Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

Owes its flavors to oxidation levels between green & black tea.


Jul 22nd, '16, 16:51
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by ethan » Jul 22nd, '16, 16:51

from Taiwan organic oolong from Mt. A-lie (Alishan) 1600 meters high: This is fresh, fresh, fresh, green taste w/o anything detracting; yet, not for me. I know this is what so many want from gaoshan.

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Jul 22nd, '16, 19:13
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Jul 22nd, '16, 19:13

victoria3 wrote:
jayinhk wrote:JKTeashop's 2014 Medium Roast Bai Ji Guan. Lovely flavor, but quite mild. Brewing in my 65ml hongni F1 pot from EoT. Still using water from the Italian Alps. Tied for my favorite water along with a lesser-known brand from the French Alps. Both work out to $1.30 a quart, so not too expensive and worth it for the great tea sessions I've had with them.
We are lucky here in Santa Monica to have good water only needing slight filtering as a backup. I'm going back east to Chesapeake Bay in a week and now remember my mother's house has ground water that uses a reverse osmosis system. It kills tea, amazingly bad results. So now I too will have to purchase bottled water. In the past nothing tasted right so I just stuck to medium grade oolongs. Let's see if I can find good bottled water this time.
If your 'slight filtering' involves carbon, I'd give good spring water a try vs. your local water. Our water here is pretty soft, but filtering through a Brita makes it totally unsuitable for tea. RO water makes for an even lighter cup!

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Jul 23rd, '16, 22:37
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by debunix » Jul 23rd, '16, 22:37

Serially drinking Milk Oolong from Bird Pick Tea grandpa style--3 larger chawans with the Milk Oolong leaves, adding hot water to 1 or 2 at once; diluting one with cool water and drinking, and then repeating, round and round we go on a hot afternoon & evening.

Mellow, sweet, caramel-delicious....

Image160723 Serial brewing Milk Oolong _DEB6788 ppd by D B, on Flickr

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Jul 24th, '16, 22:16
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by victoria3 » Jul 24th, '16, 22:16

Oh, I like your form of serial drinking in various tea bowls.
Today I had back to back LiShan sessions, one from Norbu the other Floating Leaves. Both are stellar. I will reorder oolong from both vendors. Norbu's LiShan is a medium light roast and musky/ floral, whereas Floating Leaves LiShan is a much lighter roast, very sweet and buttery with a long lingering palate.
Last edited by victoria3 on Jul 24th, '16, 23:13, edited 1 time in total.

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Jul 24th, '16, 23:00
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by victoria3 » Jul 24th, '16, 23:00

Continuing with my add it to oolong experiments: Finding Rosebuds in my cabinet I figured this would pair perfectly with Bird Picks LuGu Oolong which is lightly oxidized, very delicate, and a slightly sweet oolong. LuGu steeps more quickly, so I recommend separating the oolong from the rose buds in the pot into two halves, then after each steep add the rosebuds into your cup to continue steeping the buds and benefit from the aroma more fully. Then put the rosebuds back into the pot for each subsequent steep. Be careful though how many Rosebuds you use because they act as a purgative and a diuretic. Thorns in there rose bush. A delightfully delicate aromatic experience, upping the ante on a medium quality tea. Imperfection leaving room for new things.
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Jul 25th, '16, 17:42
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by victoria3 » Jul 25th, '16, 17:42

Thinking about why roses are considered as quintessentially British as English tea and a gin and tonic. In fact Tea Roses (tea-scented China roses), were introduced from Canton to England at the end of the eighteenth century via the East India Trading Company along with plenty of tea. The aroma of the leaf was associated with Chinese Black tea.

I started the day with a very very fragrant Bai Hao Oolong from Floating Leaves. Intoxicatingly fragrant and chestnuty. This one steeps 13 times or more.

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Jul 25th, '16, 21:40
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Jul 25th, '16, 21:40

Back in 98 or 99, I was at a mall in Shenzhen, learning how to brew gongfu style for the first time. We bought some green tea and rose buds. We were told the rosebuds would help with weight loss. If they serve as a purgative/diuretic, the weight loss claim certainly makes sense then!

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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by Bok » Jul 25th, '16, 22:11

Don’t know about the rose buds… if a tea is that bad that rose buds make it better, I’d rather throw away the tea straight away… :mrgreen:
Had a roommate which “enhanced” the tea I gave her with rose buds as well – that was the last time I gave her tea.

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Jul 26th, '16, 00:07
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Jul 26th, '16, 00:07

Bok wrote:Don’t know about the rose buds… if a tea is that bad that rose buds make it better, I’d rather throw away the tea straight away… :mrgreen:
Had a roommate which “enhanced” the tea I gave her with rose buds as well – that was the last time I gave her tea.
Adding herbs to tea is an old practice...I'm sure there are people in HK who add dried orange peel to fifty-year-old pu erh!

Jul 26th, '16, 00:38
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by Bok » Jul 26th, '16, 00:38

jayinhk wrote: Adding herbs to tea is an old practice...I'm sure there are people in HK who add dried orange peel to fifty-year-old pu erh!
No doubt about that, but old practise does not necessarily mean good practise :lol:

Why is it that people in England added sugar and milk to their tea – because it was otherwise undrinkable!
Long transport routes on ships, camels whatever, dust on the road – I do not want to know how those teas back in the days must have smelled! On the other tea in England is still pretty awful…

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Jul 26th, '16, 00:48
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by jayinhk » Jul 26th, '16, 00:48

Agree, and I was thinking the rose thing with black tea in England was done to cover up the taste of inferior/adulterated tea. I don't like to add anything to my tea either, and even the pu erh stuffed tangerines are pretty nasty to me.

England does get much of the best Indian tea, however, so it's not all crap. In India, the majority of the tea consumed is CTC/tea dust, however, and brewed up strong with lots of milk and LOTS of sugar. In Mumbai, people drink half a small cup of very strong tea several times a day for their fix.
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Jul 26th, '16, 01:16
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by kyarazen » Jul 26th, '16, 01:16

Bok wrote: No doubt about that, but old practise does not necessarily mean good practise :lol:

Why is it that people in England added sugar and milk to their tea – because it was otherwise undrinkable!
Long transport routes on ships, camels whatever, dust on the road – I do not want to know how those teas back in the days must have smelled! On the other tea in England is still pretty awful…
heavy roasted oolong brewed into an "tea-spresso" and dunked into 70% full cream milk.. is delicious!

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Jul 26th, '16, 13:15
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by victoria3 » Jul 26th, '16, 13:15

kyarazen wrote:
Bok wrote: No doubt about that, but old practise does not necessarily mean good practise :lol:

Why is it that people in England added sugar and milk to their tea – because it was otherwise undrinkable!
Long transport routes on ships, camels whatever, dust on the road – I do not want to know how those teas back in the days must have smelled! On the other tea in England is still pretty awful…
heavy roasted oolong brewed into an "tea-spresso" and dunked into 70% full cream milk.. is delicious!
Sound interesting! From what I understand fermented mares milk was added to tea within the Imperial Courts in China and British aristocrats were emulating this practice by adding milk.

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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by daidokorocha » Jul 26th, '16, 14:22

victoria3 wrote:
kyarazen wrote:
Bok wrote: No doubt about that, but old practise does not necessarily mean good practise :lol:

Why is it that people in England added sugar and milk to their tea – because it was otherwise undrinkable!
Long transport routes on ships, camels whatever, dust on the road – I do not want to know how those teas back in the days must have smelled! On the other tea in England is still pretty awful…
heavy roasted oolong brewed into an "tea-spresso" and dunked into 70% full cream milk.. is delicious!
Sound interesting! From what I understand fermented mares milk was added to tea within the Imperial Courts in China and British aristocrats were emulating this practice by adding milk.
While one can certainly say that fermented mares milk was added to tea within the Imperial Court, I feel that this statement should be stretched just a little bit to include the fact that this happened underneath rule by the people of the steppes. In the case of England, they would have gotten it from the Jurchens/Manchus that ruled during the Qing. The Mongolians before them also drank this in the same way. It is part of the steppe people's culture. Han courts never did such a thing.

Personally, I like milk in my tea. Kyarazen's tea-spresso sounds great. In Japan, everywhere you go you have "matcha milk" powder, actual milk flavored with matcha, matcha dairy products such as ice cream, matcha lattes, and the list goes on. I am not opposed to bubble tea, milk tea, thai tea, or any other form of tea. Frankly, it can be quite delicious.

Victoria, I like your idea of blending the roses. I have some nice rose buds around that I blend with other herbs from time to time, though I haven't really with tea. I do like it with tea though, and I do not feel that you're wasting tea by doing it. If you do it properly, it is a complement, not an additive to overshadow poor quality tea. There is nothing wrong with blending tea with herbs in my opinion.

Yesterday I received the package from Chen. I opened it and set it aside in tins. I typically wait a little to sample tea, but I feel anxious to dig in and I will have my first session today.

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Jul 26th, '16, 20:03
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Re: Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

by victoria3 » Jul 26th, '16, 20:03

Yes, I too consider 'adding' to a mid-grade oolong can act as a compliment to an already favorable experience. I enjoy several mid-grade oolongs from Bird Pick for easy travel in a mug, and especially when I'm working in places with new unknown types of water. I also like the idea that I can occasionally tweak and push certain flavors. With a high quality top shelf oolong I wouldn't add anything, as I wouldn't make sangria out of a 900$ bottle of wine, or a mojito out of 100 year old rhum (which I have had from Martinique, deliciously smooth like aged Port)....

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