From Tea-Masters:
- 2021 Spring Qingxin Oolong Da Yu Ling 104K
- 2021 Spring Jade Oolong from Zhushan
Discovering Taiwanese oolongs this year. Journey began with purchase at Sazen (intriguing Dong Ding with a spiciness I now realize may have been a feature of the non-traditional cultivar, Ying Xiang). Then, exploring a good number of 25g-50g packs from two vendors (TTC from TW, Klasek from CZ). Without knowledge of these teas, nor any experience selecting for my tastes, I shouldn't judge too much. There were definitely some enjoyable ones there (more so from Klasek), but, basically, it all came down to relaxing afternoon teas exploring the "new thing", that I would never swap for my morning sencha. Then came the order from Stephane and, out of the 5 ordered*, these two stood out and completely changed my perception. Curiously, one is the most expensive, the other the cheapest, not only among the Tea-Masters order but of my entire TW tea exploring. Both standard Qing Xin Oolong cultivar. (Correction: Jade is Jade cultivar, duh, aka Cui Yu/Tsui Yu.)
The two 25g packs were gone very fast. It was my morning tea, afternoon tea, feeling-good tea, comfort tea, etc. Both products did the trick, and no other tea would do (incl. another Da Yu Ling that may have been fake though). As different as these were in their flowery scents, they shared a certain nut/seed note that hit right at some spot in my brain and made me crave them more than any other tea, and in quite a different way. I would say I enjoyed them equally, though the Da Yu Ling definitely has a nobler bouquet that stays this way throughout numerous steeps, whereas the Jade gets off-tastes after 3-4 steeps (though, considering the price difference, that's a non-issue, as you could drink only 1st infusions and still pay less per ml of drink).
I included another bag of the original Dong Ding that started my journey in my last Sazen order. I do not enjoy it as much: spiciness is there but not the fresh, noble aroma, which was actually somewhat similar to Da Yu Ling or Taiping Houkui the first time around. I wonder what part of it is quality variance and what may be just changed tastes/expectations. All I know is I can't wait for Taiwan Post to resume shipping to my destination (my Tea-Masters order had to be sent via courier, but I'd rather spend the extra money on tea).
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* As a beginner, I'm just getting reference points and finding out what I like, so very happy with 2 out of 5, which included Oriental Beauty and others I found out I'm not a huge fan of, but decided to try from multiple vendors anyway, so that I'm not fooled by a random bad sample.