TeaChat

Trying Five Star's Yunnan Golden Buds. Good stuff—savory and a little malty with a slight spicy flavor.


Yunnan Golden Buds by AndrewJAT, on Flickr


Yunnan Golden Buds 2 by AndrewJAT, on Flickr

Foshou Mao Feng from Imperial Teas.

Sun Moon Lake Black Tea [Red Jade] is what the plain brown packet says

no supplier info, this has to be a free sample inclusion in a order from http://www.lifeinteacup.com/red-tea

tho they be out of stock of this varietal

this is so not-typical-Taiwan, i likes me a Sun Moon Lake session

Alishan Mi Xian Black Tea, Lot 229

from http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/ ... a-lot-229/

real honey aroma, this is apparently a 'beauty' tea, ie bug-bitten

excellent

Alishan Mi Xian Black Tea, Lot 229

I really like this one. Have you found a way to brew it that you feel brings out the best flavor?

amaranto wrote:

Alishan Mi Xian Black Tea, Lot 229

I really like this one. Have you found a way to brew it that you feel brings out the best flavor?

i like this one too .. my first [and still favorite] good black was SunMoonLake from EoT, im broadening my horizons a bit tho, when i see other taiwan-blacks i wanna try em

i give it a rinse, let it rest a bit, then short steeps in close-to boiling, but i aint got enough to really experiment much + i tend to go by feeling ..

and actually ive bin rough-estimating the amount for my 200ml yixing .. next time i shall weigh, i keep forgetting i just got a AWS scale

i give it a rinse, let it rest a bit, then short steeps in close-to boiling, but i aint got enough to really experiment much + i tend to go by feeling ..

I had been piling in the leaf and steeping for a while because I happened to try it this way the first time and liked it. It seems like all of the black teas from Taiwan that I've tried do fine with quite a bit of leaf and a long steep. I may try it your way to see what the difference is. I had been afraid to lower the time because I thought it might take some flavor away.

amaranto wrote:

I had been piling in the leaf and steeping for a while because I happened to try it this way the first time and liked it. It seems like all of the black teas from Taiwan that I've tried do fine with quite a bit of leaf and a long steep. I may try it your way to see what the difference is. I had been afraid to lower the time because I thought it might take some flavor away.

ha, since reading this i bin feeling that longer steeps could work better.

:: tho the pre-rinse is definitely a good idea ::

otherwise there are no rules, only what works best for you

Taiwan Sun-Moon Lake Black Tea, Small-leaf cultivar, MOA certified organic apparently Spring 2012 (out of stock)

from http://www.lifeinteacup.com/red-tea ... guess i got the last bag

wish i had some EoT Sun-Moon Lake to compare this with

and i think this wants longer steeps

I have been enjoying some Lover's Leap OP from Capital Tea, while at work, for the past few days. A very nice tea -- mellow, smooth, with hints of citrus / menthol. This, in spite of the fact that I have little control over the infusions while at work.

http://www.capitaltea.com/shop/product. ... t=3&page=1

Best wishes,
sherubtse

Finishing off the last infusions of 'Red of Four Seasons' from Easy Tea Hard Choice. Brewed in what's become my normal style for reds lately, a packed 50ml yixing with flash infusions.

My first impression on smelling the dry leaves was dark and very minty, and the first few brews agreed. I've gotten the odd hints of mint from Taiwanese reds before, but this tea is upfront minty for the first half a dozen or so infusions, which is a nice surprise. I took a nice deep breath after these infusions through the mouth, and you can taste/feel the mintiness on the breath. The tea is also darker than other Taiwanese reds I've had before, but remains smooth and coats the back of my throat with a nice lingering thickness. The tea remains fruity over the infusions, with lighter fruits as the brews go on. Two other interesting fragrances included a few infusions of baked rye bread, and one infusion that reminded me of the beach.

Good stuff

It is September... oddly that brought on a craving for a Korean black tea. Morning crane tea-- Dan-cha.

Had a 1950s Chien Liang Cha (Thousand Taels Tea) last night. This is a compressed black tea from Wuhan from a sheng base. It is an interesting black tea done in Puer style. Traditionally they grab whaever raw material (tea leaves) and pan fried them and then compressed them in a tree trunk shape without any piling or fermentation process. The later batches, (as usual based on profit generation and market demand) are piled and gone through fermentation process which is undesirable. Both can be recognised by tasting them.

In Hong Kong, there are some 80s available but it is at bank account breaker price.
This piece is from the 1950s and collected by my teamaster.

We brewed this tea occasionally to enjoy it, afterall, why collect if we don't drink. Usually we brewed it by itself or with aged mandarin peel. Yesterday we brewed it with agarwood.

The taste is smooth and flavourful but the aroma is fading off. The agarwood helped to prop it up. The Qi and spirit of such old tea is mesmerising, often we can feel the fine hair behind the neck stand up.

Well just to share this experience. Cheers!

Attached is the photo of the tea leaves after half an hour of refreshing. The leaves is still dark greenish and reddish tint in colour. Also attached is the photo of the brew.

Teaism wrote: We brewed this tea occasionally to enjoy it, afterall, why collect if we don't drink.

+1

Afternoon Lapsang Souchong from Tongmu village. Washing down nicely Guangdong style black pepper beef .