What Oolong Are You Drinking

[pantry]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind suggestions! I happened to order a selection of HY Chen's oolong from @chofmann just a few days ago, and looks like it's just shipped! I think it's very likely to be similar to Dong Ding like @chofmann suggested, with fruity and floral notes. I didn't actually get the floral note myself (and I'm glad), but it said so on the description

Definitely need to try @Tillerman's and @Ethan Kurland 's offerings next

@Victoria Sorry to hear about your water situation. I'm not a fan of the taste of tap water myself, but I find that it more pleasant to drink if I let it sit overnight in a container even without additional filtering (but of course it's better with charcoal!)

[Victoria]

Thank you, everyone, for the kind suggestions! I happened to order a selection of HY Chen's oolong from chofmann just a few days ago, and looks like it's just shipped! I think it's very likely to be similar to Dong Ding like chofmann suggested, with fruity and floral notes. I didn't actually get the floral note myself (and I'm glad), but it said so on the description

Definitely need to try Tillerman's and Ethan Kurland 's offerings next

Victoria Sorry to hear about your water situation. I'm not a fan of the taste of tap water myself, but I find that it more pleasant to drink if I let it sit overnight in a container even without additional filtering (but of course it's better with charcoal!)

Definitely also try Tillerman’s Laoshi Roasted DongDing and Ethan’s Championship Black.
I always charcoal filter my tap and also let it sit overnight with an extra piece of charcoal in the water to absorb any remaining off flavors. 93% of the time filtered city water is perfect, the other 7% catches me off guard producing sub-par tea, so I need to switch to bottled water, which from an environmental standpoint I prefer not to resort to, but do.

[swordofmytriumph]

Just left Floating Leaves, and asked about the spring harvest. They were actually in the midst of sampling this year’s offerings and choosing what to sell for the spring season. They are finalizing the decision tonight, and they will be express shipping some tea to their shop, they said the new teas will be on sale in a week to a week and a half, shipping permitting!
They also said the Shanlanxi is particularly good this year, and they will most likely be offering it this year, which they didn’t last year as it wasn’t up to their standards last year. I literally left the store 15 minutes ago, lol.

[Ethan Kurland]

y also said the Shanlanxi is particularly good this year, and they will most likely be offering it this year, which they didn’t last year as it wasn’t up to their standards last year..

I think there was some good tea from Shanlanxi Spring 2018, and even better the following Winter. Credit to Floating Leaves for coming to their own conclusions every season. (Yet, I am right and Floating is ….. just joking!)

Shows the challenge of sampling. How many grades of a tea should one try? How many sources of a particular tea should one ask for samples? As vendors disagree about how good a tea is, they may be talking about different teas (sort of) though it is the same cultivar coming from the same mountain. Perhaps a farmer at one altitude was favored more than another; or, perhaps someone processed better, etc. (And how many times should decision-makers sample the same tea? He may be having a "bad-palate" day.

It's probably fair to assume, that no vendor has access to all sources; so, I hope to remember to say that the ____ that I tried was better or worse than last year..... It is why I often avoid talking about cultivars and mountains. Vendors work to find quality and value but don't always succeed. It is good when we don't sell what we feel is not good enough, but perhaps we should say, the ___ that I found was not good enough, not that all of that tea was not good enough. Perhaps there is some good____ somewhere. Cheers

[swordofmytriumph]

Shows the challenge of sampling. How many grades of a tea should one try? How many sources of a particular tea should one ask for samples? As vendors disagree about how good a tea is, they may be talking about different teas (sort of) though it is the same cultivar coming from the same mountain. Perhaps a farmer at one altitude was favored more than another; or, perhaps someone processed better, etc. (And how many times should decision-makers sample the same tea? He may be having a "bad-palate" day.

It's probably fair to assume, that no vendor has access to all sources; so, I hope to remember to say that the ____ that I tried was better or worse than last year..... It is why I often avoid talking about cultivars and mountains. Vendors work to find quality and value but don't always succeed. It is good when we don't sell what we feel is not good enough, but perhaps we should say, the ___ that I found was not good enough, not that all of that tea was not good enough. Perhaps there is some good____ somewhere. Cheers

Sorry, didn’t mean it to sound like ALL the Shanlanxi wasn’t very good last year! It is an entire mountain after all! stands to reason everyone has their own source I guess I made the assumption everyone would assume that’s what was meant when I posted. From what they told me at floating leaves they have a particular vendor for that tea, I guess I should have been more specific.

[Bok]

Shanlinxi is indeed a big mountain with hundreds of farms, some have teas that rival Dayuling, Lishan and other premium teas.

I still prefer it over Alishan by a large margin.

[Ethan Kurland]

s

Sorry, didn’t mean it to sound like ALL the Shanlanxi wasn’t very good last year!

Thanks for the "sorry" but no offense was taken, and I was thinking that you probably meant FLT'S source. I like to hit the quote button to let people notice they have stimulated a response. I also like to take opportunities to speak to a general audience though an individual prompted my response. Again, I'll say a vendor who gives up some sure sales by not re-stocking a specific tea because the latest leaves are not up to her standard, deserves praise. Some customers would not notice and some that would notice would not mind a little drop in quality.

And as often gets mentioned, it is all so subjective. At an event yesterday, a lady was selling Pu-erh. I sampled in the morning and thought it almost tasteless. A few hours later, I could taste much more flavor. I used the word "challenge" before in regard to judging tea, but it is also interesting. Thanks for your posts.

[Bok]

Working hard to finish this can of still disappointing Winter 2018 Fushoushan...

Great teapot and clay can still not squeeze a decent cup out that lives up to the hype...

Might put this one in the randomly brew for workout thermos stash.

[LuckyMe]

Ali Shan Xi Ding oolong from Tea from Taiwan. Unexpectedly good with amazing aromatics and tropical fruit flavor. I ordered from this company for the first time and got several samplers of their teas. This has been the best one so far, more so than even the Da Yu Ling and Long Feng Xia.

[Bok]

Yelan Xiang Dancong in Chaozhou clay pot. The more I experiment with different clays, the more I come to the conclusion that CZ is the best choice for those teas, even the lower roasted ones...

[Rickpatbrown]

Back to back roasted Sunday session:

1) Charcoal roasted Dong Ding (2018 December roast)

2) Anxie Old Growth Tieguanyin

Both from Floating Leaves and wonderful.

The Dong Ding was especially nice. It could handle more heat and kept giving up more. Made my tongue tingle, too. It'll be nice to see how this tea develops in the next year or so.

The Anxi TGY is nice, also. Pushing it brought out some bitterness, but the roast and butteriness combine exquistley to give a whole new flavor.

It's fun to drink similar styles back to back. It's very obvious how different these oolongs are.

... and now, for some mountain biking and Game of Thrones to wrap up a solid Sunday

[Victoria]

Some very good oolong was shared today between LA Tea Society members; @Tillerman’s Laoshi Medium Roast balled DongDing, @tealifehk’s Everyday High Fire Tieguanyin, Red Blossom Tea Co. Organic Heritage Tieguanyin. And just now, to top off the evening, Verdant Tea’s 10 year aged Rou Gui.

Both TGY’s were high quality. I was most surprised by how really great TeaLifeHK’s High Fire TGY is even after opening the bag at least +3 years ago (a gift from Ferg at the time). Malty rich aromatic complexity with no bitterness, and very reasonably priced for the high quality. I wonder if this is the same year as what Jay currently carries on his site, and very curious how the higher grades compare?

It is curious and unexpected but each time I have Tillerman’s Laoshi medium roast DongDing I experience new layers and nuances. Today, Jason steeped it adding extra dry leaf using Trader Joe’s New Zeland water and I didn’t recognize it as the same oolong I had earlier in the week. It was rich and viscous with notes of sweet spiced cocoa.

Rou Gui is my favorite discovery of 2018 thanks to @pedant’s gifts of @octopus’s LazyCat teas. I don’t know Verdant Tea’s other offerings, but the 10 year old Rou Gui is very good and rich. Although, for me it falls short of being great, it leaves me wanting more body, lacking the viscosity and richness that I like so much in Taiwan oolong. But that is also the case with other Roi Gui I’ve had, to compensate I’ve found steeping it with plenty of leaf really helps, and of course top quality leaf. The best I’ve had so far is LazyCat’s Zhengyan Rou Gui.

[tealifehk]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the everyday tieguanyin @Victoria The family roast tieguanyin throughout the year, and I think the current batch is better than the last one! The HK High Roast tieguanyin doesn't hold up quite as well because of its higher roast level. I've actually never tried the everyday tieguanyin with some age on it, so now I know it can hold up just fine.

[Bok]

@Tillerman’s Laoshi’s DD is indeed a very delicious tea, complex and very well made, compared to most other DD I had in the past.

@octopus LazyCat has some very nice teas, which I just recently experienced first hand and in person. More on that in the future…

I also do think that LazyCat has an especially well curated tea ware section, rare to see vendors offer such a tasteful range, straying far from the cliche old-chinese-man-folklore-styles…

[Victoria]

Glad to hear you're enjoying the everyday tieguanyin @vVictoria The family roast tieguanyin throughout the year, and I think the current batch is better than the last one! The HK High Roast tieguanyin doesn't hold up quite as well because of its higher roast level. I've actually never tried the everyday tieguanyin with some age on it, so now I know it can hold up just fine.

Jay, on your site it says about your current Everyday TGY ‘...was roasted in 2016‘ I guess that means the <2016 I have was roasted earlier like in 2013? Seems this high roast likes resting for a few years to mellow out. Sipping on your oolong we were discussing intentional resting versus aging of high fire oolong. To let high roasted oolong rest I just leave sealed packs alone for a year+. To age roasted oolong we went back and forth with which containers are best from leaving in sealed packet, to using unglazed or glazed ceramic, pewter or SS double lidded canisters (with some double lidded canisters being more air-tight than others). The big question with aging was if any air and humidity is beneficial with roasted oolong. @Atlas mentioned lining metal canister with paper to buffer any moisture (resulting from changes in ambient temp) from tea. Then with aging re-roasting would be necessary, but not possible if high fired. What are your thoughts on methods of resting versus aging of roasted oolong? @tealifehk