Aging oolong? How to do it?

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StoneLadle
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Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:16 am

Here's a tasty Lao Cong Shui Xian aged by yours truly...
Here's a tasty Lao Cong Shui Xian aged by yours truly...
IMG_20201002_201807.jpg (275.67 KiB) Viewed 9928 times

I bought this back in 2007 and drank a good deal of it and rediscovered the tin recently... Perhaps this is the way... Buy the tea.... Drink some, forget about it...

But I reckon a lot of Shui Xian today isn't roasted enough...
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StoneLadle
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Tue Oct 06, 2020 5:23 am

Pulled out a 2015 Dancong that @OCTO and I have been discussing recently. It's a touch sour and not very strong in terms of endurance... So I roasted some in the toaster oven today...

5mins under the broiler on low, 10 minutes rest... For four rounds...

The second round turned out kinda nice.... Nutty and Shui Xianny in character...

This could be fun...
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Baisao
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 1:29 am

StoneLadle wrote:
Tue Oct 06, 2020 5:23 am
Pulled out a 2015 Dancong that OCTO and I have been discussing recently. It's a touch sour and not very strong in terms of endurance... So I roasted some in the toaster oven today...

5mins under the broiler on low, 10 minutes rest... For four rounds...

The second round turned out kinda nice.... Nutty and Shui Xianny in character...

This could be fun...
I like the umiboshi-like sourness of some aged teas. I also like the raisins and current flavors. They might benefit from some roasting (and I have a small roaster) but I find nothing wrong with this kind of sourness, in fact I really like it.

Your comment has me curious about using my roaster. I might give it a try this week.
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StoneLadle
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:43 am

Sour is bad, tart is good...

...I think...
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Baisao
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:15 am

StoneLadle wrote:
Wed Oct 07, 2020 3:43 am
Sour is bad, tart is good...

...I think...
I don’t think I know the difference between tart and sour but the sourness/tartness that’s like umeboshi is what I am targeting, not the flavor of tea that’s not prepared correctly.
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StoneLadle
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:49 am

Key Lime Pie is tart... Thus good...
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Baisao
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 10:49 am

StoneLadle wrote:
Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:49 am
Key Lime Pie is tart... Thus good...
IDK, key lime pie is too sour for me ;)
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StoneLadle
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Wed Oct 07, 2020 11:34 am

Get your own pie man @Baisao
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Baisao
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Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:32 pm

Joking aside, I just had a 26 year old dong ding that is on the greener side. It’s sourness was sharper, indeed, it was tart when compared to my older and more oxidized aged oolongs. It was not at all like umeboshi but more like kiwi fruit.

I’m curious how it will taste with another 5-10 years of aging.
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aet
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:39 am

Has anybody tried green ( I mean non dark roasted ) old oolong ?
Something like 5-10y old but packed all the time in vacuum pack.
Any change in that vacuum ?
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LeoFox
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 10:45 am

I had some 10 years plus nuclear green tgy last year. Nothing to write home about
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Bok
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:00 am

aet wrote:
Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:39 am
Has anybody tried green ( I mean non dark roasted ) old oolong ?
Something like 5-10y old but packed all the time in vacuum pack.
Any change in that vacuum ?
You need more like 50+ years to get a good change in greens, but it can happen.
DailyTX
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 3:39 pm

Bok wrote:
Sun Apr 10, 2022 11:00 am
aet wrote:
Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:39 am
Has anybody tried green ( I mean non dark roasted ) old oolong ?
Something like 5-10y old but packed all the time in vacuum pack.
Any change in that vacuum ?
You need more like 50+ years to get a good change in greens, but it can happen.
I concur with @Bok that it doesn't change much for that age range. I never had anything older than late 1990s, it would be interesting to sample a 50+ years old :D. Occasionally, I will have old Anxi TieGuanYin when I visit family. Those TieGuanYin was stored in a sealed mylar bags since late 1990s - early 2000s. I believe it was one of those highly roasted TieGuanYin back in the days. The tea has a deeper yellow color tone vs. new TieGuanYin, no smokiness, and it still carries fragrance of TieGuanYin.
Andrew S
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 4:23 pm

This was my experience: viewtopic.php?p=38752#p38752

In summary, I think that it changed a bit, but I didn't try the tea when it was still new, so I can't say fur sure.

To me, it tasted 'evolved' rather than 'aged' - it had some characters that I associate with ageing, but you wouldn't really call it an aged wulong.

Andrew
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Baisao
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Sun Apr 10, 2022 7:33 pm

aet wrote:
Sun Apr 10, 2022 9:39 am
Has anybody tried green ( I mean non dark roasted ) old oolong ?
Something like 5-10y old but packed all the time in vacuum pack.
Any change in that vacuum ?
Yes, I had some gaoshan that was 4-5 years old last month and spent the entire time vacuum sealed in Mylar. I had previously enjoyed a bag of the same tea in the year it was made. The 5 y/o gaoshan was drinkable, possibly salvageable with a reroasting, but a shadow of the impeccable gaoshan it had been. Sadly, I’ve duplicated this unintentional experiment twice now. 🤦🏻‍♂️

There was also a green residue on the inside of the Mylar. I mention this so that others might use this knowledge to identify old vacuum sealed gaoshan.
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