What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Andrew S]

I have been recently drinking a variety of oolongs from Floating Leaves, and slowly realizing that some are just calibrated to give that perfect delicate and balanced impression for my palate just one time when brewed with a little leaf grandpa style.
[...]
Trying to turn one into the other just doesn’t work.

You've reminded me about a similar thought process that I had a little while ago, about how I need to stop 'testing' or 'pushing' tea, and how instead I should just find the best way to enjoy any given tea, without any prejudice against a tea which performs better brewed lightly and not pushed too hard (within limits, of course).

That said, though, I think that I still hold that prejudice...

Andrew

[GaoShan]

Trying the 'same' tea 12 months apart - PingLin baozhong made from the HuangZhi cultivar, one from mid-April 2024, the other from late April 2023.

Am I the only one who actually prefers some baozhong to be just a little bit 'aged'?

They're both very nice, but the 2024 feels a bit too 'savoury' and 'primary', whereas the 2023 feels much more open, floral and juicy. The 2024 feels warmer, the 2023 feels cooler (and, ironically, feels more vibrant and 'fresh' in terms of flavour and mouthfeel).

Interestingly, the 2024 had what I'd describe as a slight 'grip' to the mouthfeel, not unpleasant at all, whereas the 2023 had a gently powdery and zesty quality instead. I wonder if that's where the 2024 will go if I leave it alone for a year and try it again. That said, some of the differences might be due to other factors unrelated to age.

Andrew

I've unintentionally left a couple baozhongs to age and the results have been mixed. I had two packs of a 2023 BZ that I drank about a year apart and I found that it was less fruity and vibrant and the minerality was a lot more noticeable after a year. It was a much softer tea that had fewer of the flavours I like. Having said that, I drank a couple BZ from Floating Leaves after a year and they were fine. Maybe it was the tea, or maybe there was a bit more air in the 2023 BZ.

[debunix]

A really nice session with FLT furry crab, where I nailed the sweet spot: the earthy, toasty, field of dried grasses and sweet hay, subtle sweet caramel notes, really fine....more because I did a bit of 'grandpa style' in the small thermos than in spite of that form of brewing.

[Andrew S]

Early morning QiZhong yancha from 2017 - bright flavour and mouthfeel to cut through a gloomy start to the day, and a good match to my new teapot friend.

@GaoShan: I get the feeling that an unroasted baozhong which improves (or at least, doesn't deteriorate) after a year is probably the exception rather than the rule. I don't think I'd age one which was already elegantly floral, or fruity, or had that 'fresh pea' kind of flavour, but it seems to have worked very well for this one (at least for me - maybe not everyone would prefer it to the fresh one).

Andrew

[teacreacha7]

A beautiful summer day in Colorado, enjoying some "Old Style Dong Ding" from The Steeping Room. Nothing exciting, fussy or unique, just a classic easy-going session.

I like my Taiwanese Oolongs more on the roasty side, and this one delivers! I'm no sommelier, but I'd say it has deep floral and stonefruit notes. The soup is thick and lingers at the back of the throat.

[Masterjeff]

Enjoying Floating Leaves' spring 2024 competition baozhong, a great elegant tea, very floral and smooth in the mouth. I love winter oolong for it's qualities in the mouth, but the spring aromatics shine this time of year.

[the_dalu]

Ruby Gaba Oolong - https://moychay.nl/products/ruby-gaba-oolong

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[GaoShan]

Enjoying Floating Leaves' spring 2024 competition baozhong, a great elegant tea, very floral and smooth in the mouth. I love winter oolong for it's qualities in the mouth, but the spring aromatics shine this time of year.

In my experience, Floating Leaves tends to have good Baozhong. I particularly like their Farmer's Choice. Too bad their international location no longer exists.

[teatray]

Going through my first Tea Masters package this year.

2024 Spring QingXin Oolong Ali Shan - organic 1
Chang Shu Hu, Ali Shan (1400m), picking: May 1st, 2024

New addition to their Alishan selection. Subtle but heavenly scent from the bag. Very nice, gently fruity, fresh, clean taste & aftertaste (pear, apple, melon, pineapple). Maybe lacking a bit in complexity but what's there is very enjoyable and it does last many infusions. The fruitiness is not harsh but very high mountain tea-y, if that makes sense. Much better than the other Alishans I've tried from this shop over the last few years I've been a customer (which were cheap but not that good).


2024 Spring Qingxin Oolong Shan Lin Xi Day1
Yang Keng, Shan Lin Xi (1300m), picking: May 3rd, 2024

Fine but ever-so-slight background note of staleness, at least to my taste; maybe it's some desirable oxidation note to others? Easy to overbrew and get some bitterness but nice when I get it right for my taste. I've had this Yang Keng a few times over previous years (ordered once or twice & some free samples). It never impressed me much (no idea why I put it in my order tbh), but this year it seems better than 2021-2023, so will probably be pretty satisfying to people who liked it in the recent past.

[the_dalu]

Gabacha Paper and Tea

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[Vinski]

Li Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea from Eco-Cha Teas. Not bad at all. I used 5g of tea per just under 100ml of near boiling water in the gaiwan.

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[Andrew S]

Yancha time - medium-roasted BanTianYao from NiuLanKeng. Floral and fruity, and what I'd describe as a rich flavour, almost 'syrup-y', but without feeling heavy. The mouthfeel and long aftertaste keep it bright and fresh.

Andrew

[pepson]

Hello tea lovers.

I found one really interesting tea that is a bit tricky. According a description it is "green" oolong, but....
Taste and aroma is combination of "green" oolong and first flush daarjeling. More FF Daarjeling than oolong.

As I wrote before this tea is really interesting and worth of try

[debunix]

It does sound quite intriguing. Tea chest is much too stuffed to purchase more at this time, however.

[Ethan Kurland]

Hello tea lovers.
I found one really interesting tea that is a bit tricky. According a description it is "green" oolong, but....
Taste and aroma is combination of "green" oolong and first flush daarjeling. More FF Daarjeling than oolong.

"Tricky" is an "interesting" word here. Your post is interesting & stimulates my memory etc. Thanks.

Categorizing tea is tricky overall. Nepali & Darjeeling teas especially so. The white tea from Nepal that I drink & sell (Himalayan Snow) has the thin body of white tea always; yet, it will only truly seem a white tea if prepared to taste like one. One must not use very high temperatures and/or steeping times that are longer than 20 seconds for the flavors to be delicate. Flavor is still somewhat bold & complex for a white tea but are there gently enough when the parameters are right. (If one wants a drink very much like first & second flush black teas from the region, he can employ very hot water and/or long steeping times.)

I think lots of teas from Nepal offer multiple results to a great degree through variations of preparation.
Why I bother to search for white is for a thin feeling liquid (so think I will not use the word "soup" for the brew) & for no astringency (even if steeped in boiling water for so long bitterness finally appears).

Buying Nepali teas takes work or gambling because they vary so much season to season. I see you bought from Jun Chiyabari & quite some years ago I bought 8 1/2 kilograms of one particular black tea from Jun Chiyabari that was wonderful. I know that the same terroir, the same farmers, the same producers.... did not duplicate that season's tea for several years after. (I gave up sampling after that.)

One helpful characteristic of hard-to-catagorize Nepali tea is longevity. An opened pack doesn't seem to lose flavor over several months which is important to me because the flavors are not what I want more than a few times a month at this stage of my life. (Sometimes they are more than interesting to me, they are lovely.) Cheers