Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

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


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Jul 1st, '13, 17:44
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by 茶藝-TeaArt08 » Jul 1st, '13, 17:44

etorix wrote:so, to recover from the slightly disappointing 2013 DYL from TFT i thought
id go some Winter 2012 DYL from Origin .. [just to see how they compared like]

but discovered an opened sample pack of 2013 Spring Alishan: Zhang-Shu-Hu High Mountain Oolong - 阿里山樟樹湖烏龍茶 from Origin http://www.origintea.net/Alishan-zhang- ... 013-Spring

which had come unrolled, so it needs using

while its not the same as the FuShouShan 2013, to me its of a similar excellence
Etorix,

I'm curious, did you ever conduct the DYL head to head tasting between the Spring 2013 TTC and the Origin 2012 DYL? If so, I am interested in the results. I generally find that I prefer the qualities of Winter Taiwan wulong tea over Spring tea (allotting for the fact that every year is different), even though the often repeated opinion is that Spring teas are better. I prefer the "gam gam" throat of high mt. Winter tea.

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Jul 1st, '13, 19:50
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by etorix » Jul 1st, '13, 19:50

茶藝-TeaArt08 wrote:
etorix wrote:so, to recover from the slightly disappointing 2013 DYL from TFT i thought
id go some Winter 2012 DYL from Origin .. [just to see how they compared like]

but discovered an opened sample pack of 2013 Spring Alishan: Zhang-Shu-Hu High Mountain Oolong - 阿里山樟樹湖烏龍茶 from Origin http://www.origintea.net/Alishan-zhang- ... 013-Spring

which had come unrolled, so it needs using

while its not the same as the FuShouShan 2013, to me its of a similar excellence
Etorix,

I'm curious, did you ever conduct the DYL head to head tasting between the Spring 2013 TTC and the Origin 2012 DYL? If so, I am interested in the results. I generally find that I prefer the qualities of Winter Taiwan wulong tea over Spring tea (allotting for the fact that every year is different), even though the often repeated opinion is that Spring teas are better. I prefer the "gam gam" throat of high mt. Winter tea.
as for the 2013 DYL from TFT: it was a single-session-sample only, and seemed dusty goin in the pot; it was posted by itself in a padded-envelope and i suspect got somewhat crushed in transit

Interesting, i was actually just wondering about Spring/Winter differences myself, and whether i could tell

back-to-back testing is fairly easy, head-to-head needs more setup, hmm

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Jul 1st, '13, 22:19
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by 茶藝-TeaArt08 » Jul 1st, '13, 22:19

Interesting, i was actually just wondering about Spring/Winter differences myself, and whether i could tell
I notice I prefer Winter teas (specifically with high mt. wulongs). I don't know if it's because we generally spend each Winter in Taiwan and are thus often drinking/buying/bringing home Winter harvest teas and have become accustomed to them, or if it is the case that, for certain tea dispositions, Winter teas are better. I prefer the linger, the often more lasting hui2 gan4 回甘 of Winter teas.

Today I received from USPS, but was not home to collect it, my recent purchase from Taiwan Tea Crafts. It took exactly a week from online ordering to arrival for me to get my tea. That seems quick. I ordered a 150g of Spring Competition Wenshan Bao Zhong Tea (lot 231), and three 25g samples (1991 Legacy Aged Oolong Tea (Lot 119), 2005 Songboling Aged Oolong Tea (Lot 135), and Competition Wenshan Bao Zhong Tea (Lot 146).

I ordered the lot 146 and lot 231 baozhong teas to do a head-head tasting of the November/Winter lot competition tea against the Spring Competition lot, both lots from the same grower. I'm curious to see what the difference, if any, is between the two.

Of the two aged teas, one is a 2005 and one is a1991. I am curious to taste these as well.

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Jul 12th, '13, 11:19
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by jayinhk » Jul 12th, '13, 11:19

Anyone have any suggestions for good oolong pickups right now? I'll be in Taipei shortly...

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Jul 16th, '13, 13:07
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by jayinhk » Jul 16th, '13, 13:07

Was in transit in Taipei yesterday and unfortunately I was too sick to venture out of the airport. There's a hospital right in the airport terminal and I had to see a doctor. I got bad food poisoning from some culatello (aka the king of prosciutto) from a fancy Italian deli chain in HK and have been passing fluid through the wrong orifice for four days now. After an antispasmodic shot and laying on a stretcher for a few hours, I wandered around the terminal a little.

Taiwan is really cool for so many reasons. I managed to pick up an infuser mug with a cartoon Bodhidharma on it (a print of Tsai Chih-Chung's work) and some 'acceptable' oolong at the airport. The tea was a gift box of two 125g packs: one of Alishan and one of Dongding. I bet they're both blended. The pack was produced by the tea arm of King Ping, a restaurant chain that is supposed to have some of the best Xiao Long Bao in Taipei.

I also picked up a Yankees t-shirt (of all things) at the airport...the Taiwanese love baseball!

The dongding is not as good as the stuff SC brought me when he visited HK, but it's definitely drinkable, and without it, I wouldn't have any oolong here in Austria. I didn't bring any tea or teaware along on this trip as I was hoping to load up in Taipei.

I have a feeling the tea is going to be the cure for my stomach issues (eating 200g of thinly sliced cold cuts most likely contaminated with listeria is not ideal). I do have some shu pu my father brought here from HK several years ago from Ying Kee Tea House, but I drink a lot more oolong than pu nowadays.

I'll be passing through Taipei again in two weeks and if I'm not pooping six times a day, I'll do some exploring then. Taiwan has some great tea and teaware too! Thanks to SC I know what good gaoshan oolong should taste like.

While I won't buy any clay pots since I still can't tell a good one from a bad one like Marshal can, I will pick up some tea in Dadaocheng and some porcelain ware in Yingde. I may just have to pick up the matching da mo (Bodhidharma) jar to go with the infuser mug too!

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Jul 16th, '13, 14:11
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by 茶藝-TeaArt08 » Jul 16th, '13, 14:11

jayinhk,

對不起!

Wow! That experience sounds rough. Sorry you had to go through it.

Every year in Taiwan we purposely save money for the end of our trip to spend in that airport on gifts. I have gotten some decent teaware there as well as some solid samples of tea...not to mention some really good food. It's, for me a truly enjoyable airport to spend time in resting, eating, shopping. The National Palace Museum store always has interesting items to look at, amongst other good stores.

If you stop in Yingge, I recommend visiting the galleries here (http://www.thz-art.com). I believe they have three different shop spaces. Their offerings are NOT cheap but are worth seeing. The second floor of one of the galleries had an amazing exhibition of ceramic and hand made teaware while we were last there. They sell truly beautiful and unique, quality tea and ceramic wares amongst other things. My teacher in Taiwan is friends with them has taken us there to visit. They are always friendly, warm, and very professional.

I hope you feel better and find yourself in good health upon returning to Taibei in the coming weeks!

Scott

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Jul 16th, '13, 16:34
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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by etorix » Jul 16th, '13, 16:34

jayinhk wrote:Anyone have any suggestions for good oolong pickups right now? I'll be in Taipei shortly...
.. since yer Tealess in Yerp, why not get some tea from http://www.fivestartea.com/ ... they in Poland iirc, not far as the post flies

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by jayinhk » Jul 16th, '13, 18:07

Still in rough shape, although the dongding made me feel much, much better (temporarily). Had McDonalds for dinner and my insides are churning. Nothing else was open at 9:30 aside from wurst stands...

THZ sounds cool, but since I won't be in Taipei for long, I dunno if I can squeeze it in. Thank you for the suggestion though!

As for tea, I have enough to last me for the two weeks I'll be here, then it's back to HK where there is no shortage of tea to be had, and I hope to pick some more tea up in Taiwan when there!

Taipei airport isn't bad at all, although a bit small compared to HKIA. The food is excellent though, and reasonably priced. :)

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by SilentChaos » Jul 16th, '13, 20:34

jayinhk wrote:I'll be passing through Taipei again in two weeks and if I'm not pooping six times a day
:roll: Guess you won't be up for a crispy stinky tofu binge.
Let me know when you get here and I'll see if I can't point you to whatever you want to find.

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by SippinTeaSaint » Jul 17th, '13, 01:18

zentaratea.com Co-owner is Taiwanese and brings back some of the best I've tasted. They are located in Bethesda Maryland.

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by jayinhk » Jul 17th, '13, 02:39

SilentChaos wrote:
jayinhk wrote:I'll be passing through Taipei again in two weeks and if I'm not pooping six times a day
:roll: Guess you won't be up for a crispy stinky tofu binge.
Let me know when you get here and I'll see if I can't point you to whatever you want to find.
Actually, a stinky tofu binge sounds pretty good! I'll give you a shout when I'm headed back. :)

I tried the Alishan from King Ping just now and to me it tastes much better than the DD. More savory in infusion one, which is something I really love about TW gaoshan oolong.
Last edited by jayinhk on Jul 17th, '13, 07:53, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by b101 » Jul 17th, '13, 04:01

hi, i have a question as i'm new to taiwanese oolongs. i've just bought of a sample of oriental beauty oolong, and i was wondering how do you guys brew it? i read this tea is similar in tase to darjeeling black tea, and i've seen many sites recommending to brew in western style rather than usual gong fu for oolongs. what do you think - is this tea is more suitable for lower leaves-to-water ratio and longer steep? thx

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by jayinhk » Jul 17th, '13, 07:55

b101 wrote:hi, i have a question as i'm new to taiwanese oolongs. i've just bought of a sample of oriental beauty oolong, and i was wondering how do you guys brew it? i read this tea is similar in tase to darjeeling black tea, and i've seen many sites recommending to brew in western style rather than usual gong fu for oolongs. what do you think - is this tea is more suitable for lower leaves-to-water ratio and longer steep? thx
I personally think it would be just fine either way, but I personally never steep anything western style except for red tea (aka the stuff you get in teabags at the supermarket like Lipton). If it's good tea especially I'd be more likely to gong fu it...if it's middle of the road (or worse), I'd go ahead and steep it restaurant style in a big old teapot.

I also think you'll find it's nothing at all like Darjeeling. :)

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by b101 » Aug 7th, '13, 03:26

hi, i have another question that seems to connect to the topic..

I oredred Bao Zhong and never drink it or prepare it gong fu style. I read it is the closest oolong to be a green tea because of very low oxydation. my question is how do you brew it: do you brew it like any other green oolong? do you rinse it (though it isn't ball shaped)? do you use water tempareture near-boil like other oolongs or do you treat it as a green tea and lower the tempareture?

Also, Im also curious whether you use near-bolling water to not roasted high mountain oolong like Alishan, Dayuling? thanks for the helpers :o

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Re: Taiwanese Oolongs, Spring 2013 Harvest

by bambooforest » Aug 7th, '13, 04:08

I like making bao zhong at 1 gram/1 oz. I steep at around 195F.

1st steep: 2 minutes

2nd steep: 2.30

3rd steep: 3 minutes (or more).

With the bao zhong I have on hand, this created the best flavor.

I know many like to use higher leaf per oz for bao zhong, but I didn't find that improved the flavor for my palate for the bao zhong I had which is not low grade.

I don't rinse when I steep like this.

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