Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

Last of the 3 days that I sold retail this season. Refused spots at a couple of events this year, I felt rejected; however, I realize now that is better than feeling dejected & losing $ paying a lot for space. Online sales not only have people spending most of their $ at home, the computer psychology effects their on-the-spot thinking--negatively. Sampling teas that are not listed in categories or by price, is too much for them. Anyway, the most popular of what I allowed people to taste was the green tea & the 50% oxidized TGY I talked about yesterday, but what they bought was dong ding teabags & lemongrass/pandamus (which they could not taste).

I'm dejected because I expect to sell to vendors who have bought jade & ceramics from me for years & recently tea, but because they sold almost nothing, they bought almost nothing. Picking my spirits up now w/ some Father's Love 2014. I really cannot identify the depths of this tea. It is not clearly featuring a background of fruit or wine; yet.... Charcoal roast & gaoshan ... a lot coming together. I'll stop writing & just enjoy. Cheers

[jayinhk]

Drinking a 2014 Vietnamese green oolong that I reroasted at 120-125C a few months ago. The reroast brought out orchid like flavors and there is a good amount of complexity (tropical fruit) that only shows up after the swallow. Definitely a vast improvement over what it was like before the roast, when it was flat, bland and pretty much unpleasant. The tea is still sour, however, and is a caffeine BOMB. I am tempted to roast at 150C for a few hours to see what I get, but I'll try that when this tea gets flat again, since I probably won't get through all of that quickly! It is probably nicer now than it was when fresh and green!

[ethan]

Back to the 50% oxidized, med. roasted TGY: Keeping the bonavita on 85C & using the timing feature, I strictly prepared infusions of 20, 20, 30, & 45 seconds. The flavor of green oolong remained through the infusions along w/ the flavor of charcoal roast (which got stronger through the rounds). Drinking this oolong is like listening to music, when one hears bass out of one speaker & treble out of the other--together but distinct. I hope I can remain disciplined & not play w/ the parameters. This is the best timing; moreover, I don't need to measure the rolled tea, just cover the bottom of my yixing pot & I am fine.

[john.b]

I just tried an unusual tea, a Farmerleaf vendor version of Oriental Beauty from Jing Mai (Yunnan). It was really more like a lightly oxidized black tea than a more-oxidized oolong but it sort of fell into that grey area where marketing could identify it as either. In other words, it was a boundary problem case, so calling it oolong sort of works as well as anything else.

The tea was nice. It made more sense to me as a novel version of a black tea (a Dian Hong) than as a Chinese Assamica-based version of an Oriental Beauty, but it sort of was both (a separate boundary problem issue, stylistic versus related to oxidation level).

It was sweet and a bit fruity, with some spice, but without the close match of those mapping onto Taiwanese oolong aspects: muscatel, spice, citrus, etc. The back-story was what one would expect, about tea producers from Taiwan moving into producing teas in Yunnan, eventually leading to this hybrid style. It seemed the type of tea someone could absolutely love because of personal preferences matching up and through appreciating the novelty or hating because they wanted it to map back to other expectations instead. The quality was good, but black teas in general aren't typically overwhelmingly refined and sophisticated, and people could go either way related to OB, although in general those are popular.

Here's more of all that in the more detailed review:

http://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.co ... ental.html

[kyarazen]

having a "purist" Ban Tian Yao whilst writing a wuyi yancha article right now...

[jayinhk]

2000s high fire shuixian from an old Hong Kong vendor in a new neiziwaihong pot. Like a high fire shuixian espresso. This tea is very mild and doesn't have much origin character left, but it is easy on the tummy and has good energy.

Oolong two: a good green Anxi tieguanyin. I can't stand cheap green TGY, but this stuff is really quite nice (and the price is fair for this quality). I get character from this stuff I've had from premium shuixian--date, almond and fig sweetness. A touch of milk in one of the infusions as well. Classic TGY flavor and floral notes in the first few infusions, as well as some vegetal notes in the first infusion. This is the dealer's second best grade, so I can't wait to try the good stuff (that costs twice as much)! It's nice drinking an Anxi TGY that is actually pleasant to drink!

[ethan]

Woke up early & made Wang's donfang meiren oriental beauty using leaves used for 2 infusions about 36 hours ago. No problem, same sweet flavors: subtle fruit, mild spice, slight hint of maltiness. Today I am enjoying the sweet aftertaste lingering as I returned to bed but not to sleep.

[jayinhk]

Drinking Chen's Spring Fushoushan with Pierval (French spring water) in modern zhuni. This tea has mellowed out significantly with time and a little air exchange; much more complexity and fruit now. I suppose I should have let some breathe in a caddy before trying it earlier this year, but I am really enjoying this gongfu session and the tea has great longevity. Lots of fruit flavors now and lots of flavor to give. I'm five or six infusions in at full boil and I expect the tea to give me several more. It appears both teas (the FSS and the Dongding) needed some time to rest to be where I wanted them--both are a real pleasure to drink now!

[jayinhk]

Drinking a reasonably priced 2015 Tieluohan from a dealer in Southern Fujian. Not a bad tea--charcoal roasted to a medium level and subtle huigan that goes on forever. Flavor is decent, but the strong calming feeling from this tea and the excellent huigan are where it excels. Really not bad.

[hopeofdawn]

Am on the second brew of a Family Heritage Charcoal Roasted oolong from Taiwanteacrafts. I do love this tea--it's an easy brewer, but still has a lot of nuance and flavor, and can last a long time.

Ethan, a question for you--I've brewed your Father's Love 2011 a couple of times now, but I'm afraid I'm not getting any of the nuances you talked about. All I can really taste is the roast--it's a nice smooth roast, reminiscent of hojicha, but usually I expect a bit more subtle notes in Taiwanese oolongs. I've brewed it anywhere from 175-190 degrees F, for multiple steeps--any recommendations on how to pull the best out of this tea?

[pedant]

I've brewed it anywhere from 175-190 degrees F, for multiple steeps--any recommendations on how to pull the best out of this tea?

i've only brewed it at 200°F+ (short steeps), and i enjoyed the result

[jayinhk]

I would give full boil a shot ^

[hopeofdawn]

I would give full boil a shot ^

Ok--I usually don't do that for oolongs until I'm getting to 4+ brews, but I'll give it a shot!

[jayinhk]

I would give full boil a shot ^

Ok--I usually don't do that for oolongs until I'm getting to 4+ brews, but I'll give it a shot!

I do that with all oolongs for every infusion. If they get too bitter, then either my infusions are too long or the tea is crappy, IMO.

[Bok]

I would give full boil a shot ^

Ok--I usually don't do that for oolongs until I'm getting to 4+ brews, but I'll give it a shot!

I do that with all oolongs for every infusion. If they get too bitter, then either my infusions are too long or the tea is crappy, IMO.

I second that, Taiwanese rolled oolong needs heat! Classical mistake to keep the water temperature too low.