Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[j.p.rich]

2003 Red Scholar Yancha from Origin. Nice session though the roast is a bit higher than is my preference. Good mouthfeel with some chocolate in the aftertaste. Wish the durability was a bit better, there were only about 3 or 4 "money" steeps here.

[Tead Off]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

with a pot full of leaves, in theory there would be a limitation to how much the leaves can expand, if the leaves have no space to expand, water cannot enter the leaves much, it limits the amount of tea substances dissolved.

since the leaf i used was of the shuixian cultivar, made the "dancong" way, most of the leaves are whole, a bit of crushing in the core creates some space for leaf expansion, and the crushed bits will add weight to the body

Works well. Some of the teashops here in BKK, owned by Chao Zhou people, will put some crushed leaves into the package when you buy the tea. I remember the first time this happened. I thought the woman was trying to pull something on me. She said with a twinkle in her eye that this will make the tea better.

I've heard various percentages of broken leaf to whole leaf for optimal brewing. What is your take? I like the idea of crushing in the core if you've got mostly whole leaf. Buying tea with leaves already broken can lead to bitterness.

[kyarazen]

Works well. Some of the teashops here in BKK, owned by Chao Zhou people, will put some crushed leaves into the package when you buy the tea. I remember the first time this happened. I thought the woman was trying to pull something on me. She said with a twinkle in her eye that this will make the tea better.

I've heard various percentages of broken leaf to whole leaf for optimal brewing. What is your take? I like the idea of crushing in the core if you've got mostly whole leaf. Buying tea with leaves already broken can lead to bitterness.

it is a "mixed" debate from what I have observed.
some prefer crushing in the core when they buy premium teas mostly filled with whole leaves, whilst others may prefer the already broken ones.

the difference lies in that the premium tea, when crushed, exposes the insides of the leaves which has not experienced the direct effects of "roasting". originally broken bits during processing, when the whole pile of tea is roasted, the edges of the crushed bits experience direct effects of roasting.

i may like the latter if its very well stored, i.e. under 3-4% water, if not the broken bits go stale much faster than the full leaf

the amount of crushing depends on one's preference and experience with a particular tea and the taste requirement, together with the tea's age. if the leaves are really big, fragrant, the body is mild, crush more, if the tea is aged, it tends to be a bit mellow, crush more. if the tea is brash, very heavy body/mineral notes, crush less. the overall understanding of this process together with its successful application forms part of the "gongfu"/skillfulness in gongfucha.

[bonescwa]

Kinda like crushing something else to get a better effect

[ethan]

I am usually disappointed w/ results of gongfu; so, perhaps adding crushing to the routine will help. I am grateful for the discussion here.

[ethan]

2014 LiShan from Mountain Tea: I misplaced my notebood w/ my notes on tea; unfortunately, it probably would have told me not to order this. This is extremely vegetal which I don't like. My faulty memory told me it was okay for the price. I have some memory of good LiShan which is probably totally due to small amounts of a few LiShans from Origin Tea (Tony, reopen).
Anyway, today this LiShan is extremely vegetal. The leaves are pretty: big bright green. I will use less leaf & time; experiment; etc. hoping to coax some sweet & floral flavors out of this, but I think my memory misled me. If anyone getting this MT LiShan wants more, I am up for a trade.

[Tead Off]

I am usually disappointed w/ results of gongfu; so, perhaps adding crushing to the routine will help. I am grateful for the discussion here.

You need a small teapot to prepare gongfu style. If the leaves already contain some broken pieces, further breaking is not recommended. Fill the teapot completely with leaf. Take your index finger and press in the middle all the way down to the bottom of the pot. You will feel the leaves crush. Quick brews. Of course, this is no guarantee of liking what you brew. It helps to have good quality tea, whole leaves. Kyarazen's method works quite well for roasted oolongs, yancha and dancong. Teas with long leaves.

[Jaymo]

I just got my new Petr Novak pot in the mail yesterday from Klasek Tea in CZ, and he sent a sample of their Four Seasons oolong, so I figured I might as well brew that as the inaugural batch. It's quite floral and has a very distinct jasmine flavor to it. After this first infusion into a pair of these cups for my wife & I, I've just been going from the pot into a larger mug for myself. (I normally only brew gongfu style for my puerh anyway. I enjoy larger cups/mugs of oolong, so this is a nice sized pot for that.)

[puerhking]

2013 Premium AA Da Hong Pao from Yunnan Sourcing. Did not like this tea for the longest time. Left the package open for about a year and what do you know....major improvement. The roast has subsided and a mineral dominate flavor has taken its place. Virtually no floral notes in this tea, which is a welcome change. Quite tasty now.

[kyarazen]

having some muzha TGY now. had some left sealed in a mylar pouch.. just dug it out.. hmm.. not too bad

[ethan]

Thanks to Poseidon running the group purchase, I again have some Imperial Pearl from Mountain Tea after thinking about it for so long. I like this tea's pleasant tartness. I brewed Western style.

Tomorrow I am going to try this tea again using advice given here for gongfu preparation.

[Poseidon]

Thanks to Poseidon running the group purchase, I again have some Imperial Pearl from Mountain Tea after thinking about it for so long. I like this tea's pleasant tartness. I brewed Western style.

Tomorrow I am going to try this tea again using advice given here for gongfu preparation.

No problem man! Let me know how you liked that Pu sample!

[chrl42]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

Read his blog post on ChouZhao gongfu. Its just crushing the leaves in the center with your index finger

I wonder late-Qing Gongfu SPs' extremely long lid 'teeth' (or wall) is whether to help crushing the leaves in the center..I do know another reason is to prevent from easily falling from the body (the lid).

It's amazing how old drinkers were so picky about drinking tea and teapot

[William]

It's amazing how old drinkers were so picky about drinking tea and teapot

We are still picky!

[kyarazen]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

Read his blog post on ChouZhao gongfu. Its just crushing the leaves in the center with your index finger

I wonder late-Qing Gongfu SPs' extremely long lid 'teeth' (or wall) is whether to help crushing the leaves in the center..I do know another reason is to prevent from easily falling from the body (the lid).

It's amazing how old drinkers were so picky about drinking tea and teapot

i had thought of it before and may have kinda figured it out.
a very tall pot does not benefit gongfu brewing as the leaves are free to swell to as high as they like. however by having an extremely long lid "teeth", one will still be able to "restrict" the cha-dan from swelling and over-absorbing water, giving the brewer control