Heavily oxidised non-bug bitten oolong in Taiwan

Semi-oxidized tea
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Bok
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Mon Dec 17, 2018 6:57 pm

Victoria wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:11 am
Bok wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:08 am
HY Chen calls his version of summer bug bitten tea June White. Totally different to OB though.
What was your impression of his June White? For some reason I didn’t know what to make of it.
Same here, kind of half cooked. I do not like his bug bitten teas in general. I much prefer the traditional ones. Somehow the bug bitten perfume is too much for me. Actually, I do not like it from other sources either. It is intriguing on first encounter but looses its appeal very fast.
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Victoria
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Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:41 pm

Bok wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 6:57 pm
Victoria wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:11 am
Bok wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 9:08 am
HY Chen calls his version of summer bug bitten tea June White. Totally different to OB though.
What was your impression of his June White? For some reason I didn’t know what to make of it.
Same here, kind of half cooked. I do not like his bug bitten teas in general. I much prefer the traditional ones. Somehow the bug bitten perfume is too much for me. Actually, I do not like it from other sources either. It is intriguing on first encounter but looses its appeal very fast.
Yes half cooked, not whole hearted. So many are exceptional, that I’m happy he keeps experimenting.
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Bok
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Mon Dec 17, 2018 11:14 pm

Victoria wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:41 pm
So many are exceptional, that I’m happy he keeps experimenting.
Yes, the passion and drive to improve is important. He is still young, I think he is still searching the best way to do things for him. Let's see what's coming in the future!
So far I still think his bread and butter signature tea are where he excels the most.

The other Yancha experiment, was nice, yet I do feel it is a far cry from real Yancha and not better than his Dongding. Maybe it gives him ideas on how to improve those though, you never know...
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Victoria
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Tue Dec 18, 2018 1:07 am

Bok wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 11:14 pm
Victoria wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:41 pm
So many are exceptional, that I’m happy he keeps experimenting.
Yes, the passion and drive to improve is important. He is still young, I think he is still searching the best way to do things for him. Let's see what's coming in the future!
So far I still think his bread and butter signature tea are where he excels the most.

The other Yancha experiment, was nice, yet I do feel it is a far cry from real Yancha and not better than his Dongding. Maybe it gives him ideas on how to improve those though, you never know...
Yes I’m in agreement again, his very best is his own light, medium, heavy roasted dong ding. 😋 oh plus LiShan Primitive Wild forest, his Charcoal Roasted LiShan Primitive Wild Forest, and Roasted DYL... yummm. So yes, keep on experimenting, results are so good.
swordofmytriumph
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Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:54 am

That charcoal roasted Lishan sounds tasty. Where is this coming from?
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Victoria
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Tue Dec 18, 2018 2:54 pm

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:54 am
That charcoal roasted Lishan sounds tasty. Where is this coming from?
It’s super delicious from Hau Ying Chen, a traditional farmer in Nantou, Taiwan that some of us buy directly from. You can read about him here; viewtopic.php?p=66#p66
Chofmann at Leafy Green Tea also now exclusively represents him in the USA; viewtopic.php?p=1158#p1158
swordofmytriumph
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Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:56 am

That's awesome! The coolest thing is to buy direct, thanks I'll check it out! :) So I can buy from either leafy green or directly from him personally on the 2088taiwan website? Also I was looking at the leafy green site and it doesn't say who made each tea, does Hua Ying Chen make all their oolong?
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Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:06 am

swordofmytriumph wrote:
Wed Dec 19, 2018 3:56 am
That's awesome! The coolest thing is to buy direct, thanks I'll check it out! :) So I can buy from either leafy green or directly from him personally on the 2088taiwan website? Also I was looking at the leafy green site and it doesn't say who made each tea, does Hua Ying Chen make all their oolong?
HY Chen makes all of our Taiwanese Oolongs currently (so everything except the Rou Gui and Lao Cong Shui Xian). He also makes our Sugar White tea and we are experimenting with him on a few additional oolongs and non-oolongs that will hopefully come to market at some point in 2019.
swordofmytriumph
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Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:18 am

Thank you! Everything looks amazing, the difficulty will be deciding!
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wave_code
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Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:35 am

not to get too off-topic with the oolongs, but since HY Chen's teas have some up, I never see anyone mention his black tea since oolong is obviously his priority- does he process these himself or is he selling them on someone's behalf? I've been curious what others thought of them who might have tried them.
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Tue Dec 25, 2018 7:39 pm

wave_code wrote:
Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:35 am
not to get too off-topic with the oolongs, but since HY Chen's teas have some up, I never see anyone mention his black tea since oolong is obviously his priority- does he process these himself or is he selling them on someone's behalf? I've been curious what others thought of them who might have tried them.
While Chen's black teas do not come from his 100 year old tea bushes, he does process these teas himself.

We actually just sold out of his Ruby 18 black tea but will be carrying his Alishan black tea soon. We think both are delicious!
oolongfan
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Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:05 pm

I love HY Chen' Bug Bitten Oolong. I am grateful that Chen is experimenting, because the resulting teas, to me, are as interesting as his assorted Dong Ding tea.

I have been ordering my HY Chen's tea through Leafy Green - and it has been a wonderful experience. Michelle is generous with samples and kindly included a sample of unroasted Dong Ding after I asked about it on the Oolong thread - talk about listening to your customers. I love having a local supplier for Chen's tea because I can get recommendations and advice. Michelle is very generous with both samples and recommedations...I can't recommend Leafy Tea enough :)

On a side note, Leafy Tea's packaging inside is beautiful....literally to open the box is to calm the mind and put one in the mood to brew tea..as much as a lovely cherry blossom branch or scarlet Fal leaves. I love the asthetic and to me, that asthetic is carried over into the tea. A little detail to some but to me it show respect and understanding of Chen's nuanced tea.
brutusK
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Tue Jan 15, 2019 10:42 pm

Bok wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 11:14 pm
Victoria wrote:
Mon Dec 17, 2018 10:41 pm
So many are exceptional, that I’m happy he keeps experimenting.
Yes, the passion and drive to improve is important. He is still young, I think he is still searching the best way to do things for him. Let's see what's coming in the future!
So far I still think his bread and butter signature tea are where he excels the most.

The other Yancha experiment, was nice, yet I do feel it is a far cry from real Yancha and not better than his Dongding. Maybe it gives him ideas on how to improve those though, you never know...
I actually don't like real yancha that much, and yet I absolutely adore HY Chen's yan yun, especially once it has a year on it. Perhaps the distance it has from real yancha is what makes it so appealing to me.
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mbanu
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Fri May 03, 2019 4:07 pm

This used to be called three-quarters-oxidized oolong, if I understand correctly. It was a style developed by the Japanese during the occupation, but I don't know if it still made anymore.
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mbanu
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Fri Jul 26, 2019 10:45 pm

Aha! A bit of an update; "three-quarters-oxidized" oolong as described by William Ukers and others is identical to modern Oriental Beauty oolong! The reason why so much of it is bug-bitten is because it was developed as a direct competitor to Darjeeling tea. After the Russian Revolution, the market for Darjeeling and Ceylon teas went through a crisis, and British planters started looking for a replacement market. Industry groups started investing heavily into advertising campaigns in the United States, which until that time had been mainly drinkers of Japanese greens and Taiwanese oolong teas, and had a lot of success, leading to a decline in U.S. sales for oolong teas. In response, the Japanese started advertising campaigns of their own, and developed Oriental Beauty to compete with Darjeeling tea.
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