Thanks! Instagram seems to be the place for tea people lately.
What Oolong Are You Drinking
@Bok
Thanks for bringing that up! I completely forgot that I used the same pot for a shu puer twice: a few weeks ago and then also a few days ago and I must've not washed it out well enough... Oops. Will edit the original review to reflect that. The one a few weeks ago had a fishiness in the rinse, but not the one a few days ago. Since I remember reading an article on Mud and Leaves' blog mentioning that the cons of using a pot for multiple teas are overstated so long as washed thoroughly, I probably wasn't careful enough here.
It is a modern duanni in rongtian shape, just a regular pot. I know it's not recommended, but I have been using it for yancha just because the heat retention is good and I don't mind the slight muting effect. A few days ago was the first time I used it for anything else. I am off at school and low on space, so I only have a few items with me currently besides the pot: 3 gaiwans (60, 90, 110 mL), and an 80mL Hakusan mogake shibo and 200 mL Shimizu Ken houhin purchased recently. Either way, the other clay pots I have at home are even larger, and so there's no point in bringing them with me when 99% of the time is solo drinking and when particularly busy just thermos/grandpa brews.
Thanks for bringing that up! I completely forgot that I used the same pot for a shu puer twice: a few weeks ago and then also a few days ago and I must've not washed it out well enough... Oops. Will edit the original review to reflect that. The one a few weeks ago had a fishiness in the rinse, but not the one a few days ago. Since I remember reading an article on Mud and Leaves' blog mentioning that the cons of using a pot for multiple teas are overstated so long as washed thoroughly, I probably wasn't careful enough here.
It is a modern duanni in rongtian shape, just a regular pot. I know it's not recommended, but I have been using it for yancha just because the heat retention is good and I don't mind the slight muting effect. A few days ago was the first time I used it for anything else. I am off at school and low on space, so I only have a few items with me currently besides the pot: 3 gaiwans (60, 90, 110 mL), and an 80mL Hakusan mogake shibo and 200 mL Shimizu Ken houhin purchased recently. Either way, the other clay pots I have at home are even larger, and so there's no point in bringing them with me when 99% of the time is solo drinking and when particularly busy just thermos/grandpa brews.
@m2193: glad you enjoyed it, and glad I may not have been responsible for exposing you to some fish in your yancha. Like you, I don't believe in quarantining pots with too much fervour, but I tend to categorise pots by rough categories (so cooked puer can play with old puer and liu bao, whereas yancha can play with something like dong ding, and they can wave to each other from a safe distance without ruining each other's day).
Reading other people's notes on a tea I've tried can also be interesting; these days, an 8g packet of yancha usually goes into my 60mL pot instead of my 100mL pot, at least if the roast is high enough for my preferences. Perhaps if you've got any of that strong roast tea left, you could feel free to try it brewed very dense and very hard next time, as an experiment to see just how far you can push something like that. At the end of the day, I feel like something roasted so heavily is a fun tea to play with, rather than a serious tea to analyse too carefully.
@LeoFox: it sounds as though your wife won the prize, and you've won the obligation to write seven sets of tasting notes. Lazy cat is not something I've tried yet, despite generally-positive reviews (including yours), so I've got an incentive in saying that, I guess.
Andrew
Reading other people's notes on a tea I've tried can also be interesting; these days, an 8g packet of yancha usually goes into my 60mL pot instead of my 100mL pot, at least if the roast is high enough for my preferences. Perhaps if you've got any of that strong roast tea left, you could feel free to try it brewed very dense and very hard next time, as an experiment to see just how far you can push something like that. At the end of the day, I feel like something roasted so heavily is a fun tea to play with, rather than a serious tea to analyse too carefully.
@LeoFox: it sounds as though your wife won the prize, and you've won the obligation to write seven sets of tasting notes. Lazy cat is not something I've tried yet, despite generally-positive reviews (including yours), so I've got an incentive in saying that, I guess.
Andrew
I believe it was only on Instagram. You can see other entries from last year if you look. I think it took place in April.
Thanks! I actually looked on their social media sites before asking that question, but didn't go back far enough to see the contest. @LeoFox has confirmed it was on IG.DCrunner wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 8:04 amI believe it was only on Instagram. You can see other entries from last year if you look. I think it took place in April.
The more I drink tea, the more fervently I separate the tea pots. For example, I am so put off by the idea of any residue from shou contaminating a session with another tea that I not only have one shou tea pot, but that teapot gets its own plate that is not shared with other pots.Andrew S wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 2:56 amm2193: glad you enjoyed it, and glad I may not have been responsible for exposing you to some fish in your yancha. Like you, I don't believe in quarantining pots with too much fervour, but I tend to categorise pots by rough categories (so cooked puer can play with old puer and liu bao, whereas yancha can play with something like dong ding, and they can wave to each other from a safe distance without ruining each other's day).
Similarly with sheng of any age - one pot - one plate.
Green oolongs and green tea can share the same plate- but not the same pot.
Roasted oolong of all kinds can share the same plate - and for pots- more and more I'm put off by taste of yancha entering into roasted Taiwan oolong - and vice versa- that I've begun to have separate pots for them.
Hong cha has it's own pot
And white tea- for a while I made it also in a pot used for green - but no longer - it has its own pot.
@LeoFox: I am sure that I am influenced quite heavily by my usual choice of teas; old fermented teas and fairly heavily-roasted yancha would probably overpower or taint green tea, white tea, young puer and things like dancong or high mountain tea, but I don't expose myself to those types of tea all that often.
Andrew
Andrew
That makes sense. You also brew very heavily - which may decrease the impact of such effectsAndrew S wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 3:33 pmLeoFox: I am sure that I am influenced quite heavily by my usual choice of teas; old fermented teas and fairly heavily-roasted yancha would probably overpower or taint green tea, white tea, young puer and things like dancong or high mountain tea, but I don't expose myself to those types of tea all that often.
Andrew
I don’t worry about any mixing of my interior glazed pots, but I do separate Puer from oolong, at least most of the time. I do have one little pot that sometimes does Puer and sometimes will do a strong dark roast “every day” oolong, such as the sea Dyke TGY.
And I definitely keep light roast and dark roast oolong separate, but I do sometimes overlap light roast oolongs and white teas with green teas.
It’s only fair to acknowledge, however, that the person making these comments is currently drinking some very fine Korean Bahlyocha prepared in a drinking thermos. It’s definitely not the ideal way to prepare this tea, but it is a marvelous sensory experience despite the rough brewing technique.
And I definitely keep light roast and dark roast oolong separate, but I do sometimes overlap light roast oolongs and white teas with green teas.
It’s only fair to acknowledge, however, that the person making these comments is currently drinking some very fine Korean Bahlyocha prepared in a drinking thermos. It’s definitely not the ideal way to prepare this tea, but it is a marvelous sensory experience despite the rough brewing technique.
Drinking some "Monkey Picked Tieguanyin" from Imperial Tea Court. The owner, Roy Fong, is a giant in the history of the American tea-scene, but almost every time I buy from Imperial Tea Court, I end up regretting something... I think the main draw is that I really like their chili sauce, and the history behind the shop. 
This one is a green tieguanyin that's been re-roasted in-house. It is suspiciously aromatic for the first steep and the aroma falls off afterwards, but giving it a cold-water test I don't see any oils. The used leaves are a mix of green and heavy-roast, which makes me think that the re-roasting is not consistent, or that this is a blend of re-roasted and new tea, possibly to maintain the aroma.
This one is a green tieguanyin that's been re-roasted in-house. It is suspiciously aromatic for the first steep and the aroma falls off afterwards, but giving it a cold-water test I don't see any oils. The used leaves are a mix of green and heavy-roast, which makes me think that the re-roasting is not consistent, or that this is a blend of re-roasted and new tea, possibly to maintain the aroma.
Recently, I had the opportunity to try 2 teas from Chen Huan Tang, aka Laoshi (teacher) - both from 2020 winter: one labeled as from HeHuan mountain purchased from Tillerman Tea, and the other a very generous sample gift (lishan roast) from a friend directly acquired from the shop of Chen Huan Tang in Taiwan. Tillerman's tea is a little more expensive ( 35$/56g for tillerman, 0.5$/1g for direct from shop)
Direct from shop:
From Tillerman:
Direct from shop:
From Tillerman:
Can anyone here recommend oolongs (ideally dancong but not necessarily) that are similar to Wuyi Origin's Old Bush Mi Lan Xiang from Li Zhai Ping village?
I'm not a fan of greener oolongs and it seems to be increasingly more difficult to find ones that are not too green in this style.
I'm not a fan of greener oolongs and it seems to be increasingly more difficult to find ones that are not too green in this style.