Taiwan oolong tea
Quail mountain
Very nice tea
https://en.pinkoi.com/store/forestwoolong
What Oolong Are You Drinking
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jason19870313
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- Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:14 am
- Location: Singapore
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A session with Teamaster's winter 2020 96K DYL.
The wet leaves are much smaller and much less glossy than @Ethan Kurland's more economical spring DYL tea. So far, bad signs.
Tea itself has much stronger taste than Kurland's spring DYL. But this taste is more aligned with much cheaper summer shan lin xi or alishan. By this I mean a strong, green resin sappiness and green peppery note! Floral aromas are sharp and defined. The umami is present but underwhelming, playing the bass notes for the first 4 infusions. Umami and tropical fruit sweetness increased a little as steeps progreased
Overall, a nice tea with good stamina. However, the green character reminds me of much cheaper tea. Could be due to the poor season.
The wet leaves are much smaller and much less glossy than @Ethan Kurland's more economical spring DYL tea. So far, bad signs.
Tea itself has much stronger taste than Kurland's spring DYL. But this taste is more aligned with much cheaper summer shan lin xi or alishan. By this I mean a strong, green resin sappiness and green peppery note! Floral aromas are sharp and defined. The umami is present but underwhelming, playing the bass notes for the first 4 infusions. Umami and tropical fruit sweetness increased a little as steeps progreased
Overall, a nice tea with good stamina. However, the green character reminds me of much cheaper tea. Could be due to the poor season.
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very cool. i've never heard of QX grown in japan before. i wonder if the plants were grown from imported seed or cuttings. it would have been difficult to do that in the US due to regulations on pests and diseases.friso wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 8:05 pmJapanese qingxin oolong from thés-du-japon. Quite good and really interesting to see this cultivar grown in Japan! It's got some of the grassiness of lower elevation baozhongs, but also a intense spiceness which I hadn't encountered before with this cultivar, something in the lines of cinnamon and allspice. I often find japanese oolongs disappointing, but this is a good one.
I’ve been enjoying HY Chen’s medium and high roast DongDing from his new organic garden and 100 year garden also. His 2020 late fall/winter’s roasts are sweeter than previous years, yet maintain herbaceous, rich body, and aromatics. So pleased, in heaven 
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I placed an order with him in July that I finally received in December (when Chunghwa POST opened for shipping to Norway again). The timing was lucky as I was able to add some winter dongding to my order. Haven't bought any of his winter teas for two years or so, looking very much forward to trying it after reading your description! Yesterday I had a session with his spring 2019 100 year garden DD, which was really nice. First time I brewed a dongding in DQC clay too, worked really well for this high roast version.
Right now I'm sipping on some Big Factory TGY, namely the Fengshan FS001. Picked up a can of this in 2014-2015 or so, that I recently rediscovered when moving. It's not much more than sweet water by now, but then again it probably wasn't back then either. I'm actually surprised about how much of the sweetness it has retained and how little sourness it has developed (practically none) having been stored in an open bag for several years. It's a unidimensional tea, but does well in its single dimension. Another good thing about it is the classical charcoal roast, i.e. very far from the nuclear green stuff you're very likely to get if you blind buy TGY from a big Mainland factory.
I’m drinking Ethan’s Spring 2020 DYL. My friend is moving to Taiwan today so I’m having a tea session with her in mind.
No desire to write out some sexy tasting notes today, but reading back a few pages I’m glad some more people are buying from Ethan per my recommendation.
No desire to write out some sexy tasting notes today, but reading back a few pages I’m glad some more people are buying from Ethan per my recommendation.
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How would you say it compares to Stephane's? You sampled a lot of TM in the past, right?Shine Magical wrote: ↑Sun Jan 31, 2021 9:57 amNo desire to write out some sexy tasting notes today, but reading back a few pages I’m glad some more people are buying from Ethan per my recommendation.
It's a perfect day for another one of OCTO's quirky brew.... this round it's Oolong day. Today's blend is 80s LaoShuiXian and traditionally rolled 60s DanCong.... Another match made in heaven..... 
Cheers!
Cheers!
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Last year, I purchased an Alishan from @Tillerman, which I quite liked. More than the Lishan I purchased at the same time if memory serves. This Alishan felt softer, a bit less flower-forward than the few others I had had before.
I do not drink Taiwanese oolongs that often, so this tea spent many months in a cupboard. Then I transferred it to the refrigerator for several more months. Then, after @Victoria mentioned a friend having success storing matcha in the freezer, I thought I would try mistreating this tea even more than I already had by freezing it, which I did a couple of weeks ago.
This morning I thought I would try it. I got my Kobiwako hohin out of the drawer for the first time in quite a while : it has fallen a bit out of favor because it tends to introduce too much sweetness while smothering the aromas more than I like, though to be fair it has worked well with gaoshan in the past (not so well with Japanese greens, to my taste).
What did I get by throwing tea stored badly and for too long in a teapot that is not at the top of my list? A very satisfying session. As I remembered, the flowery aspect was not overpowering and the mineral side brought pleasant balance. I got a good number of interesting infusions of of these leaves. To be repeated.
I do not drink Taiwanese oolongs that often, so this tea spent many months in a cupboard. Then I transferred it to the refrigerator for several more months. Then, after @Victoria mentioned a friend having success storing matcha in the freezer, I thought I would try mistreating this tea even more than I already had by freezing it, which I did a couple of weeks ago.
This morning I thought I would try it. I got my Kobiwako hohin out of the drawer for the first time in quite a while : it has fallen a bit out of favor because it tends to introduce too much sweetness while smothering the aromas more than I like, though to be fair it has worked well with gaoshan in the past (not so well with Japanese greens, to my taste).
What did I get by throwing tea stored badly and for too long in a teapot that is not at the top of my list? A very satisfying session. As I remembered, the flowery aspect was not overpowering and the mineral side brought pleasant balance. I got a good number of interesting infusions of of these leaves. To be repeated.
Taking over @Shine Magical's 2020 spring dyl from @Ethan Kurland as well as @Shine Magical's gaiwan and cups. Surprisingly, this tea is very different from the 2020 spring dyl I had from Ethan earlier. The leaves look very different: shine's are smaller and contain less stems. The infusion from shine's is also much more complex including a distinct minty flavor that was absent in the previous bag. This is not to say the other bag was at all bad. But I am wondering now whether what I had before was actually the winter 2020 hahaha.LeoFox wrote: ↑Tue Jan 05, 2021 10:35 amEthan Kurland's 2020 spring DYL. Exhilarating aromatics! The leaves say it all! Thick, glossy full leaves that can steep out all day. Some even appear bug bitten! A sweet aftertaste that lingers on and on! The leaves themselves taste so good in the end: nutty and sweet! Am i crazy to eat them?
Edit: it seems these are both spring 2020 but with different harvest dates. What a world of difference!
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Had a session of winter dyl from a similar source as @Ethan Kurland's courtesy of @Bok.
All I can say is that this winter dyl in a Gaiwan tastes like the spring dyl in kobiwako!
Leaves are bigger, and more yellow. There is less minty aroma but more umami, oily texture, and savory herbal notes like rosemary and tarragon
Edit: there is a savory aftertaste of the herbs and a slight green pepperiness that lasted for hours through the late afternoon and even in the morning when I woke up! This is a powerful tea even if the harvest is a bit poor! Very grateful to Bok!
All I can say is that this winter dyl in a Gaiwan tastes like the spring dyl in kobiwako!
Leaves are bigger, and more yellow. There is less minty aroma but more umami, oily texture, and savory herbal notes like rosemary and tarragon
Edit: there is a savory aftertaste of the herbs and a slight green pepperiness that lasted for hours through the late afternoon and even in the morning when I woke up! This is a powerful tea even if the harvest is a bit poor! Very grateful to Bok!
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Last edited by LeoFox on Fri Feb 12, 2021 8:37 am, edited 2 times in total.