Aged Oolongs

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


Mar 13th, '07, 06:51
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Aged Oolongs

by deadfingers » Mar 13th, '07, 06:51

Well I've been trying to get back into oolongs, and I heard houde had some pretty good oolongs. I've had great service from them and they ship fast so I figure I'd try them out first. I noticed they had an "aged oolongs" section, I've never tried any aged tea in general so I come here to ask. So is aged tea any better? More specifically is aged oolongs worth the price and worth trying? I know Aged puerh is supposed to be way better, but that's a lot more expensive and right now I want to try oolongs more. Any input is appreciated.

Mar 18th, '07, 11:06
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Aged Oolong

by tml » Mar 18th, '07, 11:06

Hi Deadfingers, I will tell you my experience with a chen-nian -- aged for x number of years, Tieguanyin.

My mother has given me some aged Tieguanyin which my sister has brought back from trip to China-HK-Taiwan. This is for my mom -vs- my package is the regular high mountain grade Oolong.

To make the long story short, I was so excited about trying it and go right to it the minute I've got home. The feeling I get from the aroma out of first brew is, "Emmm, smell familiar, where have I smell this before?" Then I have gone on and taste it, suddenly I realized where I have tasted this. The answer is many a restaurants.

This, of course, has caused me to examine things a bit.

First the tea leaves, shape like highest quality but color is dark as Pu-erh and it doesn't open all the way. Next, I examine the packaging, the leaves are packaged into a standard plastic-y foil type of sleeved bag. On one of the sides it says vacuum pack but it is not. Instead, it is nicely folded and then taped closed. I was skeptical when my mom handed it to me but just think to myself, "may be because special tea requires the special (unconventional) package because of the lower volume of production.

So, if you asked me, I'll say it taste like expired or lowest quality "black"er tea. Like ones you can get for about five bucks at a grocery store, for a pound in a, sometimes, nice canister.

It's aged good Oolong (once, befor it aged) to sell, expired good Oolong to taste, for me anyway.

Why not buy the least amount and let me know what you think?

Hope this help!
TML

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Mar 20th, '07, 00:01
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by EvenOdd » Mar 20th, '07, 00:01

Aged oolongs don't really "get better with age" like a puerh, exactly. Usually they are a higher-oxidized, higher roasted oolong such as Wuyi or many roasted tie guan yins. When properly roasted, and reroasted every so often, they can be preserved and get pretty mellow over time.

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Mar 20th, '07, 17:03
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by MarshalN » Mar 20th, '07, 17:03

They do age into a different flavour. Whether you like it or not is another thing entirely.

They basically mellow out, and you don't really need to have them reroasted very often.

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Apr 14th, '07, 12:00
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by Chip » Apr 14th, '07, 12:00

This is a clip from a letter I received from Daniel Ong at Teaspring on this subject. I thought it may help.

"Wuyi tea taste and character do change over time and like we said last time, some people (especially elders) prefer aged Wuyi teas. However, whether aged Wuyi is better or worse really depends on the individual. Fresh Wuyi tea is strong with fire finish character while aged ones will lose some of the strength but improves in texture (smoother mouth feel). There's a term for it - "Tui Huo" which means to wait for the "fire" to diminish."
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Jul 12th, '07, 20:13
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by ABx » Jul 12th, '07, 20:13

I have found that, with the aged wuyi's, if you add some extra leaf, or brew the normal amount first and then add a little fresh leaf, then it really comes to life in a way that fresh wuyi doesn't and is backed by a nice smoothness. You might check out some of the aged wuyi's at teacuppa.com first. Then again, I don't tend to like the roasted TGY and similar oolongs, so I doubt that I would like it much aged, etiher.

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Sep 8th, '07, 21:59
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Yan Cha Bing

by cloudyday » Sep 8th, '07, 21:59

chip wrote:This is a clip from a letter I received from Daniel Ong at Teaspring on this subject. I thought it may help.

"Wuyi tea taste and character do change over time and like we said last time, some people (especially elders) prefer aged Wuyi teas. However, whether aged Wuyi is better or worse really depends on the individual. Fresh Wuyi tea is strong with fire finish character while aged ones will lose some of the strength but improves in texture (smoother mouth feel). There's a term for it - "Tui Huo" which means to wait for the "fire" to diminish."
I wonders if this would refer to this particular tea (or at least moreso):

http://www.teaspring.com/Wu-Yi-Yan-Cha-Bing.asp

I actually just got a cake of this tea in tonight. I think it is a very good wuyi in my opinion, but I question the aging statement made about it in the description, considering that the cake comes shrinkwrapped. I suppose this is so one can choose whether or not to begin long term aging, but if it were meant to be aged, I don't see why it would be shrinkwrapped in plastic. Either way I like the tea and will be getting more.

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Sep 8th, '07, 23:52
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by ABx » Sep 8th, '07, 23:52

I asked TeaSpring about aging the Wuyi beeng, and it should not be left in the plastic. I've encountered some merchants that keep puerh in plastic as well, and the advantage in that is that it will keep it from picking up undesirable odors or getting damaged.

Wuyi's do indeed age well, and I don't think there should be an issue with the beeng. To ammend my last post about the Wuyi's, I've found that well aged Wuyi's tend to have a much more balanced, deep, and mature flavor profile. I've come to really appreciate aged Wuyi's, much more than young ones. Jing's has a few that are aged that can't be beat, and for very good prices compared to other vendors.

I also got a sample of the aged TGY from Jing's, and have to say that my prejudice turned out to be completely unwarranted. It really was fantastic, and is something I will want to keep stocked. I can't speak for HouDe's aged TGY, but I do have full confidence in their quality.

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