter.
Ethan Kurland
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Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:10 am

wave_code wrote:
Fri Jul 22, 2022 3:27 am
... my Fukien top grade scorched earth death roast TGY....
Is that how the vendor names or describes this tea :?:

Sounds as if this tea has characteristics that you crave which might put some other drinkers off; also, that you appreciate inherent quality & its strength.

I am glad you found it. Sometimes a tea is just right for some of us that doesn't seem so wonderful for others. When we recognize that it is towards the ordinary in the quality (better than that but not superb) though it somehow is wonderful for us, we are wise. For me proof of the assessment (& proof is unnecessary unless one is selling tea), is when not everyone loves the tea but it is at least liked.

Enjoy.
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