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Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 10:25 pm
by Bok
Victoria wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:21 pm
Bok wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 9:13 pm
Victoria wrote: ↑Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:05 pm
Bok how long were you in Europa?
For the longer part of my life, that’s where I grew up
Adapting the parameters helps, but the surrounding air is a mighty large factor to work around I fear! It did not bother me in the beginning of my discovery of Taiwanese teas when I was living there, due to lack of comparison and experience with those teas, now it is more obvious.
Not sure if I would even dare to let a Dongding open up in these conditions without some sort of pumidor!
Ah I see. Well I was asking how long, because I wondered how long the tea had a chance to settle down from its travels
You were traveling with greener un/lightly roasted DongDing? I agree though that higher oxidation, higher roasted teas do better when traveling.
p.s. So which teas did you travel with?
Haha, misunderstood your question
Well, actually I traveled with a bit of everything, as I do supply my family with tea (they can’t stand to drink anything else any longer, haha my fault). So Taiwanese greener Oolong, medium and heavy roast, blacks, even some Yancha. Teas rested at least a few days and I was also brewing tea which was already there and stored in cool condition as I would do in Taiwan as well.
All in all, I don’t think storage is the issue. Freshly opened pack smells the same on first look.
I did however find a forgotten pack somewhere that really turned into something which I sometimes find i. Taiwan in low elevation tea, although it was a Lishan.
The most striking change was a medium roasted tea where the brew tasted almost like an unroasted tea! Only when I pushed it, it showed hints of its supposed character.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:40 am
by Psyck
From a quick surf of the net, it appears that higher humidity, lower temperature, and higher barometric pressure are preferred for better appreciation of aroma as less moisture/hotter weather/hypobaric conditions can impair olfactory sensitivity.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 10:10 pm
by Ethan Kurland
Psyck wrote: ↑Sun Jul 29, 2018 3:40 am
..... higher humidity, lower temperature, and higher barometric pressure are preferred for better appreciation of aroma as less moisture/hotter weather/hypobaric conditions can impair olfactory sensitivity.
"hypobaric" cool word. I think the conditions you describe come together on many days of Taiwan's winters & perhaps a fair amount of Boston's wintertime also. Unfortunately, if one is indoors & the heating systems are going strong, one's residence is full of dry air impairing "olfactory sensitivity". Coming home from a walk during winter rain or snowfalls, is a time tea tastes delicious & feels great going into a cold body with a wet nose.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:28 am
by Psyck
Ethan Kurland wrote: ↑Mon Jul 30, 2018 10:10 pm
"hypobaric" cool word. ...
I was initially planning to be even cooler and throw in some hyperbaric and stuff too; however sanity prevailed & I phrased the sentence such that one could figure out what hypobaric meant without having to look it up.
Oolongs being among the most fragrant & aromatic of teas, it makes sense to enjoy them, at least the higher end ones, in more ideal conditions. As you mention the cool and humid conditions post rain are quite suitable (not before it rains though as it is low pressure that often causes rain).
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:16 am
by Mitten5
I have two of Chen's mail order teas from last year's roasting today, my last session with both of these two! So sad! I have a Lishan Primitive Wild Forest in an unroasted (or lightly roasted) and a charcoal roast format. Probably 8ish g of each in ~120cc? Both are still very good, still very buttery, creamy and rich, and retain a lot of their attractive qualities. The unroasted has lost a lot of flavor since last year, and still contains a lot of vegetal qualities. The charcoal roasted is still very rich and vibrant feeling, much more active in the mouth. The vegetal qualities are less sweet-beany and more rich onion-soupy. Some of that is a stickier mouthfeel, this tea makes me want to chew. However, not too onion-soupy, like Floating Leaves Hehuan Shan from 2015, which made me feel like I was on a sickbed drinking onion/garlic broth. Both of these Lishan teas were a real treat. I never really ended up doing a direct comparison with the primitive wild lishan and the tea garden lishan, so maybe that will be the plan for this coming year's Chen order. The Lishan was by far my favorite tea this past year from both Floating Leaves and from Chen, so needless to say I will probably be in for more. I still have some of my 'bug bitten' from this year's Chen order, so I'm looking forward to finishing that in the next week or so.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 1:50 pm
by Victoria
Mitten5 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:16 am
I have two of Chen's mail order teas from last year's roasting today, my last session with both of these two! So sad! I have a Lishan Primitive Wild Forest in an unroasted (or lightly roasted) and a charcoal roast format. Probably 8ish g of each in ~120cc? Both are still very good, still very buttery, creamy and rich, and retain a lot of their attractive qualities. The unroasted has lost a lot of flavor since last year, and still contains a lot of vegetal qualities. The charcoal roasted is still very rich and vibrant feeling, much more active in the mouth. The vegetal qualities are less sweet-beany and more rich onion-soupy. Some of that is a stickier mouthfeel, this tea makes me want to chew. However, not too onion-soupy, like Floating Leaves Hehuan Shan from 2015, which made me feel like I was on a sickbed drinking onion/garlic broth. Both of these Lishan teas were a real treat. I never really ended up doing a direct comparison with the primitive wild lishan and the tea garden lishan, so maybe that will be the plan for this coming year's Chen order. The Lishan was by far my favorite tea this past year from both Floating Leaves and from Chen, so needless to say I will probably be in for more. I still have some of my 'bug bitten' from this year's Chen order, so I'm looking forward to finishing that in the next week or so.
I find his bug bitten is better 9months to a year later. Floating Leaves LiShan is perfectly buttery rich, as is
T Company out of NYC but I don’t think they have it in stock, it’s called Pear Mountain at South Ridge. HY Chen’s LiShan Primitive Wild Forest is sooo delicious, and his roasted DaYuLing an experience worth repeating.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:16 am
by d.manuk
@Bok, I recently bought a portable water heater and drank some sheng outside. Same yixing pot, even same Poland Spring water that I dragged to Central Park.
But the tea tasted so flat. I assumed it was due to the vessel I was heating the water in, a gas powered kettle used for hiking, that boils water in 1 minute. I assumed it was either the material of the new kettle or the speed at which the water boiled in it. But perhaps it was just a consequence of drinking tea in a different environment with different air (indoor vs outdoor, though in the same neighborhood).
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:33 am
by debunix
Enjoying more teas from Morning Crane's 2018 Tea Buy Korea: today, Halmonicha from Jeon Yae Yeun. As a bahlyocha, it's closest to an oolong, so I put it here.
Last week I was overzealous in pulling out what I thought was a part of a dead annual flower, but it was a dead stalk on a perennial Mountain Mint. Errors like this, or things that need cutting back, are the main source of flowers for my tea table.
I had some time to reflect on them while enjoying my fruity, tart, earthy, spicy bahlyocha.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:10 pm
by Bok
debunix wrote: ↑Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:33 am
Enjoying more teas from Morning Crane's 2018 Tea Buy Korea: today, Halmonicha from Jeon Yae Yeun. As a bahlyocha, it's closest to an oolong, so I put it here.
Last week I was overzealous in pulling out what I thought was a part of a dead annual flower, but it was a dead stalk on a perennial Mountain Mint. Errors like this, or things that need cutting back, are the main source of flowers for my tea table.
I had some time to reflect on them while enjoying my fruity, tart, earthy, spicy bahlyocha.
beautiful pictures!
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 8:22 pm
by Victoria
Yes gorgeous, lush. Nice to see Debunix posting again
.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:43 am
by debunix
Opened up a new package of FouShouShan from Ethan. I've been drinking a LOT of the milk oolong from Bird Pick Tea because it is absolutely splendid in my cool brewing for hot days, and I haven't wanted enough hot tea while at home to open a fresh package of a really fine light roast oolong. Today I work up really early (brief after-dinner nap turned into overnight, guess I needed it), and after a bowl of matcha, I'm working on my first session with this FSS.
I'm doing it grandpa style in the Flower of Forgetfulness, and it is so wonderful as a contrast to the milk oolong I've been marinating in for months. It's rich enough that this small quantity of leaf tolerates several infusion slowly over a relaxed session. It's a different, more subtle, less in your face taste than the milk oolong, richer and lush, but also just a little austere. Splendid.
- IMG_4248.jpg (21.83 KiB) Viewed 7587 times
[Edit: photo here is during the first steep, the leaves are barely opened. See the next post for fully open leaves]
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:16 am
by debunix
Fully open FSS leaves
- 34284490-DBF9-4BD3-B84C-C641E296D050.jpeg (243.49 KiB) Viewed 7578 times
Pretty!
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:31 am
by Victoria
Glad to see your second picture with FuShoushan’s larger leaves and stem. The first one with small torn pieces had me puzzled. Since the leaves are so thick, FF brews really nicely into a second and third day with increasingly extended day long steeps.
Enjoying HY Chen’s Charcoal Light Roasted Wild Garden DongDing. It has notes of an evergreen forest with a slightly resinous astringency, flavor and aroma found in sweet pine needles. Rich. I overstepped the second and third rounds, so added a little hot water to thin out the brew, worked well. Love the way oolong is so forgiving.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 6:05 pm
by _Soggy_
I was drinking some Floating Leaves Nangang Baozhong earlier today. It is supposed to be an old schools style baozhong. A lot more vegetal and umami flavor. Some nice richness/creamyness. No really floral notes like other baozhong. Doesn't get too bitter(and the little that is there is welcome) either if you push it.
Re: What Oolong Are You Drinking
Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2018 12:10 am
by Bok
Had a roasted Tieguanyin from China yesterday. In itself a rare thing these days to find a roasted TGY on the mainland. Less tightly rolled than its Taiwanese counterpart. Taste is no match for its small island cousin. Light, no noticeable aftertaste or other pleasant flavours. Better than the normal nuclear green Chinese TGY, but still a waste of my tea time so to speak...