TeaChat

For the past several hours, the last of the Anxi Superfine TGY from TeaVivre, many infusions.
Love, love this tea, gorgeous floral/honeydew melon, such a full sweet mouthful. So sad it's all gone and nowhere to be found (anywhere, besides Ebay?).
Brewed w/lots of leaf, 25, 55, 75, 90, 100 sec, and so on. Mmh. Ahh. Sigh.

Sigh.
Ahhhhhhh.

2012 Dong Ding Traditional from FL

Almost without fail...when I let even moderately roasted oolongs rest for six months to a year, they improve. I liked this upon release but now it is quite a bit better. Nice round mouthfeel and the roast is in harmony with the floral and herbal notes.

2013 Taiwan Tea Crafts Spring Competition Wenshan Baozhong Tea (lot 231): http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/ ... zhong-tea/

I bought a 150 grams of this tea and I am glad I did. My only regret is that I did not order more of the Winter baozhong tea (http://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/ ... a-lot-146/) from TTC before it ran out (luckily we're not all that far out from the Winter harvest now ). This baozhong is really wonderful, amazing, complex baozhong tea. I've compared it with other high grade baozhong brought back from the World Tea Expo and it is really exquisite. It lasts for many infusions ( I typically brew to 7 solid infusions ) and has a rich and intense flavor as well as aroma.

Brew: 8 grams in a Petr Novak glazed, 150ml pot, brewed with Shacklee filtered water in a Bonavita stainless kettle at 93 deg. C, and poured into Lin's smell cups and Petr Novak glazed sipping cups.

Was in Taipei yesterday and the airline wanted to charge me $150 to break journey, so I decided to just fly on to Hong Kong. I have at least on more trip this month, so I figured I'd save my money.

I bought a sampler from these guys:

http://www.yoshantea.com/

They have won a few prizes and after checking out and sniffing all the tea in the store in the departure area of Terminal 2, I decided their tea smelled the best. The box set is two tins with 'high mountain' and 'da yu.' Both tins came with spring clips to clamp the bags inside closed after opening, and little packets of silica beads to absorb moisture, which was a nice touch.

I tried the da yu (DYL?) first and it was better than I expected and put me right to sleep. Again, not as good as the DYL I've had from Tony, which knocked my socks off...I had infusion four and five at night, and again, it put me right to sleep. Floral and fruity, but not as complex or as long lasting as the good stuff I've been fortunate to try!

I bought a sampler from these guys:

http://www.yoshantea.com/

They have won a few prizes and after checking out and sniffing all the tea in the store in the departure area of Terminal 2, I decided their tea smelled the best. The box set is two tins with 'high mountain' and 'da yu.' Both tins came with spring clips to clamp the bags inside closed after opening, and little packets of silica beads to absorb moisture, which was a nice touch.

jayinhk, good to know; I'll stop in and check in on them again next time I'm in the airport. Too bad you didn't have time to head out and gather more tea elsewhere, but at least close living in HK.

Today:
Mountain Tea Jade Wulong:

I brew this tea in Andrzej Bero 70ml red clay teapot. I've previously brewed this tea in another pot twice to see if I could get it right. This tea quickly spills its essence. In the scent cup it has a wonderful soft creamy scent that is followed a rich sugarcane sweet. In the teacup the tea has, at times, essences of seaweed and grass overlain by a mild sweet and a pronounced "full," "round," mouthfeel with a very umami/savory quality to it. The dry leaves are rolled in inconsistent sizes which makes the brewing a little more challenging, as some leaves are quickly spilling their essence while others are still unfurling. Post-pour the leaves are a little torn, jagged, often incomplete, and very soft and weak. All in all the tea is a decent, everyday, drinking tea...not exquisite, and I wouldn't buy it again. Though I'll keep working with it.

More of the Bai Ye Wang Dan Cong, so very very nice.

Gao Shan Concubine Oolong

Lu Shan [1600m] Fall 2011 [August25th] from TeaMasters, a sample only

almost a soapy-perfume aroma, but a touch musky at first sip

quite aptly named really

EDIT: and as a good Concubine should, this tea has serious legs

and its still going .. steeps are longer but its still got that 'quality' hit that i get from a good tea

Hong Kong electric roast shui xian; I took great care when brewing this tea today and built the tea carefully, got the water as hot as possible and poured it on without disturbing the tea too much. Amazing, and a good change from gaoshan oolongs. Real chocolate, berry and even coffee aromas to it with just a little welcome bitterness. I always keep an airtight jar of this stuff under my coffee table.

EDIT: Following it up with a Spring 2012 SLX from SilentChaos. This sample was vacuum sealed early this year and I just got around to trying it. Not the fanciest SLX, but nice, savory vegetal flavors in infusion one.

A deeply roasted Da Hong Pao from Norbu, from 2011 but recently unsealed for the first time, seems like it needs a bit of airing out before it really can sing properly--the roast is still heavy. Enjoying it nonetheless from my treebark pot with a shino cup



And noticing today that the cup's crackling is really coming along nicely

And noticing today that the cup's crackling is really coming along nicely

that pot is rusting up well too, who made these pls

etorix wrote:that pot is rusting up well too, who made these pls

Not rusting, really--it's an unglazed pot by Petr Novak. I posted lots about it in his topic.

Not rusting, really--it's an unglazed pot by Petr Novak. I posted lots about it in his topic.

excellent, cheers, i must get one ... i kinda stopped potsearch, but his pots look great

today a Wu Yi Rock Tea - Rou Gui - May 2009 from the chinese tea company

im not that familiar with yancha, this was in a End of Season Clearance Sale so i snatched it up .. like a lot of her teas, its not top-handmade-yada-yada but its a solidly good quality, and not expensive + im in london; i get it fast

not many sessions left in this 50gm bag, and shes showing a 2013 on the site, uh-hmm .. http://the-chinese-tea-company.com/oolo ... -2013.html

keep meaning to drop in to her shop again, get her to gong-fu 'something' for me

also shes from ChauZhou region, she has pots

Let me preface this by saying that I drink very little Taiwanese high mountain oolong.

I am drinking the 105 k Dayu ling from Houde. I like the tea but it really feels like chemicals. It immediately dries my toungue out and makes my head feel weird. Has anyone else tried this tea?

Enjoying the end of a nice generous session with the Jiri mountain Hwang Cha from Morning Crane Tea--sweet, fruity, and going over very well with a slew of extra tea fanciers at work today.

Mmmmm.