What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Tillerman]

Is it good tea? Certainly. Does it justify the large difference in price to other high mountain Oolongs? I don’t think so.

Seems hyped and not really justified. I have had many Gaoshan that were at least as good, or better, for a much lower price.

@Bok, you do have good friends indeed; authentic FFF is not easily come by. It is always interesting to taste a tea like this but I heartily agree with you that the price far exceeds the quality. Tea as nice or nicer can be had for considerably less.

Do you know which harvest this is from? The date should have been imprinted on the "pop top" of the can.

[Bok]

Do you know which harvest this is from? The date should have been imprinted on the "pop top" of the can.

Had to dig it out of the trash
2018-10-6 it says. So last years Winter harvest. I will continue exploring it, sometimes the first times after opening are not always the best. A bit of air helps.

[Ethan Kurland]

Re: Foushoushan & other teas whose reputation & demand are great:

1. Not all FSS or DYL are equal. One may get excited to obtain real tea of renowned areas, but the lowest grades of such areas may offer little that is special, though authentic.

2. No tea is SUPERtea. One can ruin a session of any tea fairly easily. Besides eating a banana just before drinking etc., even overly high expectations may lead one to disappointment.

I change. Sometimes the prices of famous teas just seem so outrageous that I think we treat ourselves badly to even discuss them, that is, shun them. Now I enjoy drinking high-grade FSS & DYL, but not the very highest grade. As with many teas, the quantum leap in price one must take for the very best is so much greater than any increase in quality from tea just a grade lower. Furthermore, though FSS & DYL are different, I don't think there is much reason for me to have both unless I win a lottery. One expensive gaoshan in the house is enough for me. Dayuling that I get is a bit cheaper than the foushoushan; so, I will not buy FSS in the future.

It is a shame for top gaoshan to be packed in fairly large amounts. Even 75-gram packs are too much tea. One gets many rounds from not so many leaves. Using so much tea may take more time than an opened pack will be at its best.

Beware hedonic adaptation! Filet mignon, lobster tail, or FSS though wonderful, cannot seem special if one has them everyday.... So finish packs of good gaoshan while the leaves are not at their peak or close to it, but then wait a while before opening another of the same.

[debunix]

I just finished my last tin of FSS from a TeaChat group buy a week or two ago. I waited a while between opening each can I purchased, and varied things between a tokoname kyusu for multiple infusions, grandpa style, and on one or two occasions during hot weather, made delicious sparkling chilled tea. It was lovely stuff. I am missing it already.....but there will be other lovely teas, and I think I still have a package from Ethan that is vacuum sealed, waiting for it's day in the sun....

[luchayi]

An amazing Jin Guan Yin oolong tea...

[Victoria]

An amazing Jin Guan Yin oolong tea...

@luchayi Your description is so good, a great oolong to share. Glad you also notice umami notes in certain oolong. Sorry to keep asking, but where are you getting this fine oolong?

This am enjoying HY Chen’s light roasted 100 year garden DongDing in Hokujo’s back handle kyusu. From this past winter’s batch, I’m preferring the lightly roasted DongDing over his medium and heavy roast. Must be changes in my palate, because in the past I gravitated towards his medium or heavy roast. I’m holding onto his heavy roast for a year or so to let it age a little. Aside from storing the unopened vacuum packs in a dark and not too humid closet, any other considerations for resting roasted oolong?

[Victoria]

...Followed with Tillerman’s Laoshi Winter medium roasted DongDing. It’s so interesting to have these two DongDing back to back. They have different personalities. I really think they are both very high quality and well roasted. Laoshi’s has more charcoal notes coming through, along with complex spicy earthy aromatics and flavor. It has good clarity as well, or maybe a better term is clean. Hard to describe the difference, maybe tomorrow our LA club linguist @av360logic can try both side by side and help with tasting notes.

[Tillerman]

Excellent cupping this morning. 3 Huang Guan Yin from Cindy Chen. Left 1 roast, center 2 roasts, right 3 roasts, finished tea. Biggest differences is between 1 roast and the other two. Decreasing bitterness with roast level. Noticable differences in color of liquor. Very instructive. Thank you to Peter Jones of Trident Booksellers and Cafe for this great experience.

cupping.jpg

[Bok]

@Tillerman huang guan yin is a nice new Yancha. Reliable in taste.

New in the sense that it is one newly generated varietal if I’m it mistaken.

[luchayi]

An amazing Jin Guan Yin oolong tea...

luchayi Your description is so good, a great oolong to share. Glad you also notice umami notes in certain oolong. Sorry to keep asking, but where are you getting this fine oolong?

This am enjoying HY Chen’s light roasted 100 year garden DongDing in Hokujo’s back handle kyusu. From this past winter’s batch, I’m preferring the lightly roasted DongDing over his medium and heavy roast. Must be changes in my palate, because in the past I gravitated towards his medium or heavy roast. I’m holding onto his heavy roast for a year or so to let it age a little. Aside from storing the unopened vacuum packs in a dark and not too humid closet, any other considerations for resting roasted oolong?

I believe some oolong heavy roasted are nice to drink, nutty taste...but if you have a really special material in my opinion a delicate or medium roasting is better in order to preserve the other notes. I know some friends who travel in China and send me teas and I personally know some farmers. You could try teazaar traditional tgy is a good tea!

[Bok]

Fushoushan in Yamada Jozan (I or II). This tea continues to disappoint, I do not seem to be able to replicate the marvellous experience of others with this tea, no matter how I change brewing vessel or parameters... feels flat to me. Some aftertaste but not extraordinary, no richness. Just an ok-ish high mountain.

[Victoria]

Fushoushan in Yamada Jozan (I or II). This tea continues to disappoint, I do not seem to be able to replicate the marvellous experience of others with this tea, no matter how I change brewing vessel or parameters... feels flat to me. Some aftertaste but not extraordinary, no richness. Just an ok-ish high mountain.

Beautiful capture. Did you try changing water type? or maybe it’s just a thin tasting harvest. Liquor looks rich. Those thick large leaves take time to open up, after 4 or 5 steeps I like to let it sit overnight for its 6th and continue during the day with more steeps. Also, I give each steep plenty of time.

[Bok]

My thinking is: if my regular high mountain Oolong comes out nicely, there should be no reason a FSS would need other water.

I am trying to push the tea hard to see its faults, yet it remains remarkably weak in all aspects. I am also in the habit of letting an infusion sit for long or over night, usually that shows the character more clearly. Harvest is last winter, so freshness should not be the issue either.

Maybe it just as Tillerman mentioned, a tea that can be good, but does not have to be and often relies on its fame and rareness.

[Victoria]

Each harvest is different. Maybe your leaves need to breath a little and rest. I enjoy LiShan and when I get a good FuShouShan it is rich and creamy and effervescent ... My first tries were a disappointment, too weak, too light, but then I let the tea rest and I got what it’s all about.

[Ethan Kurland]

I am happy to find that I don't like a "great" tea that is very expensive. I don't need to feel deprived of what I cannot afford to drink regularly. Bok, perhaps it is good FSS is not your cup of tea. I also do not want to need to have a stock of various waters to match with specific teas in order to enjoy them (and cannot afford to do so).

Yet--if after my filter replacements arrive, I do find that some teas that I have are much better when I use the Whole Foods 365 brand of spring water which only costs 89 cents a gallon, I will use that water.

I had the last of a 60-gram pack of FSS a couple of days ago. The last week of using that packet's tea I found a huge difference between 2 spring waters: very light body & lots of sweetness (& only hints of other flavors) from water w/ hardly any minerals; good flavors of green... vegetable, more body (& only hint of sweetness) from water w/ more minerals. I liked both. Bok, I think you might like what I did not when I used hard tap water, strong complex flavors & full body.

Also, we might remember that even famous teas may come in various grades. One may have a grade that is not the best grade for him.