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Andrew S wrote: ↑

Mon May 23, 2022 8:03 pm

Tillerman's Winter 2020 Laoshi Dong Ding in a fairly big pot for me today.

Very enjoyable; I'm sure that it would reward a bit more effort and care on the part of the brewer than I can give it today, but it is also very forgiving of this casual approach to brewing.

Andrew

All the signs of a good tea: it is not stuck-up like an aristocrat and turns bitter on you, but allows for casual neglect and bad manners

2022-04-07 NanTou-Lugu-FengHuang Wild-JinXuan

Notes:
- attack: bright and elegant
- aroma: milky, floral, fresh grass
- taste: ripe fruit after multiple flushes

This tea is elegant/ fresh/ complex. It is good but with a highly volatile scent. Because of this, I made an experiment this time: I had this tea packed into small nitro sealed bags (see last photo), as I would like future drinkers to taste it as fresh as I have.

It can be hard to find good quality JinXuan, as some farmers may add synthetic flavoring essences (to give it a milky taste).

maple wrote: ↑

Mon May 23, 2022 11:01 pm

2022-04-07 NanTou-Lugu-FengHuang Wild-JinXuan

Notes:
- attack: bright and elegant
- aroma: milky, floral, fresh grass
- taste: ripe fruit after multiple flushes

This tea is elegant/ fresh/ complex. It is good but with a highly volatile scent. Because of this, I made an experiment this time: I had this tea packed into small nitro sealed bags (see last photo), as I would like future drinkers to taste it as fresh as I have.

It can be hard to find good quality JinXuan, as some farmers may add synthetic flavoring essences (to give it a milky taste).

Stop teasing me

2018 Zhang Hui chun heavy roast shuixian from essence of tea. - after a heavy meal of curry

---

Update : omg, i feel hung over the day after. This is powerful stuff

@LeoFox: good to see that you enjoyed it; this kind of tea feels well-suited to being brewed strong.

I found that it feels surprisingly fresh and lively for such a dark tea. The light mouthfeel probably adds to that feeling. Of course, you're much better at identifying and describing flavours than I am...

I'm having it for breakfast for the second morning in a row down here, while I don't have time to dwell on my tea for too long.

Andrew

My first Gaoshan this year… has been a long time I sampled some. Lishan, not too bad, few more samples to go.

Wenshan Bao Zhong, spring 2020 from Tillerman: floral, rich, delicate, lovely. Today enjoying grandpa style in the Flower of Forgetfulness....green leaves unfurling with the flavor building, convection making the leaves dance as they open. A gentle start to the day...

Starting a public holiday with an oriental beauty from Taoyuan, made from the Bo Tian Zao cultivar.

Yet another very good example of a style that I don't particularly enjoy, which is forcing me to re-evaluate my prejudices against the style.

This one tastes fresh. starts creamy, gets darker in the finish, with an interplay between herbs and dark fruits in the long aftertaste, all supported by a very refreshing salinity. Later infusions take on darker and woodier notes, but still remaining very fresh and vibrant.

Nothing like the thick ,dense, cloying oriental beauties that I tried years ago, many of which felt like glorified hong cha.

Andrew

@Andrew S

Thanks for your review. It looks really "Green" in the photo.
This cultivar is hard to find in north Taiwan. But luckily, I found another lot in the ShiDing area and I had it charcoal roasted. It's a different style from the one you have. Looking forward to sharing this with you.

Pectin bomb. Btw, that is 8th infusion.

2022 Li Shan, sample from a Floating Leaves tea order.

I infused 2.6 g of leaves with about 140 mL 205 def water in the 150 mL Petr Novak Black Magda glazed teapot. This is a sturdy and solid little pot that holds the heat well, and after about one minute, the liquor was rich with what other people have called buttery flavor, but I think of as summer hay meadow, sweet, deep, a hint of floral, a hint of spice. The second infusion at about 30 seconds is just it’s delicious.

I’ve already had a couple of sessions with this one grandpa style in the flower of forgetfulness, because it is the sort of lovely lovely tea where just a few leaves in a big bowl make a wonderful cuppa. At moments like this, I need to be very strong and keep reminding myself of the as yet unopened Alishan etc that I did order…..and the other teas filling the tea chest. Mmmmm. It will be hard to keep from making another order just for this.

maple wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:58 pm

Andrew S

Thanks for your review. It looks really "Green" in the photo.
This cultivar is hard to find in north Taiwan. But luckily, I found another lot in the ShiDing area and I had it charcoal roasted. It's a different style from the one you have. Looking forward to sharing this with you.

Thank you; I definitely look forward to trying a roasted style.

I had your 2002 Lishan deep roast tieguanyin yesterday evening; it's a very vibrant and refreshing tea, with a very bright mouthfeel, and none of the 'heaviness' that roasted teas can sometimes have. It's a very nice example of a style that I enjoy.

Andrew

Today I set up a session to compare several Taiwanese 'red' oolongs:
Left to right

2021 Alishan Black from Floating Leaves, made from Jin Xuan leaves;

2017 Red Alishan from Norbu, a longtime favorite that unfortunately is not routinely available to reorder anymore, made from Qing Xin cultivar;

2021 Dazuan Natural Farming "Perfume of Spring" Red Oolong Tea from Taiwan Sourcing, made from Four Seasons Spring cultivar.
Infused 2 grams of tea with 50-60 mL water just off the boil, in identical glazed porcelain gaiwans.

After the first 1 minute infusion, the teas are light, haven't really opened up yet--hints of floral and fruity but not much more. After 2 minutes, there is a distinct note from the Alishan Black that I associate with the green style 'milk' oolongs from Jin Xuan, along with plum and raisin and floral notes; the Alishan Red is similar but without that milk oolong note; the Dazuan Red is just a little lighter bodied but otherwise quite similar. After a 3 minute infusion, the spice notes start to open in the Alishan Red, and the others just get a bit deeper as they were before, and 5 and 10 minute infusions continue the trend. They're all delicious. The Dazuan is a little more delicate; the Alishan Black has that slightly buttery Jin Xuan note; the Alishan Red keeps the spiciness.

The tasting achieved a key goal: I'm less afraid to finish off the last of the Alishan Red because I know I can get some quite similar teas to carry on with when it's gone, even though I'll keep looking for that spicy note that stands out so in the Norbu version.

And I think both of the 'new' teas will be superb for chilled sparkling tea in the summer too.

Editing to add the results of the final overnight steep:
I finished off the tasting by one final overnight steep. This demonstrates that all of these are well behaved Teas was not a hint of bitterness.

The leaves stay tightly curled, very tightly in the case of the Alishan black and Alishan red and less so in the Dazuan.

All of them make very pleasant cool morning sips, and the general flavor profiles as noted last night remain the same: Dazuan is the most delicate with the least earthiness/astringency; Black has a slightly more fermented fruit depth to it; Red has more earthy and spicy notes to fill out the flavor. A sniff of the wet leaves matches the flavors precisely. And just for completeness, I pulled the bags back out and sniffed and had the same result: Dazuan is very delicate and indeed perfume-like; Alishan black is very deeply plummy fruity; the red is richly fruity with a hint more earthiness.

All will be appreciated in future brewing.

@debunix glad to hear you’ve found backups for Norbu’s red Alishan. I still have a vacu-sealed 150ml block of it that I’m happy to share with you when I’m back. I got it when he was closing shop on your recommendation.

Today sipping on @Tillerman‘s Wenshan Bao Zhong spring 2021. It perfectly aligned with the day, flowers blooming everywhere and the breezy weather is an ideal 75° F on the waterfront. This Bao Zhong is very floral and has a pleasant elegant lightness about it, while carrying plenty of flavor. It is a nice counterpoint to his thick buttery more stone fruity Lishan.

Over the past few days I’ve been trying to describe to myself the difference, flavor/texture/aroma wise, of Muzha vs DongDing. Having difficulty articulating it other than DongDing has more depth, complexity, and viscosity. Anyone, care to share their experiences?

Hi @Victoria, when comparing TGY to Dong Ding, look at the way the acid in the tea hits your tongue. The TGY should give a sharp line of acidity that hits at the base of the tongue and moves forward. With the Dong Ding, the acid is higher in the mouth and not as sharp. I'm not good at most of the non-structural descriptors so I tend not to use them too often.

The spring teas have arrived now and they are good; definitely a bit lighter and more floral than the winter tea.