What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Tillerman]

Now that is very surprising, even if a cooler water temperature was used. Were fewer leaves used compared to what you are normally accustomed to?

@Vanenbw, yes the leaf dosage was low.

[Victoria]

Now that is very surprising, even if a cooler water temperature was used. Were fewer leaves used compared to what you are normally accustomed to?

Vanenbw, yes the leaf dosage was low.

It’s proportional, although good results aren’t always guaranteed, depends on the tea; gram leaf/ water ml/ temp/ time
increase time, decrease leaf and temp, increase water
decrease time, increase leaf and temp, decrease water

I know several experienced yancha drinkers that enjoy ‘western style’ steeping, as well as more concentrated gongfu sessions with high end yancha.

[Vanenbw]

Interesting. Who would have thought there was a "science" behind brewing tea. It would have been nice if this was offered as an elective when I was in college.

[Bok]

Interesting. Who would have thought there was a "science" behind brewing tea. It would have been nice if this was offered as an elective when I was in college.

There is science behind anything we do. The difference is just if we know about it or not

[Ethan Kurland]

Yes, so true I have several pots in rotation daily ....

I don't steep overnight often. However, as Victoria & others relate, it is good to have a few teapots & gaiwans handy. One might be using a few at a time.

I often have leaves resting in a gaiwan or teapot from when I chose the wrong tea for the moment. For example, this morning I did not ease into the day at all. (I usually drink some water, putter around for a while, & then prepare tea.) Today, I woke up & immediately prepared my best tea, Father Love. The taste of the roast seemed overly strong instead of wonderfully full & dynamic. So, I did not continue the session.

I went to do some errands, returned home, ate, then prepared & drank another tea. A few hours later after lunch, I returned to the gaiwan with its damp Father-Love leaves which produced a brew, that though probably not different than the one from early in the morning, in the afternoon tasted delicious through several rounds.

Some days when somehow the particular teas that I choose for the moment are the wrong tea for the moment, I have a few teas waiting to be enjoyed later in the day or the next day. These days make sense of me having so much of the limited space in my studio taken up by teaware.

[Vanenbw]

There is science behind anything we do. The difference is just if we know about it or not

Well said.

Again, a little off subject because I'm referring to sencha here and not oolong, but I did try an all-day-long steep after I had a few infusions of sencha this morning. I poured boiling hot water into the pot before I left for work and left it all day. When I came home, I poured a little into a cup. I sipped it, and thought it wasn't strong at all. Not that I really expected it to be. The flavor was very subtle and muted, like drinking flavored water. It was too cold from sitting out on my counter all day, so I poured the tea into a saucepan and heated it up for about one minute. I liked the idea of "getting the most" I can out of the tea leaves. I would definitely try it again.

[Chadrinkincat]

I just finished the last bit of Jin mao huo from WO. It’s a mouth watering yancha that leaves me wanting more. I suspect ill be ordering a larger bag of this tea soon.

[Bok]

Chinese New Year holiday, did not bring much tea with me for a whole week of not going to many places... seems I calculated well: a 150g pack of fake Dayuling is now in its last brew

A friend gave me this tea to try. It’s definitely not Dayuling, but it’s still some sort of Dayuling alright, tastes like it’s coming from somewhere in the Lishan vicinity. Just lacks the endurance and powerful aftertaste a real DYL would exhibit. I just hope my friend did not pay a DYL price for it...

[Victoria]

LiShan Primitive Wild from HY Chen winter 2019. Resinous evergreen notes are rich, smooth and aromatic. I wonder how this is encouraged and brought out during processing. This one is the very lightly roasted version.

[Bok]

LiShan Primitive Wild from HY Chen winter 2019. Resinous evergreen notes are rich, smooth and aromatic. I wonder how this is encouraged and brought out during processing. This one is the very lightly roasted version.

I was just recently told the challenge with wild teas: all the leaves are different, small, middle, large, different thickness etc. So it is is very difficult to process them evenly, so usually you only find lightly processed or black tea processing, anything more like an oolong or roasted is difficult to control.

Rich flavour might be due to the leaves having to work harder. Yet most wild teas seem more subdued and almost light, compared to conventional farmed teas.

[debunix]

I was just recently told the challenge with wild teas: all the leaves are different, small, middle, large, different thickness etc. So it is is very difficult to process them evenly, so usually you only find lightly processed or black tea processing, anything more like an oolong or roasted is difficult to control.

This makes so much sense.

[Bok]

Another detail I just remembered: apparently the wild leaves wither too fast to make a controlled processing, which makes oolong making almost impossible. So basically wild tea is mostly only available as near green or completely oxidised aka black tea. I had always wondered why that was before I got this logical explanation.

[LuckyMe]

Winter 2019 Fushoushan. Fresh and flowery though taste doesn’t quite live up to its price tag.

[Ethan Kurland]

Winter 2019 Fushoushan. Fresh and flowery though taste doesn’t quite live up to its price tag.

Yeah, FSS is overpriced IMHO.

I have tried to come up with a policy to guide me for buying or not buying expensive tea. Some ?s that I consider:
Will I miss a tea if I do not have it? When I drink a tea that is similar, will I not enjoy it because I have had the experience of a better similar tea? (So since I have already ruined the situation, I am doomed to buy the better tea )

For FSS, I don't miss it; &, other gaoshan is not ruined by my memory of FSS.

This policy is far from perfect. I usually enjoy the Shanlinxi that I drink very much. Sometimes I even wonder why I also have the much more expensive DYL on hand. Other times when I drink SLX, I am happy for 2 rounds but by the 3rd am missing DYL.

[Rickpatbrown]

My first trip to Taiwan!
Jiufen tea house. First time having Gui-fen. What a delicious tea! It has the backbone of good gaoshan, strong buttery aroma, with the sweetness and complexity of eastern beauty.
A bit pricey, but the tea house is truly spectacular, especially in the setting of Jiufen.

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