What Oolong Are You Drinking

[klepto]

I've been exploring the Wuyi oolongs for weeks now, each one I try offers something different. You can go from Rou Gui which is highly enjoyable for someone with a sweet tooth like myself to Bai ji guan(white cockscomb??) which can taste like snap peas to mushrooms. I like it all so far and it helps to develop my taste buds at the same time. I forget the name of one of them that tasted exactly like raw cinnamon and a white sweet potato.

Interesting, the Baijiguan I had was more like a flowery fruity explosion, more akin to Dancong.

Mine came from Wuyi Origin, its fruity but has much more green vegetable taste in the front. So far I haven't all the other yancha's I've had aren't like that. My favorite yancha are Bai Rui Xiang and Rou Gui so far but I've liked all I've tried so far.

[Bok]

Now here’s something you won’t see everyday: instead of brewing Yancha in my usual 60-80ml pot, I am using 300ml! Common convention would have it that this is a no go or waste of expensive tea

Or is it? Don’t believe and take as law everything you read and think you know. Challenge yourself to break the supposed rules.

It is surprisingly good and has a totally different quality. Couldn’t say better or worse, just different.

Was it Western brewing? No, actually I only filled the pot to less than a quarter with water, so the leaf/water ratio was about the same to my usual preparation

Something to ponder...

[Noonie]

Don’t believe and take as law everything you read and think you know. Challenge yourself to break the supposed rules.

It is surprisingly good and has a totally different quality. Couldn’t say better or worse, just different.

Something to ponder...

Thanks for sharing your experiment and thoughts! I couldn’t agree anymore about rules, and the breaking of them.

I sometimes see a method mentioned here and I try it for myself, and it just makes this whole tea experience more interesting. Sometimes these methods improve the tea in some way, though oftentimes it just makes it different.

The one rule I continue to abide by though is it’s all about the leaf. Usually good tea costs a bit more, and after years of trying to convince myself those lower price teas (from good vendors) were great, I have found that by spending more the tea really is better and thus worth it. Aside from the pleasure of using interesting teaware such as yixing or tokoname pots, I don’t think a ‘good’ pot can make a lower quality tea as good or better than a higher quality tea. Sounds obvious but again, the one rule I live by with respect to tea.

Cheers!

[TeaTotaling]

Thanks for sharing your experiment and thoughts! I couldn’t agree anymore about rules, and the breaking of them.

I sometimes see a method mentioned here and I try it for myself, and it just makes this whole tea experience more interesting. Sometimes these methods improve the tea in some way, though oftentimes it just makes it different.

The one rule I continue to abide by though is it’s all about the leaf. Usually good tea costs a bit more, and after years of trying to convince myself those lower price teas (from good vendors) were great, I have found that by spending more the tea really is better and thus worth it. Aside from the pleasure of using interesting teaware such as yixing or tokoname pots, I don’t think a ‘good’ pot can make a lower quality tea as good or better than a higher quality tea. Sounds obvious but again, the one rule I live by with respect to tea.

Cheers!

This is my thought as well. Leaf selection is king, and that comes at a price. I am early on into my tea journey, but I am constantly striving to acquire pure, clean, top shelf tea. I have not discovered many vendors who point to the purity of their tea, with insight to farming methods used. I don't believe all tea I consume needs to be "Certified Organic", but I have a strong desire to consume tea that is unsprayed, and grown with integrity. Respecting the plant, nature, and people who consume it. Finding the right balance between quality and cost, even if the cost is a bit higher. A kind point in the right direction from the Tea Forum Community would be greatly appreciated. I have not discovered such discussion, on my own search. Still getting used to navigating the forum. I do appreciate the intelligent discussion, of that which I have read.

My current Oolong that I recently enjoyed is Taiwanese, from Yushan, grown at about 1700m. The garden is described as semi-wild. The Oolong is slowly withered, promoting higher oxidation, and lightly baked. It is very crisp, and has a wonderful purity. The aroma is fragrant and very pleasant. I acquired it from Song Tea.

Happy Sunday Sippin',

-George **Peace & Tea

[Bok]

@TeaTotaling welcome to the forum. You might want to check out the recent pesticide-free thread, where you might get some pointers.

Not an easy task... I got a friend here in Taiwan constantly on the hunt for these “clean” teas, not much of it and in high demand locally already. Always comes at a high price, a little more is usually not sufficient

[TeaTotaling]

@Bok Thank you kindly, I will most certainly take a look! Understood. Personally, a high price would justify a healthier habit. What is your personal preference, is this something you seek out and pay attention to ("cleaner" tea)?

[klepto]

Bok Thank you kindly, I will most certainly take a look! Understood. Personally, a high price would justify a healthier habit. What is your personal preference, is this something you seek out and pay attention to ("cleaner" tea)?

I agree, I'm not looking for organic at all but pesticide free should be the bare minimum. When you get some good quality tea, the aroma and the presentation of the leaves should be the appetizer itself.

[Ethan Kurland]

For generalizations: Many black teas from Taiwan are pesticide-free as is Oriental Beauty because farmers want the leaves to be bitten by bugs.

I & others believe bug-bites are good for the flavor. I & some others don't believe organic tea in general tastes better than non-organic. And of course there are other factors. (For example, my organic Alishan black is not better than the other 2 blacks that I sell; &, it is also from a different mountain etc. = there are too many factors.)

My best aged roasted oolong happens to be organic but the leaves of other years from the same place & people did not always produce such a special tea.

When in Taiwan I liked to see tea growing alongside or among patches of vegetables & fruit trees. Bad tea, good tea, & excellent tea comes from those farms. So, of course, beautiful places don't always produce excellent tea & beautiful-looking tea leaves don't always make excellent tea.

As a vendor while I may brag that a specific tea is from a farm close to the peak of Mount Li growing organically among other produce, in the long run what should matter is how what I sell tastes to the buyers. Moreover, so many people look for that information for tea being sold by other vendors thinking that that specific information is most important rather than a vendor found the specific production of a specific harvest that was ideal & may not be obtained easily (if at all) elsewhere.

Another interesting occurrence is that when I gave the whole story of a specific farm some people forgot about the tea from there & remembered only the story. You can see the last edit of my list of teas near the end of the last page of my vendor thread, is much more concise.

[Bok]

Bok Thank you kindly, I will most certainly take a look! Understood. Personally, a high price would justify a healthier habit. What is your personal preference, is this something you seek out and pay attention to ("cleaner" tea)?

In the way that clean tea, often tastes a lot better, yes. But then the prices for these kind of teas is usually so high that I could not make them daily drinkers... The bug bitten taste, I do not care for too much, if it is too strong it makes me gag. A slight hint of it is good, as it points to being cleaner tea. That goes fro Taiwan teas only, I do not know what that flavour tastes like for other teas...

other teas are almost impossible to acquire as clean teas, Gaoshan for example. You can not grow teas at this kind of altitude in a completely natural way – because it isn't natural that tea grows there!

So yes and no. But I don't really care about it, what matters most to me is the taste.

[TeaTotaling]

Bok Thank you kindly, I will most certainly take a look! Understood. Personally, a high price would justify a healthier habit. What is your personal preference, is this something you seek out and pay attention to ("cleaner" tea)?

In the way that clean tea, often tastes a lot better, yes. But then the prices for these kind of teas is usually so high that I could not make them daily drinkers... The bug bitten taste, I do not care for too much, if it is too strong it makes me gag. A slight hint of it is good, as it points to being cleaner tea. That goes fro Taiwan teas only, I do not know what that flavour tastes like for other teas...

other teas are almost impossible to acquire as clean teas, Gaoshan for example. You can not grow teas at this kind of altitude in a completely natural way – because it isn't natural that tea grows there!

So yes and no. But I don't really care about it, what matters most to me is the taste.

Thank you for the insight! Different strokes for different folks. What style of tea do you enjoy most?

[Ethan Kurland]

...

other teas are almost impossible to acquire as clean teas, Gaoshan for example. You can not grow teas at this kind of altitude in a completely natural way – because it isn't natural that tea grows there!

... what matters most to me is the taste.

+1 to taste is primary concern

Sampling organic gaoshan from highest altitude was so disappointing; &, those teas were offered at extremely high prices.

The very best quality organic aged roasted oolong that I have was reached only one year as far as I know. It seems being what Bok calls "completely natural" is very difficult. Consistent great results are always difficult to obtain & even harder when being natural at the highest tea-growing altitudes.

[_Soggy_]

Drinking some Wulongs from Floating Leaves. Charcoal Dong Ding earlier today was really good. I should have gotten more as I feel I will be craving it and drinking it more than i should. Probably the best tea I've gotten from them in this order from the ones i drank so far. Definitely order a big boi of it. If you don't like it send it to me. Anyways, I've been drinking a lot more tea recently and trying to modulate with different kinds so i don't get burnt out on a single one/style. Been drinking a lot through the order as haven't really been craving other styles of tea which I assume might be due to the springtime feeling. Might have to get more oolongs.

[jason19870313]

Taiwan Tea Craft FuShoushan. The winter tea taste is good.
Top quality

[jason19870313]

Taiwan tea li shan tea

茶路有限公司

邱唐杏梨山華崗冬茶

Good taste very floral long taste in the mouth

[Victoria]

Been enjoying HY Chen’s oolong in between Shincha sessions. Sometimes Shincha is just too high energy, so to chill out it’s oolong that I reach for. This morning his medium roast ‘19 winter DongDing that I’ve frequently been enjoying, even if it’s not as great as ‘18, and in the afternoon ‘18 Exquisite Special Roast. Wow, the Exquisite Special is so good, I think letting it rest has improved flavor profile, its rich and viscous, sweet, with fruity and slight evergreen notes. Looks to be 30% oxidized, medium roast.