What Oolong Are You Drinking

[Bok]

in the 110 ml Taiwanese clay pot Bok sent me.

An extra bonus to having that pot now, is that the master of that shop veered away from producing pots that way (& I assume, perhaps incorrectly, has taken his students with him) towards a very dull looking, unfinished style.

For the unglazed inside, glazed outside, I was tempted by Korean teaware (porcelain) but it was too expensive for me at the time. I wonder whether anyone is using that for roasted tea. Comments?

Cheers

Guess not all Korean clay will be the same as in other countries, so it will depend. For example, some European clays seem unsuitable for making teapots in my opinion and (limited) exposure to them. I got one Korean fully glazed porcelain pot and found another issue with them — for my purposes they are a tad too thick. Staying too hot, too long.

Do not worry about my teachers students, they have a mind of their own And he is not the kind to demand strict followers as some teachers do.

I asked my teacher about his sudden change in style and he said, the market demands other kinds of pots than what he used to do.
I also do find his original style more "him". To be fair a lot of them look a lot better in real life, they take terrible pictures of them!

[d.manuk]

I'm drinking some more of the semi-wild Baozhong from Tea Masters. After drinking Ethan's DYL for an entire week, the intense florality of this Baozhong is somewhat shocking to the palette. These 2 teas are both nice but in different ways, I think I'm going to host a tea meetup and brew them for others to see what they think; so far it's only been me drinking them.

[Ethan Kurland]

the intense florality of this Baozhong is somewhat shocking to the palette. them.

I have had floral Baozhong but never what I would call intense florality. A tea meeting might be informative. I would like to know if what you call floral is tasted as vegetal by some of the drinker

I spent much of yesterday and part of today, tasting and testing samples of teas sent to me from a vendor in China. I found them to be either awful or tasteless. I wondered whether I was coming down with a cold; so, a few times I brought some to neighbors who told me that they were not being disgusted by the awful bitter and extremely vegetal flavors from some teas nor were no flavor from other teas as I was. But I do not have a cold. I do have a lot of experience drinking really good teas which I think makes it harder and harder over time to tolerate muvh of the other..... Subjective....

Cheers

[d.manuk]

I rinsed the Baozhong this morning which made it much more floral, I'm having it again now without rinsing and the florality is just a background note.
Still trying to unlock the secret of rinsing oolongs...

[Ethan Kurland]

I rinsed the Baozhong this morning which made it much more floral, I'm having it again now without rinsing and the florality is just a background note.
Still trying to unlock the secret of rinsing oolongs...

That's very good info. I stopped rinsing tea except for the rare times that I drink puerh. Next time I have some Baozhong, I'll rinse, though I don't understand. A quick steeping for a first infusion should serve as a rinse to bring out the floral for the second infusion. Another mystery.

[Bok]

A first for me in two ways: My first tea purchased in Taipei, which I usually do not do, price is at least two-fold of the rest of the country.

In this case the exception as it is a tea from greater Taipei so to speak, from the hills of Nangang. The tea in question is a Tieguanyin. I purchased it at a farmers market, another place I would normally never buy tea. What caught my eye was that the farmer only sold local teas like Baozhong and Tieguanyin. Even more astonishing as it was the first ever female tea farmer I met in Taiwan. Usually you see the women plucking tea, but I had until then never met a woman in charge of making the tea itself. Still very much a macho affair up in the montains...

The second first was that this TGY was processed with unfurled leaves, not the usual rolled style! Medium roasted, as the farmer told me she preferred it that way as it is quicker ready to consume and does not have to be stored for a further year or two. Guess it is the pragmatic thinking of a farmer who thinks of the space it takes to store and what can go wrong with it under the sometimes harsh mountain conditions. Fair enough!

Now to the tea: it was surprisingly fresh and subtle in the way that only truly organic tea is. Sort of not in your face good, but slowly growing on you, surprising you when you have the patience. Lovely throat feel and aftertaste. Very clean mouthfeel and none of the usual sourness that I so far associated with TGY. The typical apple and fruit flavours of TGY are all there, but in a delicate way - I am tempted to compare it with Dancong! Lovely tea.

Not cheap for my habitual spending, but OK to take the risk buying a small amout of 150g to test with my own ware and brewing. Now into my third time, each with different teapots, tea fares well in all three: 60s Hongni, 80s Neiwailinhong and a modern Chaozhou pot.

[Teachronicles]

A first for me in two ways: My first tea purchased in Taipei, which I usually do not do, price is at least two-fold of the rest of the country.

In this case the exception as it is a tea from greater Taipei so to speak, from the hills of Nangang. The tea in question is a Tieguanyin. I purchased it at a farmers market, another place I would normally never buy tea. What caught my eye was that the farmer only sold local teas like Baozhong and Tieguanyin. Even more astonishing as it was the first ever female tea farmer I met in Taiwan. Usually you see the women plucking tea, but I had until then never met a woman in charge of making the tea itself. Still very much a macho affair up in the montains...

The second first was that this TGY was processed with unfurled leaves, not the usual rolled style! Medium roasted, as the farmer told me she preferred it that way as it is quicker ready to consume and does not have to be stored for a further year or two. Guess it is the pragmatic thinking of a farmer who thinks of the space it takes to store and what can go wrong with it under the sometimes harsh mountain conditions. Fair enough!

Now to the tea: it was surprisingly fresh and subtle in the way that only truly organic tea is. Sort of not in your face good, but slowly growing on you, surprising you when you have the patience. Lovely throat feel and aftertaste. Very clean mouthfeel and none of the usual sourness that I so far associated with TGY. The typical apple and fruit flavours of TGY are all there, but in a delicate way - I am tempted to compare it with Dancong! Lovely tea.

Not cheap for my habitual spending, but OK to take the risk buying a small amout of 150g to test with my own ware and brewing. Now into my third time, each with different teapots, tea fares well in all three: 60s Hongni, 80s Neiwailinhong and a modern Chaozhou pot.

Lovely photo and an interesting story behind that tea bok

[Victoria]

......The second first was that this TGY was processed with unfurled leaves, not the usual rolled style! Medium roasted, as the farmer told me she preferred it that way as it is quicker ready to consume and does not have to be stored for a further year or two. Guess it is the pragmatic thinking of a farmer who thinks of the space it takes to store and what can go wrong with it under the sometimes harsh mountain conditions. Fair enough!

Now to the tea: it was surprisingly fresh and subtle in the way that only truly organic tea is. Sort of not in your face good, but slowly growing on you, surprising you when you have the patience. Lovely throat feel and aftertaste. Very clean mouthfeel and none of the usual sourness that I so far associated with TGY. The typical apple and fruit flavours of TGY are all there, but in a delicate way - I am tempted to compare it with Dancong! Lovely tea.

Great story Bok, I see an OTTI coming out of this . Would be nice to do one again. Curious, the farmer is saying the medium roast doesn’t need to be stored versus say -a heavy roast that can benefit from a resting period to mellow out the roast, or? I have a lightly roasted bug bitten oolong that is better after one year or more. Also, I was not aware there were so few female tea farmers in Taiwan, glad you found one that prepares a tea you enjoy.

[Bok]

Great story Bok, I see an OTTI coming out of this . Would be nice to do one again. Curious, the farmer is saying the medium roast doesn’t need to be stored versus say -a heavy roast that can benefit from a resting period to mellow out the roast, or? I have a lightly roasted bug bitten oolong that is better after one year or more. Also, I was not aware there were so few female tea farmers in Taiwan, glad you found one that prepares a tea you enjoy.

Cheers!

There might be coming more, she had more teas I did not try. Will be back with more time at hand.

About the roast, I also was under the impression and my experience also confirms it, that a little rest never does harm to roasted teas. I think her teas are ready to be drunk as it, I did not notice any traces of fire in it, as the Taiwanese call it. I am sure it will become better if put in a clay jar for a few weeks or months.

Yep, sadly she is the first ever female farmer/owner I have come across. Teashop owners more often, as a mater of fact a local Taipei Tea celebrity is a very knowledgeable lady with impeccable taste. So good, she now opened a second shop in Kyoto, which is not an easy feat for tea related things.

[Victoria]

.....I was not aware there were so few female tea farmers in Taiwan, glad you found one that prepares a tea you enjoy.

Yep, sadly she is the first ever female farmer/owner I have come across. Teashop owners more often, as a mater of fact a local Taipei Tea celebrity is a very knowledgeable lady with impeccable taste. So good, she now opened a second shop in Kyoto, which is not an easy feat for tea related things.

Interesting Bok. Some of my favorite oolong vendors (curators really) outside of Taiwan are women; Shiuwen at Floating Leaves, Elena at Te Company, Theresa at T Shop, Kwon Ying at Die Kunst Des Tees. Then there is Imen at Tea Habitat for DanCong though.

[Bok]

Interesting Bok. Some of my favorite oolong vendors (curators really) outside of Taiwan are women; Shiuwen at Floating Leaves, Elena at Te Company, Theresa at T Shop, Kwon Ying at Die Kunst Des Tees. Then there is Imen at Tea Habitat for DanCong though.

Slight off-topic: Asia is still very much a backwater in terms of emancipation...
Taiwan has a lot of women in the workforce, working very hard not to be dependent on any man, be it husband or else. Buying and selling tea seems to be a manly thing for some reason. Whenever I buy tea, most customers are male, strange indeed! Maye related to the way tea is consumed traditionally, more like European men sitting in a pub, having a beer and chat, here men sit in front of the house, brewing tea with their friends, having a chat, nibbling snacks and smoking. That is the very local style.

The kind of fancy tea house with beautiful tea ware and atmosphere is pretty much concentrated in a few places in the North of Taiwan. The rest of the country is more down to earth and a daily habit without fuss, like talking a walk...

[chofmann]

Interesting Bok. Some of my favorite oolong vendors (curators really) outside of Taiwan are women; Shiuwen at Floating Leaves, Elena at Te Company, Theresa at T Shop, Kwon Ying at Die Kunst Des Tees. Then there is Imen at Tea Habitat for DanCong though.

Don't forget Michelle at Leafy Green

[d.manuk]

I’m having semi wild Baozhong from Tea Masters. In my 3 years of heavy tea drinking, it’s my first oolong I bought more than 100 grams of because I liked it so much (though I would buy more of the DYL Ethan sent me if it were available). Most teas I sample and like end up being sold out by the time I’m ready to place a bigger order.

I brewed the Baozhong so well this session. Light floral, light fruitiness that hasn’t appeared in other sessions with it, very nice aroma. I'm having a lot of fun experimenting different ways of brewing this tea and adjusting the next next day's session based on my previous notes.

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[Victoria]

I’m having semi wild Baozhong from Tea Masters. In my 3 years of heavy tea drinking, it’s my first oolong I bought more than 100 grams of because I liked it so much (though I would buy more of the DYL Ethan sent me if it were available). Most teas I sample and like end up being sold out by the time I’m ready to place a bigger order.

I brewed the Baozhong so well this session. Light floral, light fruitiness that hasn’t appeared in other sessions with it, very nice aroma. I'm having a lot of fun experimenting different ways of brewing this tea and adjusting the next next day's session based on my previous notes.

Yeah, its fun to explore different brewing parameters with oolong, its pretty flexible really. More leaf/less time steeping, less leaf/more time steeping. We could make a proportional graphic curve. Curious if you have tried Floating Leaves Baozhong? It's one of Shiuwen's specialties. The semi-wild though from TeaMasters sounds really good.

[Victoria]

Really enjoying medium charcoal roast LCSX (LaoCongShuiXian) from Wuyi Origin. Smoky notes with sweet camphor on wet leaf. Mahogany liquor is rich and expansive with a malty smooth and viscous stone fruit mineral profile. Warming in the throat too. 80 year old laocong (old bush). Thanks @pedant for sharing with me. Which other oolong from Cindy would you recommend?

Steeped 5gr leaf in Early 90s Qing Shui Ni 80ml shuiping from Origin. More leaf would work well also, but am down to only 5 more grams sooo. Didn’t use a pitcher, instead placed all the liquor into Taisuke Shiraiwa’s tea bowl. I like the simplicity of that.

LCSX Wuyi Origin_QingShuiNi_Taisuke Shiraiwa L1010220.jpg (605.33 KiB) Viewed 9102 times