Grubby wrote:Btw. about the flavour, the example where i talked about a very powerful oolong was just a silly example, but i gues i didn't make that clear enough. I have actually tried all kind of teas except Oolong (ok technically i tried that before) and Puerh so i know you have to pay attention to the aroma of tea. White tea was just too thin for me though
So just exceptional teas then
Well hopefully my explanation will benefit some lurker out there.
I actually really do like the ones I listed, so give them a try. You might also give some serious consideration to getting at least
some of the more expensive teas, even if it means foregoing a little variety. It sounds like you're probably ready for it. Wuyi yancha (Wuyi is a mountain, yancha means "rock tea" and refers to the rocky cliffs that the tea trees grow on) is a great introduction to finer teas with amazing complexity, aroma, flavor, texture, aftertaste, and so on - especially when they have a little age. Yancha can improve dramatically when it has a few years of aging behind it.
The Lao Cong is still a good one, but you might consider some of the 2005 Rou Gui. Rou Gui has an amazing flavor similar to cinnamon bark, and yancha in general gets better with age. TeaCuppa's 2005 Rou Gui is one of the best that I've had (without going into the
really expensive stuff). It has most/all the qualities of a great yancha, is relatively forgiving (compared to some yancha), and while it's a
little spendy it won't break the bank. It was actually the one that really got me hooked on yancha in general, and since you recently got yixing pots and gaiwans I think it would make a great starter to learn gongfu and give the new teaware a workout
Everyday type inexpensive teas would indeed benefit from gongfu, as just about any Chinese tea will, but with something like the 2005 Rou Gui you would probably notice a bigger improvement.
...and once you get it brewed "just right" you'll probably become as addicted as we are
About the tea shops i actually tried that, there aren't any run by chinese (or taiwanese or japanese
).
There are mainly Vietnamese and Thai people here and though they have shops they don't seem to care so much about tea? Also they are pretty racist as far as my experience goes.
Ah, I wondered if that wouldn't be the case. It's really too bad; hopefully you will find yourself somewhere with a great shop someday. In the meantime, the online shops often (not always, but often) sell better stuff anyway
I ordered them from House of Tea - located in Sweden, selling to Denmark. They have quite a lot of Oolong, you could look them up. Ps. Google the tea names first. I skip those ones that only gives Czech results.