Tieguanyin from hojo
https://hojotea.com/en/posts-282/
Heavily.oxidized but unroasted blend of Tie Guan Yin, Mao Xie, and Ben Shan cultivated at a high altitude of around 1000m in Anxi Datong village.
Very interesting tea
What Oolong Are You Drinking
We've got a lot of clouds in Los Angeles right now and overnight there was even a brief thunder shower.... so even though it's not very cold, in my office it feels just right for some hot tea. Pulled out some Wuyi Huang Guan Yin from Jing Tea, which appears to have done just fine with a long stay in my tea test before being brought out because I bought it in 2020.
The flavor is warm, rich, earthy, and has that mineral note that feels so right on a gray day.
The flavor is warm, rich, earthy, and has that mineral note that feels so right on a gray day.
intermittent clouds but still very hot again in Los Angeles today, and I'm enjoying some handmade Balhyocha from Deon Jae Yeun, from Morning Crane Tea's Tea by Korea of some years ago (my pouch says maybe 2018 Harvest). It's such a lovely tea to do well as a hot tea, but here I am infusing it with a little bit of very hot water, and then adding it to a bowl of cool tea water--so nice on a hot afternoon.
It's been a while (again) since I've come onto the forum. Not really sure why - just a combination of work and other things, I suppose... and the occasional error message, but that seems to have gone away for me.
Anyway, starting the day down here with the 2008 dry-stored Alishan from TheTea, brewed without too much attention. I've enjoyed the aged and roasted wulong that I've gotten from them; they seem to suit my preferences.
Andrew
Anyway, starting the day down here with the 2008 dry-stored Alishan from TheTea, brewed without too much attention. I've enjoyed the aged and roasted wulong that I've gotten from them; they seem to suit my preferences.
Andrew
I had a weird oolong session today. Trying to find teas from Chen Huan Tang led me to check if I had any Tillerman teas left, and it turns out I have some of his spring 2020 Cuifeng. It was in a zip bag with some air in it. I dithered over whether to try it and curiosity won. It is definitely an aged oolong now. I get strong cinnamon, stewed plum, and peachy notes, with a background of buttery grass and florals that were probably what the oolong was supposed to taste like. It's actually similar to a mystery aged oolong from Liquid Proust that a tea buddy sent me a while ago. This isn't bad, but it's not what gaoshan is supposed to taste like. I also hope I don't get food poisoning or something.
If I've had liuan with dead spiders in it, I think you'll be fine (not that that's medical advice...).GaoShan wrote: ↑Sat Oct 11, 2025 7:03 pmI had a weird oolong session today. Trying to find teas from Chen Huan Tang led me to check if I had any Tillerman teas left, and it turns out I have some of his spring 2020 Cuifeng. It was in a zip bag with some air in it. I dithered over whether to try it and curiosity won. It is definitely an aged oolong now. I get strong cinnamon, stewed plum, and peachy notes, with a background of buttery grass and florals that were probably what the oolong was supposed to taste like. It's actually similar to a mystery aged oolong from Liquid Proust that a tea buddy sent me a while ago. This isn't bad, but it's not what gaoshan is supposed to taste like. I also hope I don't get food poisoning or something.
Plums and peaches sounds pleasant. I'm less sure about cinnamon, though. Perhaps you caught it at an awkward time, when it doesn't know if it's an aged tea or a fresh one. Or you just like fresh tea. Or does 'cinnamon' perhaps mean a sour kind of note?
From what little I know, the most important thing about ageing wulong is keeping moisture out, and getting rid of it once it gets in. The 'dry stored' 2008 alishan I'm having these days may have been re-roasted gently at some point (I don't know, the description is no longer available). It's pleasant, smooth, 'yellow' in character, but not particularly long-lasting. The vacuum-stored gaoshan that I accidentally aged for 10 years was quite pleasant (to a younger me), and was surprisingly aged for something that had been sealed up like that (viewtopic.php?p=38752#p38752).
But then, I've had unroasted baozhong that I've enjoyed more a year after the harvest than when it was fresh, so I'm probably in the minority on a lot of this.
Andrew
Dead spiders! I guess that's better than live spiders, but I still might have thrown that tea away.Andrew S wrote: ↑Sun Oct 12, 2025 12:33 amIf I've had liuan with dead spiders in it, I think you'll be fine (not that that's medical advice...).
Plums and peaches sounds pleasant. I'm less sure about cinnamon, though. Perhaps you caught it at an awkward time, when it doesn't know if it's an aged tea or a fresh one. Or you just like fresh tea. Or does 'cinnamon' perhaps mean a sour kind of note?
From what little I know, the most important thing about ageing wulong is keeping moisture out, and getting rid of it once it gets in. The 'dry stored' 2008 alishan I'm having these days may have been re-roasted gently at some point (I don't know, the description is no longer available). It's pleasant, smooth, 'yellow' in character, but not particularly long-lasting. The vacuum-stored gaoshan that I accidentally aged for 10 years was quite pleasant (to a younger me), and was surprisingly aged for something that had been sealed up like that (viewtopic.php?p=38752#p38752).
But then, I've had unroasted baozhong that I've enjoyed more a year after the harvest than when it was fresh, so I'm probably in the minority on a lot of this.
Andrew
In the bag, the tea had a sour aroma, so much so that I wondered whether it had gone bad. It was a green oolong to begin with and has not been reroasted. As far as I know, it's stayed dry. Maybe the cinnamon I described is a sour/medicinal taste. It definitely came off as clove/cinnamon to me and dissipated in the later part of the session.
I've had gaoshan that's two or three years old and still tasted almost fresh, but it was vacuum sealed. This tea has transformed into something else.
The tea was stored in a kitchen cupboard in a sealed zip bag. It hasn't come in contact with moisture that I know of, though summers can get humid. The sour/medicinal/cinnamon note faded as the session went on. I haven't had enough aged oolongs to tell if this one tastes okay.