Shan Lin Xi

[Bok]

One year it may fade, five years things may start to happen, 10 good things can be there, open end marvelous things may happen if the material is good. Just a question of how long can you wait? 50y old green tea can be very nice...

[Sunyata]

It was stored (not vacuum) inside a large foil bag and forgotten. If you're planning to age any oolong, its best to seal it as tight as possible which means either squeezing out as much air from bags or taping the lid and sides of your tin container. That way it won't acquire any storage notes while allowing the tea flavor to change naturally. I was joking with my friend who said that such small quantity yefang teas would never win competition because to submit it requires at least 20jin (20x600g), and the judges would evaluate based on "textbook" style which means such teas would not stand out amongst the fragrant teas. What it has is a noticeably fuller and richer thickness and body compared to the average Shan Lin Xi. I certainly did not detect any aged aromas in this one too. Perhaps good base material ages slower and more elegantly, this kind of tea is best appreciated by laocong dancong (traditional style), shuixian, and single terroir gushu/danzhu puerh drinkers. Very atypical of gaoshan imho.

[GaoShan]

It was stored (not vacuum) inside a large foil bag and forgotten. If you're planning to age any oolong, its best to seal it as tight as possible which means either squeezing out as much air from bags or taping the lid and sides of your tin container. That way it won't acquire any storage notes while allowing the tea flavor to change naturally. I was joking with my friend who said that such small quantity yefang teas would never win competition because to submit it requires at least 20jin (20x600g), and the judges would evaluate based on "textbook" style which means such teas would not stand out amongst the fragrant teas. What it has is a noticeably fuller and richer thickness and body compared to the average Shan Lin Xi. I certainly did not detect any aged aromas in this one too. Perhaps good base material ages slower and more elegantly, this kind of tea is best appreciated by laocong dancong (traditional style), shuixian, and single terroir gushu/danzhu puerh drinkers. Very atypical of gaoshan imho.

Most of my oolongs are vacuum sealed, though I have a few in unopened foil bags. It's interesting that vacuum sealing doesn't seem necessary for storing teas well. Hojo also recommends storing gaoshan in airtight bags and says vacuum sealing allows 1% of oxygen to contact the tea, producing aged notes. I'm not sure what to believe.

I haven't had a lot of Laocong Dancong or good yancha, but do let me know if you ever find yefang gaoshan for sale.

@Bok, I have some Yunnan green and white tea from 2014/2015 and some vac packed gaoshan and hongcha from 2018 or so. The material probably isn't great and I'd given up on resuscitating this tea. I might have to hold on to it for a few years and see what happens.

[Sunyata]

Vacuum sealing is too troublesome unless one sets aside a certain amount to store, while initially having a fixed amount to drink and enjoy over the years. I suspect HOJO recommends vacuum storing only if its feasible. However, I think airtight storage is sufficient and the results one gets is almost always clean and elegant teas without storage aroma - just as in wine the tertiary aromas come out naturally. The art and science of ageing oolong is still fairly new as oolong even traditionally processed was meant to be a "finished" product and drunk fresh. Certainly the good quality material teas get hoarded by individual collectors and consumed slowly over the years... if there's still remaining tea its likely never going to be parted with unless theres a drastic scenario. For example, I'm surprised dancong with its illustrious history has very little historical records of ageing - the oldest I have were from the 90s, and those were "accidentally" aged meaning to say the owner had unintentionally forgotten about it. Speaking of unforeseen circumstance, I also had a 1996 Dancong which was obtained only after the owner sadly passed away, which makes it the oldest dancong I've tried. Interesting, if I were to compare aged Dancong vs aged Gaoshan, its really surprising how the Dancong has changed alot into sweet-date aroma not too dissimilar to an aged shengpu, whereas the Gaoshan turns more buttery and nutty. The former changes alot while the latter still retains alot of fresh character.

[GaoShan]

Vacuum sealing is too troublesome unless one sets aside a certain amount to store, while initially having a fixed amount to drink and enjoy over the years. I suspect HOJO recommends vacuum storing only if its feasible. However, I think airtight storage is sufficient and the results one gets is almost always clean and elegant teas without storage aroma - just as in wine the tertiary aromas come out naturally. The art and science of ageing oolong is still fairly new as oolong even traditionally processed was meant to be a "finished" product and drunk fresh. Certainly the good quality material teas get hoarded by individual collectors and consumed slowly over the years... if there's still remaining tea its likely never going to be parted with unless theres a drastic scenario. For example, I'm surprised dancong with its illustrious history has very little historical records of ageing - the oldest I have were from the 90s, and those were "accidentally" aged meaning to say the owner had unintentionally forgotten about it. Speaking of unforeseen circumstance, I also had a 1996 Dancong which was obtained only after the owner sadly passed away, which makes it the oldest dancong I've tried. Interesting, if I were to compare aged Dancong vs aged Gaoshan, its really surprising how the Dancong has changed alot into sweet-date aroma not too dissimilar to an aged shengpu, whereas the Gaoshan turns more buttery and nutty. The former changes alot while the latter still retains alot of fresh character.

I suspect you've had a lot more experience than me with higher-end teas. I've only had a few aged oolongs, some of which were wonderful and some of which were awful (unless you enjoy tea that tastes like old seafood and swamp water). I also tend to buy gaoshan with the expectation that I'll drink it within a year, though that doesn't always happen. You're right that aged dancongs are rare, though I've seen a few Tie Guan Yins and Dong Dings from the 1980s and 1990s. I've generally steered clear of these teas due to those bad experiences. It might be worth giving them another try.

[Sunyata]

Vacuum sealing is too troublesome unless one sets aside a certain amount to store, while initially having a fixed amount to drink and enjoy over the years. I suspect HOJO recommends vacuum storing only if its feasible. However, I think airtight storage is sufficient and the results one gets is almost always clean and elegant teas without storage aroma - just as in wine the tertiary aromas come out naturally. The art and science of ageing oolong is still fairly new as oolong even traditionally processed was meant to be a "finished" product and drunk fresh. Certainly the good quality material teas get hoarded by individual collectors and consumed slowly over the years... if there's still remaining tea its likely never going to be parted with unless theres a drastic scenario. For example, I'm surprised dancong with its illustrious history has very little historical records of ageing - the oldest I have were from the 90s, and those were "accidentally" aged meaning to say the owner had unintentionally forgotten about it. Speaking of unforeseen circumstance, I also had a 1996 Dancong which was obtained only after the owner sadly passed away, which makes it the oldest dancong I've tried. Interesting, if I were to compare aged Dancong vs aged Gaoshan, its really surprising how the Dancong has changed alot into sweet-date aroma not too dissimilar to an aged shengpu, whereas the Gaoshan turns more buttery and nutty. The former changes alot while the latter still retains alot of fresh character.

I suspect you've had a lot more experience than me with higher-end teas. I've only had a few aged oolongs, some of which were wonderful and some of which were awful (unless you enjoy tea that tastes like old seafood and swamp water). I also tend to buy gaoshan with the expectation that I'll drink it within a year, though that doesn't always happen. You're right that aged dancongs are rare, though I've seen a few Tie Guan Yins and Dong Dings from the 1980s and 1990s. I've generally steered clear of these teas due to those bad experiences. It might be worth giving them another try.

Haha I wish I had more experience drinking aged oolongs; theyre interesting only in a few specific cases. Alot of higher end teas are scarce enough to find, let alone allowed to age without being consumed Most oolongs turn flat due to degradation of those aromatic compounds released on outer surface of leaf during the shaping process. Sourness is less bad as it shows that the leaf still has some "life" left in it, but can easily turn unpleasant (sour-plumy) from a combination of excessive moisture content (processing issue due to trendy lower ferment resulting in lower roast - the roasting can only be as high as what the ferment dictates) or improper storage (airflow rather than airtight). The way I see it is aged dancong can be really spectacular as it develops new characteristics like aged shengpu. Aged gaoshan doesn't develop as much, most go downhill. For aged yancha, some develop medicinal aroma (yao xiang) which is highly sought after. I'm always on the lookout for a good Tieluohan that is aged and acquires this yao wei. Other varietals like Shui Xian can also develop different type of yao wei. For Rougui, personally I feel it can't age that well as its more fragrant style and younger leaf material.