I have recently encountered Tea Disks (400 g) supposedly of
Wuyishan Da Hong Pao oolong. Unfortunately I was not able to
taste this tea.
Does anyone have further experience with pressed oolongs? How does
the pressing step in production affect the taste? Do these teas age
similarly to puer? Does microbacterial - post oxidisation - fermentation start? How long to age?
And lastly, since when is such processing in practice ( the one I saw was
purportedly from 2006).
Input or samples to compare with regular Da Hong Pao would be much
appreciated.
Thank you and best regards
Patrick B. Ludwig
Re: Da Hong Pao Wuyishan - Pressed Disk
Compressed yancha (most commonly shui xian) dates back quite a while -- both in brick shape, or stitched into pomelo skin (sometimes kept for medicinal use). The round shape I'm not sure about - I think that might be a bit newer a thing, but even so, 2006 does not sound unreasonable.
The tea will age differently from oolong stored uncompressed in a sealed environment, but I don't think you'll have the post-fermentation you see with pu'er. Stored in a relatively dry climate (or even not), I think the tea will age well for 10-20 years. I quite like the late 90s brick from Tea Gallery / Best Tea House.
The tea will age differently from oolong stored uncompressed in a sealed environment, but I don't think you'll have the post-fermentation you see with pu'er. Stored in a relatively dry climate (or even not), I think the tea will age well for 10-20 years. I quite like the late 90s brick from Tea Gallery / Best Tea House.
Re: Da Hong Pao Wuyishan - Pressed Disk
my gut tells me this is not a very good idea, however I have zero experience with oolong cakes.
aging a finished oolong in a cake seems like it would be very slow, kinda like shu puerh. And then I wonder in the end if it needs a re-firing before drinking?
aging a finished oolong in a cake seems like it would be very slow, kinda like shu puerh. And then I wonder in the end if it needs a re-firing before drinking?
Re: Da Hong Pao Wuyishan - Pressed Disk
Usually the tea is pretty high-fired to start with. You wouldn't generally re-roast a tea that's aged this way - it would get some slight sourness over time, depending on storage, but I don't think the sourness would develop to an unpleasant level for quite a while.
Re: Da Hong Pao Wuyishan - Pressed Disk
so what differences are there to you between an aged brick oolong and aged loose leaf?