Ethan Kurland

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d.manuk
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Tue May 30, 2023 12:48 pm

Tasting notes:

2023 Shan Lin Xi - Definitely has very similar low and mid range flavor notes to Da Yu Ling of years past, floral and soup can get pretty thick. Tasty!
Ethan Kurland
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Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:43 am

New Spring Teas of 2023 are listed in current list of teas just updated.

Last 2 posts of page 7 have the list & a few comments.

Suggest you try some now, especially the Lishan Green which is best the first few months after it is produced. Shanlinxi is already gone & no longer listed.

Cheers, Ethan
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Fri Jun 16, 2023 4:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Victoria
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Fri Jun 16, 2023 11:58 am

Enjoying Ethan’s Black Championship from 2019. Still very good even though pack has been open and clipped for a while. It’s still silky and viscous with honey notes from the bug bitten Lishan leaves. Thank you 🍃
Ethan Kurland
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Sun Aug 20, 2023 1:54 pm

teas last post of page 8

Cheers
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Thu Jan 04, 2024 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ethan Kurland
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Thu Aug 24, 2023 12:03 pm

Dear Friends, Page 8 bottom has list of teas available
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Thu Jan 04, 2024 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
GaoShan
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Thu Oct 05, 2023 12:19 am

Has anyone tried the Lishan Dong Pian Ethan was selling several months ago? I'd love to hear what others are thinking about it, particularly if they drank it fairly recently.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, so feel free to move it elsewhere.
Ethan Kurland
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Mon Oct 09, 2023 3:44 pm

Selling tea again. Scroll down for list of teas.
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Thu Jan 04, 2024 12:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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bebop8
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Wed Oct 11, 2023 8:05 pm

GaoShan wrote:
Thu Oct 05, 2023 12:19 am
Has anyone tried the Lishan Dong Pian Ethan was selling several months ago? I'd love to hear what others are thinking about it, particularly if they drank it fairly recently.
I don't have much experience with gaoshan yet, but for what it's worth, I was impressed with the sample I just finished.

Thick, rich, but nuanced, my first impression is a sort of lemony, honied coconut cream with hints of spice (cloves?), floral and fruity. Vegetal/grain notes (peas? wheat?) ground it and give it body.

It sounds like a lot going on at once, but I actually found it quite elegant. I'm impressed how flexible and long lasting it is; I drank it all day, must have gotten around 10 infusions, but even with haphazard timing it was never bitter. Watching the tiny rolled balls slowly unfurl into massive leaves over the course of the day was a joy as well.

A very interesting tea. I would definitely order more. Did you try it? What were your thoughts on it?
GaoShan
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Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:31 pm

bebop8 wrote:
Wed Oct 11, 2023 8:05 pm
GaoShan wrote:
Thu Oct 05, 2023 12:19 am
Has anyone tried the Lishan Dong Pian Ethan was selling several months ago? I'd love to hear what others are thinking about it, particularly if they drank it fairly recently.
I don't have much experience with gaoshan yet, but for what it's worth, I was impressed with the sample I just finished.

Thick, rich, but nuanced, my first impression is a sort of lemony, honied coconut cream with hints of spice (cloves?), floral and fruity. Vegetal/grain notes (peas? wheat?) ground it and give it body.

It sounds like a lot going on at once, but I actually found it quite elegant. I'm impressed how flexible and long lasting it is; I drank it all day, must have gotten around 10 infusions, but even with haphazard timing it was never bitter. Watching the tiny rolled balls slowly unfurl into massive leaves over the course of the day was a joy as well.

A very interesting tea. I would definitely order more. Did you try it? What were your thoughts on it?
Sounds wonderful! I just ordered 25 g, so I'll be trying it soon. Did you use a tiny amount of leaf like Ethan does (2 g in 230 ml, if I remember correctly)? I typically use 5-6 g in 120 ml for gaoshan, though I go a bit lighter with some greens.
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bebop8
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Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:50 pm

GaoShan wrote:
Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:31 pm
Did you use a tiny amount of leaf like Ethan does (2 g in 230 ml, if I remember correctly)? I typically use 5-6 g in 120 ml for gaoshan, though I go a bit lighter with some greens.
I tried 4g 80ml 185F, 20s, 40s, 60s. The flavor was nice, but it was a bit subtle for me, so I added the rest of the sample, for a total of roughly 7.5g per 140ml, and increased temp to ~205F.

Yeah 6g per 120ml sounds about right. Next time I have this tea, that's the ratio I would use.
GaoShan
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Sat Nov 11, 2023 6:32 am

bebop8 wrote:
Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:50 pm
GaoShan wrote:
Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:31 pm
Did you use a tiny amount of leaf like Ethan does (2 g in 230 ml, if I remember correctly)? I typically use 5-6 g in 120 ml for gaoshan, though I go a bit lighter with some greens.
I tried 4g 80ml 185F, 20s, 40s, 60s. The flavor was nice, but it was a bit subtle for me, so I added the rest of the sample, for a total of roughly 7.5g per 140ml, and increased temp to ~205F.

Yeah 6g per 120ml sounds about right. Next time I have this tea, that's the ratio I would use.
I can confirm that this is an excellent tea. At 5 g in 120 ml of 185-190F water, it tastes and smells like lemon cookies, with lots of orchid florality and tropical notes of pineapple and guava. I used steep times of 20/15/20/25/30, etc. With slightly longer steep times, I get the coconut cream you mentioned, though not consistently. The tropical notes drop off for me around the eighth steep, and the tea starts becoming more vegetal, though not unpleasantly so.

In one session, I steeped about 2 g of leaf in 150 ml of water, approximating Ethan's parameters, but the tea was too light for me to notice much. Ethan is definitely a super taster!
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bebop8
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Sat Nov 11, 2023 9:05 pm

GaoShan wrote:
Sat Nov 11, 2023 6:32 am
I can confirm that this is an excellent tea... With slightly longer steep times, I get the coconut cream you mentioned, though not consistently.

In one session, I steeped about 2 g of leaf in 150 ml of water, approximating Ethan's parameters, but the tea was too light for me to notice much. Ethan is definitely a super taster!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I'm relieved you noticed that coconut cream flavor too. I kept second guessing what I was tasting (sometimes when I taste tropical flavors I think my mind fills in the blanks, often associating it with coconut), and felt kind of crazy writing about that, like I was branding myself a wannabe Don from Mei Leaf or something.

I strongly suspect Ethan's a super taster too. I had much the same experience yet again with his Perfect: tried a slightly stronger version of his parameters but couldn't taste much of anything.
GaoShan
Posts: 322
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2021 12:06 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Sun Nov 12, 2023 4:23 am

bebop8 wrote:
Sat Nov 11, 2023 9:05 pm
GaoShan wrote:
Sat Nov 11, 2023 6:32 am
I can confirm that this is an excellent tea... With slightly longer steep times, I get the coconut cream you mentioned, though not consistently.

In one session, I steeped about 2 g of leaf in 150 ml of water, approximating Ethan's parameters, but the tea was too light for me to notice much. Ethan is definitely a super taster!
Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

I'm relieved you noticed that coconut cream flavor too. I kept second guessing what I was tasting (sometimes when I taste tropical flavors I think my mind fills in the blanks, often associating it with coconut), and felt kind of crazy writing about that, like I was branding myself a wannabe Don from Mei Leaf or something.

I strongly suspect Ethan's a super taster too. I had much the same experience yet again with his Perfect: tried a slightly stronger version of his parameters but couldn't taste much of anything.
I've tasted coconut in gaoshan before, though not often. Ethan's spring 2021 Longfenxia was another coconut tea. :) I also have trouble pinpointing tropical flavours and usually guess pineapple.

I have maybe 2 g of the Dong Pian left and will try it in my 80 ml pot, though with longer steeps than Ethan recommends. Hopefully I'll get some flavour out of it.
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Sun Dec 03, 2023 12:32 am

I am in the USA offering some excellent tea, most of it totally new. List is next post.
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Tue Jan 30, 2024 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ethan Kurland
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Thu Dec 28, 2023 3:30 pm

TEAS FOR SALE (through May 2, 2024):

I. New Teas from Taiwan:

I. A. Black tea of Summer 2023: (Leaves harvested late Summer that were always intended to be black tea):

I. A.1. Yingxiang: High quality: Delicious, dynamic flavors; smooth, & durable. Some blacks may be "better", but when drinking this, I doubt anyone would think that about other black teas because this so good. Steeping w fewer leaves than usual for 2 minutes or so produces one most flavorful brew (dynamic including fruit); using extra leaves for quick steeping produces a few excellent infusions of not as many flavors. 75 grams $48 (64 cents per gram). *

I. A.2. Lishan Black (formerly called Championship Black): This Summer's LB is top quality. (No surprise there.) Early infusions can be quite refreshing for fruity tartness along w/ other flavors (I think more noticeable when steeping time is 20 - 30 seconds). This year I have been varying parameters & have enjoyed Western preparation, gongfu style, & semi-gongfu style for many pleasing, interesting, tasty infusions. 75 grams $54 (72 cents per gram). *

I. B. A most pleasing surprise: Dayuling Black: These leaves were originally destined to be gaoshan; but my favorite source thought they would be better as black tea so let them oxidize fully before uniquely processing them. The result: numerous infusions of superb flavor. I have varied parameters which all provided delicious tea. My favorite preparation is using water slightly off the boil to steep 2 minutes or so for 2 wonderful infusions full of so many flavors including unique tastes of many fruits. (The 1st infusion may give you the very best cup of tea that you ever drank!) Quicker steeping produces slightly less flavor & allows for a fairly tasty 3rd infusion. (If you like to get tea drunk for a short period of time, I recommend drinking a lot of this quickly.) 75 grams $60 (80 cents per gram).

I. C. Oriental Beauty: Late Summer 2023: This provides a most pleasing balance of many flavors. I often drink quite a bit in one session because this OB is great for a prolonged drinking session. I like to give it to guests who are not serious tea-drinkers. Its blend of flavors can so easily be enjoyed w/o giving the tea any thought; yet. they often tell me that they taste particular flavors. Drinking a lot of this very quickly can create a feeling of well-being in the head alone or also in the body. Different parameters highlight different characteristics: heightened sweetness or spices or an underlying dried-fruit base, etc. Good for numerous excellent infusions. 75 grams $45 (60 cents per gram). *

I. D. Lightly oxidized high-altitude oolong, a.k.a. green oolong or gaoshan, 2023/2024 Winter:

I. D.1. Hehuanshan: Grown within a national park's central mountain range, this HHS is from way up the mountain (which is over 3,100 meters high) & is far superior to HHS from lower farms. HHS provides top quality character w/ a great range of tasty flavors. It is my best value-for-money tea, delicious, smooth, & interesting. Can be prepared w/ various parameters, but I strongly recommend you try short steeping time for water around 85C for a wonderfully light-feeling floral....to go along w/ some deeper.... (you will see). Good for several top-quality infusions. 50 grams $30 (60 cents per gram).

I. D.2. Longfengxia: The best of this Winter's gaoshan, better than costlier, famous gaoshan. When sampling gaoshan in Taiwan w/ other vendors there to buy wholesale, one man saw that I was puzzled & pleased ..., he looked at me & said "umami". That umami (a word I rarely use) is a reason to have this LFX, even though one can be very happy w/ only Hehuanshan for gaoshan. Good for several delicious infusions. 50 grams $37 (74 cents per gram).

II. New tea from Nepal (January 2024):

Himalayan Snow, an Organic White Tea: Delicious: all of the flavors that we want from top quality Nepali/Dajeeling 1st & 2nd flush teas including the unique joy of muscatel grapes & wine, come to us brightly in a refreshing, light-bodied brew w/o astringency. 2 excellent infusions may be followed by many rounds of subtle "tea water". Great value for $. 100 grams for $40 (40 cents per gram).



III. Teas of Early 2023:

High Mountain Organic Roasted Oolong: Seems like tea that had been aged in ceramic urns for a decade or so, but this is not an aged tea. Top-quality LIshan gaoshan rested in bamboo baskets that were rotated frequently while suspended over bamboo charcoal for 2 days to become a tea that gives great flavor & a feeling of well-being. I steep for 20 - 30 seconds to enjoy a smooth, refined taste of roast that is somewhat simple & light at first, allowing flavors to accrue slowly in my mouth as I drink more infusions. Most drinkers prefer to steep longer to enjoy soup that feels thick & to taste a strong roast flavor immediately. Good for numerous infusions. 75 grams $63 (84 cents per gram). * Only 1 packet left.

Notes: * means that tea is pesticide-free.

Shipping: Flat charge of $9 for mainland USA; $17 for Canada; $31 for Australia via US Post Office.

To order I suggest email, merrill23k@yahoo.com, but you can also PM me here or post on this vendor thread. If you want to speak w/ me, send me your phone #, & I will telephone you. I have a Paypal account, Ethan Kurland, & also take mailed checks drawn on American banks.
Last edited by Ethan Kurland on Wed Mar 13, 2024 3:07 pm, edited 15 times in total.
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