Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[jayinhk]

Ethan, I'd get through that baozhong before the year is up, ideally--the aroma and flavor drop off fast if it's a green one.

[ethan]

Ethan, I'd get through that baozhong before the year is up, ideally--the aroma and flavor drop off fast if it's a green one.

It's green, I think about 10% oxidized.

Thanks for advice Jay. I am drinking it often, think I won't stop having it everyday. Really easy to enjoy often & in quantity; however, I will need to sell some. I will try keeping one pack in frig to see if I can keep it a bit longer than 2 months. If you remember when we were together in January I tried several w/o liking any at all. This one is really great, maybe combination of better year, source, & timing.

[jayinhk]

Ethan, I'd get through that baozhong before the year is up, ideally--the aroma and flavor drop off fast if it's a green one.

It's green, I think about 10% oxidized.

Thanks for advice Jay. I am drinking it often, think I won't stop having it everyday. Really easy to enjoy often & in quantity; however, I will need to sell some. I will try keeping one pack in frig to see if I can keep it a bit longer than 2 months. If you remember when we were together in January I tried several w/o liking any at all. This one is really great, maybe combination of better year, source, & timing.

Could just be fresher--we were over there in January so the tea had been sitting a while! I thought the baozhong we had in Pinglin was decent, actually. Would be interesting to see how what you picked up this time compares.

[ethan]

jay, For me the boazhong in Pinglin was boring. I was w/ an old French lady who liked it & bought some. It was the tea that was presented first because the harvest of leaves for Oriental Beauty was smaller & more of those leaves are being used for black tea than before. What's funny is that it is not so far to Wenshan from Maokong, but boazhong is not offered there; while it is in Pinglin which offers the o.b. which mostly comes from Hsinchu (which I will visit in December though told there are vendors waiting to sell as they are in Pinglin).

Long story short, try & try so if it is good you know to buy.

[ethan]

Correction: In Hsinchu there are NOT vendors selling oriental beauty all over town, is what I have been told


[quote="ethan"the o.b. which mostly comes from Hsinchu (which I will visit in December though told there are vendors waiting to sell as they are in Pinglin).-- WRONg

While I am here & awake after 2 hours not 7 as I would hope (jet-lag bad this time); I'll talk about the Boazhong I am drinking.

The dry pearls are small & light. The leaves, as one might expect, expand a lot from infusions but still impress one w/ how smaller they are than leaves from the TGY, Pu, etc. that I've been drinking lately. The stems are thin & delicate, hardly noticeable. I did not weigh what I put into the gaiwan, just covered the bottom of my gaiwan for 3 excellent flavorful infusions. Pushing out a 4th that's only okay, w/ most flavors so thin one feels the sweetness mostly. For 3 1/2 oz. of water i guess I used < 2 grams.

I said somewhere that this liquor is floral but that is not true for me tonight. Description seems difficult. Reminds me of when a host gets praise for his cooking by guests who ask what he flavored his dish with. Perhaps he used a tablespoon of sugar to coax out flavor from his main ingredients & as a balance to some spices; &, no guest had thought "there is sugar added to this" or "this is overly sweet". Yet, when the guests hear sugar was used, they are slightly dismayed.

I feel like I should not try to dissect this superior boazhong's character. The sum is greater than the total of its parts.

[ethan]

From Dr Chen & family of Tainan, Taiwan , organic 2011 Father's Love:

Had some disappointment w/ this tea yesterday being very good but not all that it was in Taiwan. I had just opened the vacuum pack & perhaps the leaves need to rest in a ceramic caddy to open up & recover from air travel.

Had 4 infusions playing w/ temp from 85C to 88C & timing. The flavor of roast was effected by the aging, but I missed what distinguishes this tea, a combination of oxidation & roasting etc.

Now about 12 hours later in fairly cold bedroom I was about to dispose of those leaves which I "should" have tossed out yesterday but decided to up temp to 91C & give a couple of minutes of steeping a try. Really quite good w/ tang of mint taste in the charcoal roast flavor. Still not getting all this has to offer but the pack will be emptied into ceramic & I will get there.

Next time I think I will put tiny yixing pots to work because this tea is too expensive to use too much finding my ideal parameters.

[victoria3]

Floating Leaves ShanLiXi oolong tonight, from Long Feng Xia area,+- 1600 meters. I found this very easy to brew; smooth and rich from the 1st steep. It has a stone like mineral content and strong salivation with long lasting lingering palate. Buttery sweet notes came out after the 2nd steep, although not as buttery as her Spring LiShan. Even so, this oolong is super rich and smooth! The small wet leaves are a beautiful bright green. I really am enjoying it, now into 6th steep and each one has delivered a very smooth and rich golden liquor.



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[jayinhk]

From Dr Chen & family of Tainan, Taiwan , organic 2011 Father's Love:

Had some disappointment w/ this tea yesterday being very good but not all that it was in Taiwan. I had just opened the vacuum pack & perhaps the leaves need to rest in a ceramic caddy to open up & recover from air travel.

Had 4 infusions playing w/ temp from 85C to 88C & timing. The flavor of roast was effected by the aging, but I missed what distinguishes this tea, a combination of oxidation & roasting etc.

Now about 12 hours later in fairly cold bedroom I was about to dispose of those leaves which I "should" have tossed out yesterday but decided to up temp to 91C & give a couple of minutes of steeping a try. Really quite good w/ tang of mint taste in the charcoal roast flavor. Still not getting all this has to offer but the pack will be emptied into ceramic & I will get there.

Next time I think I will put tiny yixing pots to work because this tea is too expensive to use too much finding my ideal parameters.

I usually let teas rest a week after they come in for best results. Also you water temperature is much cooler than I'd use for that kind of oolong...I boil water to 100+ degrees (whatever it takes for a full rolling boil) and then once the bubbling stops (still 100 degrees, approx) I get my brew on.

[ethan]

Thanks, Jay. 98C is bringing out discernible sweetness of the leaves which are 70% oxidized which now also offer some body. This is much closer to what I want & expect. Will fill pot 1/5 - 1/4 w/ leaves next session & think I will be where I want to be. I take notes for my own preparations but should take notes when vendors prepare tea. Usually, they bring their kettles to a full boil then wait until water is how they want it. I should have written how long a wait for each tea.

For amount of leaf used for this session, I should have steeped longer. Best drink was the combined infusions. Feel mild cha-qi. Nice. Good aftertaste.

[jayinhk]

Thanks, Jay. 98C is bringing out discernible sweetness of the leaves which are 70% oxidized which now also offer some body. This is much closer to what I want & expect. Will fill pot 1/5 - 1/4 w/ leaves next session & think I will be where I want to be. I take notes for my own preparations but should take notes when vendors prepare tea. Usually, they bring their kettles to a full boil then wait until water is how they want it. I should have written how long a wait for each tea.

For amount of leaf used for this session, I should have steeped longer. Best drink was the combined infusions. Feel mild cha-qi. Nice. Good aftertaste.

Try filling your pot to 1/4 or 1/3 full...that's how I like to brew! With high fire tieguanyin I go 1/2 full since the leaves don't expand as much. Drinking three-to-four-year-old Hong Kong charcoal-roasted tieguanyin in 70s neiziwaihong. Lovely!

[victoria3]

Today I enjoyed Norbu's AliShan Red Oolong. It's from a single origin farm in Dabang Village (the portion of Alishan Township reserved for Taiwan's Tsou indigenous ethnic group, +1,200mt.). This is a dark oxidized oolong, that is wonderfully aromatic; sweet, musky, with a slight camphor scent. The deep amber liquor carries those scents into full flavor through 5+steeps.

I brewed it in O-Cha's shibo that has a glazed interior and the aroma was strong coming off the wet leaves and glaze. I wonder maybe next time I'll try steeping in my Seifu Yohei porcelain kyusu, to further accentuate the aroma. It is a nicely rounded pot so this might contain aroma, swirling it around for an enhanced sensory overload. We'll see.

[jayinhk]

Drinking FSS via kyarazen's Chen. Brewing with good French mineral water. Taste is pleasant, but light; the first infusion was aromatic enough that it filled the room and someone asked why the room smelled so good!

[ethan]

Reminded by Victoria to enjoy aroma, this morning I have been sniffing deliberately. Interesting--differences in aroma of dry leaves, wet leaves, & the liquor! Sometimes the aroma takes a while to be strong; sometimes it is strong as soon as hot water hits the leaves.

What am I drinking? Awoke at 2 a.m. & made the Boazhong. First infusion was a bit too light in flavor; second was wonderful; third & fourth very good but not as good as the second. I put half of each infusion into a server as I went along; &, to my surprise the stacked liquor tasted like the second infusion. Aroma was always softer & greener than the flavor of the liquor.

Father's love (aged, 70% oxidized, slow-roasted high-mtn. Lishan) has lots of pleasing aroma quite different from dry to wet to used leaves & the liquor; &, all of that aroma is pleasant. Found my parameters for this excellent tea & also that small sips allow me to enjoy all the flavors, not only the taste of the roast.

(Jay was right, I needed hotter water & more leaf (though for me not nearly as much as he uses.) cheers

[victoria3]

Thinking a lot about aroma in my morning tea as I'm waking up, filling the lungs, awakening the senses....pondering whether to use porcelain, glass, yixing, or tokoname to accentuate more intensely aroma....

After your posts in the last few days about Baozhong I found my 3 gifts from Floating Leaves; Farmers Choice, Competition Style & Aged Baozhong.
I had already given the Farmers Choice a try a few weeks ago and steeped it poorly so didn't have great results. Today, I opened Competition Style and followed some of Jayinhk's advice about extra leaf and heat. This was very useful info, the results were much better. Thanks Jayinhk. Only issue, the 1st & 2nd steeps were the best, after that flavor tapered off pretty fast, so I think I may need to increase ratio of leaf to water and or try Ethan's stacking after 2nd steep.

1gr/1oz/crab eyes/1:45 min./2min/5min/15min/.... Rich yet elegant with clear liquor, tastes like a mellow pine forest nuanced by smooth ...long mouth feel. Sweet floral, almost buttery aroma of wet leaf and liquor. Really enjoyable 1st & 2nd steep.

[Bok]

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Thinking a lot about aroma in my morning tea as I'm waking up, filling the lungs, awakening the senses....pondering whether to use porcelain, glass, yixing, or tokoname to accentuate more intensely aroma....

After your posts in the last few days about Baozhong I found my 3 gifts from Floating Leaves; Farmers Choice, Competition Style & Aged Baozhong.
I had already given the Farmers Choice a try a few weeks ago and steeped it poorly so didn't have great results. Today, I opened Competition Style and followed some of Jayinhk's advice about extra leaf and heat. This was very useful info, the results were much better. Thanks Jayinhk. Only issue, the 1st & 2nd steeps were the best, after that flavor tapered off pretty fast, so I think I may need to increase ratio of leaf to water and or try Ethan's stacking after 2nd steep.

1gr/1oz/crab eyes/1:45 min./2min/5min/15min/.... Rich yet elegant with clear liquor, tastes like a mellow pine forest nuanced by smooth ...long mouth feel. Sweet floral, almost buttery aroma of wet leaf and liquor. Really enjoyable 1st & 2nd steep.

Baozhong doesn't usually produce too many good infusions as other oolongs would. Up to three good ones that's it. More like a Chinese green tea.