What Oolong Are You Drinking

Semi-oxidized tea
Andrew S
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:20 am

@tjkdubya and @Bok: nice pots from both of you (even if one of them further above was brewing dongding and not yancha).

I assume that a zini pot is not 'typical' for brewing yancha, but I'm sure that each pot is different, and each pot brings out different qualities. No rules, of course. My different pots give me different effects with my 'usual' brewing method for yancha, but I'll likely stick to my 60s hongni while I keep learning this style, for a bit of consistency.

And it is interesting to see how everyone's methods and preferences differ slightly. It'd be even more fun to learn this in person, but present circumstances prevent that from happening even more than might usually be the case.

I do try to make the first brew about flavour, the second about aroma, and the third about aftertaste, but of course, that's an oversimplification of how every factor impacts the brew, and how you have to adjust for them, and how my efforts often fall short of my desired outcomes.

I'll play some more with this tea in the morning and see what happens.

Andrew
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tjkdubya
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:22 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu Sep 23, 2021 3:51 pm
Each of the infusions rewarded me for keeping them in my mouth, rather than swallowing them quickly.
Here's another interesting thing. Personally I can't swallow these teas fast enough. The main event for me —while the taste, the fragrance, the aftertaste even, can all be quite nice — is "tasting" the tea with the throat and the stomach. While I won't recommend swallowing too hot a liquid, I do tend to hurry things along to emphasize the throat feeling and maximize the long lasting echo in the throat. From the middle of my torso rising up through the throat and the back of the palate through the retronasal cavity. A steady glow that seems to go on and on.

It's a good thing there are many ways to appreciate one thing. So I don't advocate the above as the "correct" way to appreciate these zuhuo yanchas. If I want to explore the upfront aromatics and the taste more, I will choose my teaware and brewing technique accordingly. If I want to really focus on tasting with the throat, I might reach for a Chaozhou pot that functions as a kind of spotlight, which some people might feel makes the tea taste too austere or just plain less "tasty."
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tjkdubya
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:27 am

Yeah, zini I guess is a huge category and they can turn out quite weird with roasty yancha. This particular julunzhu however is just ace for zuhuo as far as I'm concerned. Renders tea beautifully.
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tjkdubya
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:48 am

Andrew S wrote:
Thu Sep 23, 2021 3:51 pm
Playing with this tea in my more usual yancha brewing method (1g per 10mL, no intentionally-crushed leaves, and three breaths for each of the first three infusions) yielded quite an elegant result with an intriguing musky note of some sort in the aftertaste, and the tea lasted for a fair number of brews.
Sorry my responses are so chopped up. Just adding some thoughts as they pop up in my head.

When I'm brewing, more often than not, I actually prefer the approach you describe above. It's because my gongfu is not good enough. Maybe 4 lighter steeps to nearly exhaust the tea is more manageable for me given my skill level.
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tjkdubya
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:59 am

Did a 5th steep in the small pot, then moved the leaves to a 100ml porcelain for a long soak 6th steep. Plenty of tea to enjoy after the main event. Overnight soaks in thermos or a big pot is fun after gongfu to see what these zuhuo leaves still have to offer.
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Bok
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 4:03 am

tjkdubya wrote:
Fri Sep 24, 2021 2:59 am
Did a 5th steep in the small pot, then moved the leaves to a 100ml porcelain for a long soak 6th steep. Plenty of tea to enjoy after the main event. Overnight soaks in thermos or a big pot is fun after gongfu to see what these zuhuo leaves still have to offer.
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Good point, I always leave another steep over night or longer to get the last bits and often a different dimension out of a given tea.

I do that for any tea except low grade, Puerh, or Japanese teas. The latter mostly because it’d would create a nasty mush that can be a real pain to clean off.
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Bok
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:02 am

Different Zini, different dongding, same serene enjoyment…
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Andrew S
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Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:10 pm

@Bok: you've always got an interesting selection of tea accessories which have to compete with your pots for our attention.

I played with another 10g of the same tea today, in the same strong style and same hongni pot, but with some slight variations. A bit less crushing of the leaves, a bit longer on the first infusion, a little bit shorter on the second, a bit longer on the third, and then the same long infusions for the 'bonus rounds'.

In short, another pleasing session with this tea. Perhaps a bit more elegant than yesterday, more aromatic, less thick and rich, but with the same longer aftertaste. The bonus rounds faded away in a similar way, but kept that nice aftertaste that makes them worthwhile. I think that less crushing of the leaves resulted in a slower release of flavour (obviously), such that the bonus rounds gave up more of that flavour today than they did yesterday, and the first three infusions presented a more elegant and aromatic side of the tea than the strength and concentration that I got from it yesterday.

I also tried swallowing the tea immediately this time; as you say @tjkdubya, it gives quite a different effect. Trying some of the bonus rounds after they've cooled down was also interesting, but that's usually something that I do only for old tea and fresh high mountain tea, but not roasted tea.

It's fun to experiment like this and to try to learn how all these tiny variations can have an impact on the brew, not to mention the big differences as between my 'strong' and 'normal' yancha brewing methods (which is why I think it's usually better to get a large amount of a few teas to try out, rather than a dozen small samples of different teas).

I also think it's interesting how everyone has different styles of brewing yancha, and different things that they're aiming for. I think I'll hold onto my normal style for most occasions, since I do like how elegantly it can present the tea, and how it can emphasise the 'feeling' that some yanchas can give me which can build over many infusions, but I will also try playing at least once with the stronger style for any new yanchas that I try, now that I'm getting a little bit more confident in my ability not to ruin a tea completely by subjecting it to this style.

I also need to read up on the history of Chaozhou gongfu brewing, but that's a whole other topic... I'll spend a bit of today looking through some of the old posts around here for that purpose.

Andrew
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Bok
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Sat Sep 25, 2021 7:05 am

@Andrew S thank you. For me it’s less distracting, quite the contrary, it’s helping me not to stray elsewhere and keep the attention on where the tea is happening and reinforcing the enjoyment by adding another visual and sensual layer.

Dancong tonight to cut through some abuse of food at dinner…
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oolongfan
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Sat Sep 25, 2021 9:02 am

I just finished a session of teas from Ethan Kurland’s current Spring 2021 offerings:

Perfect – I actually thought this might be a different tea, such was the quality and balance. I double checked my order because I could not believe that this was the so reasonably priced Perfect. To say it is underpriced doesn’t do justice to the quality and balance of this tea. The profile is sweet spring grass, sweet pea, hints of orchid at the start than transform into a gentle pleasing nuttiness. There is a lovely savory aspect with a slightly salty aspect at the end, especially when aerated. Nice thick glycerol like texture. The sweet spring grass and sweet pea are powerful yet refined, expressing a gentle green aspect without being bitter or overly vegetal. Despite being savory this tea has ample sweetness without tasting “sweet” – which also keeps this from tasting overly ‘vegetal’ despite the grass and sweet pea notes. This reminded me, in retrospect, even more so of last year’s DYL but with slightly more pronounced flavors and a tad less thickness. Even if you don’t normally drink less expensive teas, you owe it to yourself to try this.

Fushoushan – This was incredible. One of those teas that makes me think that it is really too nice a tea to be wasted on a neophyte like me. Sharing similar notes of sweet grass and sweet pea of the Perfect but slightly more complex and refined and without any trace of orchid. Maybe a hint of nuttiness but so refined that you don’t really notice it. This is like the pure essence of an early spring day when you pick up that first aroma of sweet delicate spring grass and sweet pea blossoms. This is not the rich summer first cutting nor the heavy sweet but drier second cutting type grass scent but rather that delicate sweet grass that has just received enough warmth but still retains the delicacy of cold nights and early morning. There is purity that is stunning and deceptively simple. Like the Perfect this is a savory tea with ample sweetness without tasting sweet. The texture deserves as much mention as the flavors for it is fat and thick, more so than even the Perfect. You can practically chew on this tea it is that fat and thick yet very slippery, coating the tongue and mouth. I am not sure I have had a tea quite this thick yet the slippery quality and flavory keeps it from becoming too unctuous or heavy. A perfect balance to the light pure almost pared down yet complex flavor profile of spring grass and sweet pea. I would suggest drinking this after the Perfect because both have many similarities but also differences that while subtle are highlighted when together.
I live on a farm with abundant forage type grass that we cut for my horses, so the scent of grass is a huge part of my sensory experience. On this dank rainy day in the mid 50’s, this tea transported me to an early April afternoon.

Lishan – Despite having previously posted on this, I will add a few notes since I had this after the above teas. The orchid note and honey notes are amplified in the company of the above savory teas. Having said this, I am also noticing the savory aspects more than the previous sessions. The Lishan seems a little heavier and perfumed when compared with the stunning refined savory profile of the Fushoushan but on the other hand it has ample minerality and savory sweet pea notes to indicate the similarities shared with the other two teas. Now I almost regret having compared this to last year;s DYL, for after drinking alongside the Perfect and Fufoushan, I feel that the Perfect and Fufoushan have more in common with last year’s DYL than does the Lishan in terms of savory profiles and thick slippery texture.

A very interesting session to me especially since I was tired and foggy headed, so my brewing and attention suffered yet these teas shone despite less than optimal conditions. Sometiems the subtleties of this style goashan escape me but not with Ethan's teas..for even the most sublte still reveal themselves with incredible clarity. Stunning teas especially in lightt of such reasonable pricing.
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Tillerman
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Tue Sep 28, 2021 4:02 pm

@Andrew S & @Bok. While I was travelling in Fujian (in 2013 - I've not been to China since, just Taiwan ;) ) I learned that the practice of "packing the pot" is known as "farmer tea" - 農茶. @Andrew S, I am curious that you only get 3 steeps from your teas. I typically get about 6 - and I prefer my tea fairly highly extracted. Are you finding that the flavor falls off?
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LeoFox
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Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:17 pm

Enjoying a very nice oriental beauty from tao yuan, taiwan. This is made from a Huang gan cultivar



Drinking this tea, it feels like I am pressing my nose close to an old semi-dried orange. The flavor has an aged orange characteristic, including some orange peel bitterness that verges on herbal. There is a squash like vegetal flavor - and of course the muscatel. Feels perfect for autumn
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Tillerman
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Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:35 pm

@LeoFox, can you provide more information on the huang gan cultivar?
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LeoFox
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Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:42 pm

Tillerman wrote:
Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:35 pm
LeoFox, can you provide more information on the huang gan cultivar?
黃柑

I think it was hybridized with an assam to make #10 at some point. I heard it is quite old.

I tried a black tea made with this cultivar here.
viewtopic.php?p=39211#p39211

More info:

https://www.tres.gov.tw/ws.php?id=3805
Ethan Kurland
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Wed Sep 29, 2021 3:59 pm

LeoFox wrote:
Wed Sep 29, 2021 12:42 pm
I think it was hybridized with an assam to make #10 at some point. I heard it is quite old.
"hybridized" Wow, Leo.

Quite a word! I have complimented you on your command of English before. Now you have gone a step further perhaps: commandeering the language :) .

Well done.

I write my old reminder, "It is not only the cultivar." Luck is a factor for Oriental Beauty. When pesticides are not used, farmers do not know whether the tea leaves will be bitten too much, not as much as wanted, or perhaps not at all, by the insects that farmers hope will bite the tea.

The very-high altitude black tea that I champion (note the reference Leo, I am trying to get close to your skill w/ language) is quite a bit like Oriental Beauty some years & hardly at all like OB other years. Even though pesticides are never used on the land where leaves that will become that black tea are grown, bugs may not be biting the leaves at such high altitude, when temperature is just a bit cooler than usual or wind is a bit stronger.
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