New direction for Taiwan Oolong

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


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Feb 9th, '11, 05:38
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by Herb_Master » Feb 9th, '11, 05:38

Just returned fromn Hojo's, Hojo was not there but spent a pleasant 2 hours with Natalie Chan. The tea that Hojo has persuaded the farmer/teamakers to treat differently was from Cui Feng, halfway between Ali Shan and Li Shan. The bushes are at an altitude between 1700 and 2000 and the Cui Feng Cha certainly impressede me.

Today we went on to drink a Dong Ding Jin Xuan which had a pleasant Chestnut aroma and background taste.

Finished off with a high fired Da yu Ling which was probably my favourite of the 3.

In conversation Natalie revealed that Hojo's point about altitude is connected to the amount of long lingering aftertaste at the back of the mouth and throat, without altitude it is not possible to achieve this. Some drinkers when they discover this will never again drink tea that does not produce a long aftertaste.

In comparing :-
the Dong Ding Jin Xuan, had a shorter aftertaste solely round the tip of the tongue and the front of the mouth
the Da Yu Ling had a longer aftertaste which was found in the throat and rising up the back of the throat to the back of the nose.
Last edited by Herb_Master on Feb 9th, '11, 21:44, edited 1 time in total.

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Feb 9th, '11, 06:34
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by David R. » Feb 9th, '11, 06:34

I wasn't aware that Hojo was selling Da Yu Ling. Interesting.

I tried his deep fired dong ding : very very sweet. Now he has a "deep fermented" one, I wonder if it tastes like a hong shui oolong.

After speaking to him and tasting is teas - lately his puerh and dan cong - it seems pretty obvious to me that his main criteria for selecting his teas is the length and the quality of their aftertaste. And I do agree with him that it is something you are not likely to drop out once you have tasted it.

While you are there, try to grab some of his dan cong HB, if you can afford. I would be interested in hearing what you think about them.

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Feb 9th, '11, 07:30
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by Herb_Master » Feb 9th, '11, 07:30

I went to his shop specifically for DanCong, he has 6, 1 of which is not available on the Japanese Online web site, (Mi Hua) it was an all China tea winner and distribution was limited to 1 kg per customer there was a total of slightly more than 10kg made from 3 trees. It was about 380RM for 50gm.

The other 5 included a Milan and an Osmanthus which I passed on - I tasted and bought 2 - Ba Xian and Song Zhong and was gifted the Shui Xian along with the deep fired Da Yu Ling. I had also purchased a Gisui Tokoname Teapot and Cup to dedicate to DC.

I suggested to him that all DCs were Shui Xian so naming a tea Shui Xian revealed little, he said this may have been a marketing mistake to call it Shui Xian.

I thought the Ba Xian and Song Zhong were excellent but from other local shops I have found Dcs almost if not quite as good which are an awful lot cheaper.

Drop me a message before Friday if you want me to get some of the award winning Mi Hua DC and mail it to you from the UK, I return home soon and will not visit Hojo again after Friday.

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Feb 9th, '11, 07:53
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by Tead Off » Feb 9th, '11, 07:53

HM,

Are his teas also more expensive in the shop than online?

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Feb 9th, '11, 12:46
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by David R. » Feb 9th, '11, 12:46

Thanks a lot for the offer. I still have a lot of dan cong to drink and I am going to spend a couple of days of vacation in London next week, most certainly buying other dc from PCT (along with a chao zhou teapot they've been keeping for me) so I am a bit on a budget right now.

So, you were convinced by the use of the Gisui with dc ? Akira told me it was a good combination.

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Feb 9th, '11, 20:00
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by Herb_Master » Feb 9th, '11, 20:00

Tead Off wrote:HM,

Are his teas also more expensive in the shop than online?
Perhaps not

If I have reached the latest online prices and used an accurate currency converter

DC Ba Xian 40gm @ 8,800 = 324.86RM - I paid 250RM
DC Song Zhong 40gm @ 5,400 = 199.207RM - I paid 158RM

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Feb 10th, '11, 01:12
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by ABx » Feb 10th, '11, 01:12

Herb_Master wrote:In conversation Natalie revealed that Hojo's point about altitude is connected to the amount of long lingering aftertaste at the back of the mouth and throat, without altitude it is not possible to achieve this. Some drinkers when they discover this will never again drink tea that does not produce a long aftertaste.
You have to be careful about this kind of thing. Every producer is going to have a reason about why their tea is the best, and that reason may completely contradict another's. I would trust a producer's word about the tea on their own farm, but not about tea as a whole.

Even then, though, there's always the risk of miscommunication, made-up answers, and outright deception.

I've had plenty of commercial grade gaoshan that wasn't "trying to be" the high-quality, hand-picked, high-mountain gaoshan, and I've had commercial gaoshan with hui gan.

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Feb 16th, '11, 21:55
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by tortoise » Feb 16th, '11, 21:55

great thread.

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Dec 21st, '11, 17:35
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Re: New direction for Taiwan Oolong

by bagua7 » Dec 21st, '11, 17:35

I don't know if what I am going to state next has got to do with the topic of discussion at all, but I don't want to clog this subforum with another thread just for the sake of it.

This is a message I received from the vendor of Zen8tea, whose teas I drink on a daily basis:

"Hi Gerard,

Actually the cost of teas is getting higher and higher because of high demand from mainland china ( they like Taiwanese teas) and limited output. I offered some 150g high mountain teas with very reasonable prices because I got lower cost for bulk quantity. I'm afraid that in the future it will be difficult to maintain such low price for customers since costs are still on rise.

Best regards,
Melody
"

My enquiry was related to why her teas prices are so low compared to other vendors knowing that the quality was quite good for the price.

Well, her answer is not very good news...I can't imagine what would happen if the entire world switches from coffee to tea consumption, and suddenly we see the demand for Taiwan gaoshan tea in the spotlight . :shock:

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