What Oolong Are You Drinking

[mbanu]

I am enjoying this one very much. Can taste the honey notes for a little sweetness in the morning.

One note:
The bag says steep for just a very short period.
I tried steeping it for a very short time and it really did not take on much color, nor did it have much flavor.
I am putting the leaves in a mesh bag and just using a pot (I don’t have a gaiwan set).
I let it steep for a couple of minutes and it reached this color.
I do not know if I made a mistake or if that is fine.

It could be something as straightforward as that that tea seller likes weak teas. Printed brewing instructions usually seem polarized into two schools, "This is how I, the buyer for this company, like to make this tea" and "This is a general standard for this category of tea, based on my understanding of the standards." Finding a tea-seller who has similar tastes to your own is often more important in the long run than their access to different teas.

The flavor is the thing to watch -- color and flavor are not actually as connected as they seem like they should be.

Another likely option is that they are in the "gongfu brewing by default" school that assumes that people will be using a lot of tea even when a tea is fresh, in which case they were probably expecting you to use a smaller pot or a larger amount of tea.

(To keep on-topic, I am drinking more of that Royal Red Robe blend from Mark T. Wendell from my previous What-Oolong-Are-You-Drinking post, brewed non-gongfu style.)

[teatray]

@Ethan Kurland Interesting, thanks. I've tried some Spring FSS from the gov't farm (picked 2021-05-17). It was towards the top of what I've had so far (esp. in terms of development in later steeps). Maybe it was close but it didn't hit the "magical level" of the few that impressed me most as a beginner (some more expensive, like DYL 104K @ $1.37/g, some costing a fraction even from a non-local source, like the aforementioned Ali Shan @ $0.25/g). I'll see if I can get my hands on some non-gov't FSS to try (would check out your stuff but I'm in Europe).

@debunix I remember seeing Red Oolongs discussed a while back. Have to try them (maybe after you've done the work and found a successor to your previous fav, hehe). Do you find thick walls help getting more out of oolongs that seem too light? My experience so far is I get the most out with a thin-walled porcelain pot. Not in the first infusion (couldn't really differentiate between similarly pre-warmed thin-walled and thick-walled) but in later infusions, where the thin-walled seems to pull ahead. May be because there's less mass/heat capacity in the cooled off vessel, removing less heat from subsequent brews, but it could also be some other variable I'm missing -- don't have enough different porcelain pots to cross-check yet (but TAD is helping that along nicely).

@ChihuahuaTea Like mbanu said, this def. looks like a gong-fu-cha instruction with very high leaf ratio, probably also assuming a wash which would pre-wet & heat the leaf.

[LeoFox]

Zhang hui chun strong roast shui xian - in an old zini. Very different experience compared to gaiwan. Used very similar brewing parameters.




Gaiwan:

[Andrew S]

2009 HuXiaoYan XianNuSanHua yancha, packed into a little pot and brewed somewhat strong, but for lots of infusions. It's probably up to brew... twenty or so by now, I think.

Quite a strong roast upfront with a mouth-coating texture, with both some aged characters and more primary flavours coming across, especially after the first three brews once the roast has dissipated and the underlying flavours mingle and take over; long aftertaste, a nice cooling sensation and a pleasant active but calming feeling for me.

Very nice, and definitely one of my preferred styles of yancha, but I need to experiment with it a bit more to learn more about it.

And LeoFox: sounds like you're enjoying the strong roast, strong brew method in that nice pot. I've never really given that particular tea much thought, but perhaps I should (especially given your as-always detailed and informative tasting description).

Andrew

[Bok]

A nicely evolving DHP… the intermediate fruitiness of its earlier life is giving way to a more mature stage of its life. Nice.

[debunix]

I had the loveliest session with 'fruity' Rou Gui from JingTeaShop.com today. I drank it with lunch, and once again enjoyed the delightful way that eating raw scallions transforms the following sips of tea with a stunning rich sweetness. It reminds me very much of the way that Wistaria's aged 'Ancient Heights' tea differs from a young fresh oolong, and is just delightful. Plus this tea is so lovely even after bites on other parts of my meal ended that remarkable sweetness effect.

Just another reason why I adore the onion family so very much.

[Ethan Kurland]

I had the loveliest session with 'fruity' Rou Gui from JingTeaShop.com today. I drank it with lunch, and once again enjoyed the delightful way that eating raw scallions transforms the following sips of tea with a stunning rich sweetness..

What a surprise! Scallions before tea!

I have rinsed my mouth thoroughly after eating salads & before drinking tea. (Salad dressing as well as bananas are known to lessen or ruin enjoyment of tea.) Most other foods would also inspire me to clean my mouth before a tea session. Certainly scallions would lead to a cleaning....

Anyway, debunix, thanks once more for some enlightenment & a new idea (challenge) to try some foods before teas that are very good & not like simpler, more ordinary tea that I might drink w/ a meal.

[Andrew S]

(Salad dressing as well as bananas are known to lessen or ruin enjoyment of tea.)

I have a (very) vague recollection of reading somewhere that some tea vendors used to try to give free bananas to customers, in the hope that they would make bad teas seem to taste better.

I could be completely wrong about that; I simply cannot recall where I might have read that.

Andrew

[GaoShan]

What a surprise! Scallions before tea!

I have rinsed my mouth thoroughly after eating salads & before drinking tea. (Salad dressing as well as bananas are known to lessen or ruin enjoyment of tea.) Most other foods would also inspire me to clean my mouth before a tea session. Certainly scallions would lead to a cleaning....

Anyway, debunix, thanks once more for some enlightenment & a new idea (challenge) to try some foods before teas that are very good & not like simpler, more ordinary tea that I might drink w/ a meal.

I also clean my palate after a meal before drinking decent tea. I find that sweet things tend to enhance any bitter flavours I encounter, so I try to avoid them during tea sessions.

[LeoFox]

Harsh yancha, like austere wines, can be appropriate with heavy, hearty meals

[GaoShan]

Harsh yancha, like austere wines, can be appropriate with heavy, hearty meals

That's good to know. I once interrupted a session with a high mountain oolong to eat a spicy Thai basil noodle dish, and after that it basically tasted like grass. Glad to know that not all teas lose their flavour when paired with food.

[LeoFox]

Harsh yancha, like austere wines, can be appropriate with heavy, hearty meals

That's good to know. I once interrupted a session with a high mountain oolong to eat a spicy Thai basil noodle dish, and after that it basically tasted like grass. Glad to know that not all teas lose their flavour when paired with food.

This guy seems to drink tea with different kinds of food a lot. I think he sometimes works as a tea-food pairing person for restaurants

I don't agree with any of his pairings though.

[Bok]

Hard to pass judgement unless you are drinking and pairing the exact same teas/foods.

Generally, I don’t pair food with tea, unless it’s lower quality. Simply don’t want any interference, nor do I have enough time to drink tea all day. But I imagine I’d do it if time and tea volume wouldn’t be an issue. After all why not.

[Ethan Kurland]

This guy seems to drink tea with different kinds of food a lot. I think he sometimes works as a tea-food pairing person for restaurants

I don't agree with any of his pairings though.

How many of us would agree that we don't want the cost of eating at a restaurant increased because someone worked at that restaurant as a tea-food pairing advisor?

[LeoFox]

I often like to eat the tea leaves while drinking tea.

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