Peak Times for Your Teas

[Ethan Kurland]

I have written about my Oriental Beauty describing it as a more "refined" version that has muted tastes of fruit and and only hints at spices. That was before it opened up. After a couple of weeks in a ceramic caddy, fruit flavors asserted themselves which I thought was not because of the tea breathing but because I had started using a bigger teapot and only filling it about halfway with water. I believe the leaves do well by breathing.

Championship Black's fruitiness also stepped up after it had time to breath. I loved this tea's peak performance for about 3 weeks; then, it began to be less dynamic. After about 5 weeks in a ceramic caddy the tea became definitely less outstanding, still very good but simpler.

Thinking about the 2 or 3 week timing for best enjoyment of an opened pack of green oolong and the few best weeks of other teas; I am starting to think tea should not come packed in fairly large amounts & that I should plan quite carefully, coordinating so I am preparing no more than 3 teas over a period of 3 weeks.

I don't think every tea loses flavor easily. I've had 100-gram packs of black tea & white tea from Nepal that did not seem to be hurt by months in a zip-lock pouch or a caddy.

Anyway, one more factor to our hobby. Cheers

[Ethan Kurland]

I have written about my Oriental Beauty describing it as a more "refined" version that has muted tastes of fruit and and only hints at spices. That was before it opened up. After a couple of weeks in a ceramic caddy, fruit flavors asserted themselves …... I believe the leaves do well by breathing.

I rambled on & on in that post. Main point got lost. Anecdotal lesson about letting tea breath:

I would really like to spend Saturday night with ….. well the lady of my life is 9,000 miles & too much $ for airfare away. My sisters tried to get me out of my little studio apartment but I chose to spend it tonight with tea & ice cream. Turned out to be a good decision.

The Oriental Beauty's flavors have become even more forthright. By accident I steeped much longer than usual which led to much deeper flavor. Fruitiness is pronounced & if there is spice it gets sophisticated a bit like aged oolong. Really special. Steeping the leaves very long for 2 rounds leads to the 3rd round only being fair, but I would rather have 2 fantastic rounds than 3 that are noticeably less pleasing (even if still excellent). (Tillerman may be influencing me?)

High mountain black tea's flavor is also deeper after breathing in a ceramic caddy for 2 weeks. Longer steeping leads to a better cup (a rich, strong flavor). I stopped fighting the tea & accept it for what it is, fairly simple. It is delicious even without fruitiness. I had been steeping quickly to get some fruit flavor.

Anyway I hope I remember to put 2 - 3 weeks worth of leaves in ceramic caddies to breath (for roasted oolong & black tea). I also hope to let each tea give its best rather than try to find a way to have it be like another.


Cheers

[Victoria]

@Ethan Kurland are your tea caddies porcelain or metal? With strong seal or a little loose at the lid? I’m going to experiment in the coming months with a few tea caddies I have; for sencha -wooden and glazed clay, for roasted oolong -unglazed / glazed ceramic and pewter. For longer term aging I’ll line the glazed ceramic and pewter with an acid free paper to absorb any moisture. Will report back.

[Ethan Kurland]

Victoria,

My caddies are ceramic. All are glazed on the outside. Some are glazed inside; some are not glazed inside. Lids are a little loose.

I have forgotten and/or abandoned good habits for optimum enjoyment of tea. Getting back to doing things right. It is worth it. Cheers

[Victoria]

Victoria,

My caddies are ceramic. All are glazed on the outside. Some are glazed inside; some are not glazed inside. Lids are a little loose.

I have forgotten and/or abandoned good habits for optimum enjoyment of tea. Getting back to doing things right. It is worth it. Cheers

@Ethan Kurland, I have placed 7gr of your Father’s Love in two different caddies; a Japanese pewter caddie with double lid, and a ceramic caddie glazed inside with loose lid. I’ll wait 3 days to see if there is any difference in outcome. Or is two days enough? I’m getting some plummy charcoal notes in liquor. Aromatics are off the charts excellent on this one.

[Ethan Kurland]

e placed 7gr of your Father’s Love in two different caddies; a Japanese pewter caddie with double lid, and a ceramic caddie glazed inside with loose lid. I’ll wait 3 days to see if there is any difference in outcome. Or is two days enough? I’m getting some plummy charcoal notes in liquor. Aromatics are off the charts excellent on this one.

I haven't thought of plum but taste something working with the charcoal. I think when tea needs to breath, it does not need much time. Maybe a few days is better than 2 but even as little as 24 hours makes a difference. I haven't used pewter.

[Victoria]

@Ethan Kurland do you know if your aged 5 year roasted LiShan Father’s Love was re-roasted prior to your purchasing it? In other words, do you know when last roasting was, and how it was stored?

[Ethan Kurland]

Ethan Kurland do you know if your aged 5 year roasted LiShan Father’s Love was re-roasted prior to your purchasing it? In other words, do you know when last roasting was, and how it was stored?

@Bok can answer the ? about storing better than I can, probably. Once I was being told about tea in a drawer as part of the explanation of the shop's storage & inventory control, but there was an interruption & we never returned to the topic. I imagine some type of large room(s) cool & dry. I don't imagine barrels or giant cannisters. If Bok, does not chime in, I will ask my source via e-mail.
I may be wrong, but I think that even roasted LIshan that was aged 20 years was not roasted more than once. Twice I drank such teas & they were very mellow. I don't know if a fresh re-roasting would allow tea to be so mellow. Maybe I should stick with "I don't know". Long time ago I had oolong that had been aged 12 years from Hou de Asia, that had not been roasted originally. They roasted it after they had in their shop a few years. That tea was smooth also. Also had aged oolong from Red Blossoms that they re-roasted every 2 or 3 years, & that also was smooth with a hard edge to the taste of the roast. Wow, memories are coming back. Victoria, those teas were plummy. For sure, flavors of dried stone fruit. (Yet, overall not as special as the Father's Love which is less dimensional to my palate.)

By the way, I just compared Father's Love to the medium oxidized/medium roasted Lishan that I got in February. It is so mystifying that I cannot think of words to describe how they are different. The Father's is just so much better yet not so different; it's just much better. The price is less than double for the much better tea; &, the cost is much less for it because one gets about 3 x the infusions. It is one of those situations where a consumer could be quite happy with the lesser tea, but once he has enjoyed the better tea (& at less cost per cup ultimately), he would no longer buy what he used to like very much.

[Bok]

@Ethan Kurland, @Victoria I have never been to their storage, although it is just upstairs... so I can not answer for certain. Seems to me thought that normally tea in Taiwan is either stored in large (bin-like) metal canisters, or in an oversized (like a sailors bag size) version of the vacuum packs they are sold in the end.

Re-roasting occurs only if they think the tea needs it. They sample this kind of teas every 5 or so years to see how it is doing.

[Ethan Kurland]

Ethan Kurland, Victoria I have never been to their storage, although it is just upstairs... so I can not answer for certain. Seems to me thought that normally tea in Taiwan is either stored in large (bin-like) metal canisters, or in an oversized (like a sailors bag size) version of the vacuum packs they are sold in the end.

Re-roasting occurs only if they think the tea needs it. They sample this kind of teas every 5 or so years to see how it is doing.

Thanks, Bok. For English speaking, Snac, now Curtis, has referred to getting tea from a "drawer". Don't know why. However it is that they store tea in bulk, it does not seem to go stale. It is not like opening a vacuum-pack of gaoshan, keeping it tight; yet, noticing it has started to weaken 3 weeks later. Anyway, they know what they are doing so we don't need to be experts, just benefit from their work. Cheers