What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Ethan Kurland]

.... teas with subtle, but potent expressions...... No roughness, or obvious faults…

Such excellent writing, Bok!

With so many powerful flavors & sensations effecting us, it is easy to fail to appreciate food or drinks that do not come on powerfully. It's been quite a while since I had a tea whose flavors are soft (one might say "subtle") yet definitely noticeable & pleasing. A great array of flavors without roughness is hard to find.

[LeoFox]

Revisiting GABA oolong. As expected, sweet roast flavors turn sour as the tea soup cools. Still not quite sure what the appeal is for this type of tea

[Bok]

Never understood the appeal either... to me the result does taste inferior to normal processing methods.

[Bok]

Favourite tea in favourite combination of teaware to bring out what I like most in this tea… Dancong the night away . , ; / ) / . ~ - -

[Bok]

You know you did your gong fu right, when all cups have equal amount of liquid in the same colour

[Ethan Kurland]

You know you did your gong fu right, when all cups have equal amount of liquid in the same colour

We see 3 perfect cups. Is your child drinking tea with you & your wife already?
Cheers

[Bok]

We see 3 perfect cups. Is your child drinking tea with you & your wife already?
Cheers

Actually, drinking by myself…

I do sometimes like to practice this brewing method and I also find some teas taste better in smaller cups. Especially Dancong. The same tea in a larger cup instead of three small ones is much less to my liking. I can’t quite explain it… well actually if one were to try an espresso in a mug, the result would be quite terrible in most cases, so maybe it’s some stronger teas that warrant this style.

[Victoria]

Nice graphics on those antique cups @Bok. Decanting into three cups, rather than a pitcher, cools down the tea pretty fast if you’re having a solo session, unless you drink fast. When drinking alone >80ml I almost always use two cups and a pitcher, the second cup is used if the tea is too hot for me. I prefer some teas slightly cooler because the flavors become more pronounced the cooler the tea gets.

Started the day with Chen Huan Tang‘s special Lishan processed as a DongDing, it is a very balanced tea and has grown on me the more I revisit it. Later reflecting on @LeoFox aroma, body, balance, cha qi poll I reached for Chen Hau Ying’s Rose oolong which I posted about before. Both are aromatic, rich, with plenty of body and aftertaste too. I’ve never had such a high quality rose oolong, the leaf used is superior and the pedals delicate enough not to overwhelm the oolong. Empty cup aroma is also very good. I’ll add that for me teas that have good aroma, but lack body and taste are such a tease, they leave me feeling wanting and empty handed.

[Bok]

@Victoria that’s true, but I do indeed drink fast and the climate is hot enough as well, so it doesn’t cool down as fast. Water is always hot as well, which helps to not let it cool down as fast.

For Dancong the tea should be consumed fast anyways as it has a tendency to turn bitter in the cup otherwise.

[bliss]

The same tea in a larger cup instead of three small ones is much less to my liking. I can’t quite explain it…

I also crave small cups for a number of teas. With some teas I also just don't want a big quantity for each infusion. Something about downing too much of the tea in one go just ruins the vibe of the tea and feels vulgar.

[LeoFox]

Sampled 2019 boutique rougui 3rd roast from wuyi origins at ~$1.28/g kindly gifted from @Victoria. This tea is supposed to be Zheng yan material (possibly Wuyuan jian) and fully hand made.

The dry leaf has a nice restrained fragrance

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Brewed 6g/80mL
Flashrinse (which I drank at the end) /6s/15s/20s/35s/45s/1min/1min30/2min/3min30/5min


Early infusions are dominated by the roast flavor: creamy milk chocolate and mild 13 spice mix. Overall the roast is restrained and calming and quite delicious - a bit better than the baseline lazycat rougui. There is also a brightness that falls off as steeps progress.

After the 3rd infusion, the base leaf flavor emerges: a bit like a peachy dancong. The flavors of the leaf and the roast are clearly distinguishable. However, with the leaf flavor, an astringency arrives that at first pokes the back of my mouth..but as steeps progress, becomes a bit painful.

In later infusions, the leaf flavor falls away and there is a calm dark chocolate profile.


Verdict: the roast is tasty, and superior to many sub 1$ yancha. The clarity is also very educational in that the roast and the leaf are clearly distinguishable. However, the astringency is quite unpleasant. Also for a tea that is supposedly from a Zheng yan area, I get almost no minerality except for some chalky mouthfeel. I would say this is not worth the price (for me) and the overall experience may be worse (due to painful astringency) but more interesting than the baseline lazy cat rougui which is nearly 4x cheaper. Ultimately it is an interesting tea and I am very grateful for the tasting.

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[Victoria]

Nice tasting notes and images @LeoFox. I’ll keep mum until you’ve tried a few more that I shared with you. Our price for her boutique 3rd and 4th roast rougui was 0.92/gram + shipping.

[LeoFox]

Looks like you got a great deal! My price listed above is based on their website.

[Bok]

Dongding, ding ding dong, happy tea night.

[tjkdubya]

Have been playing around with Daxue Jiadao’s curation of Yancha by tjkdubya and partner for the last couple of weeks.

You are too kind. Some less elegant than others, I'd say

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