Teance Old Grove Water Oolong

[Aphroditea]

Well, I originally sent this as a message to Victoria, but she asked that I post it on the boards to stimulate a little discussion

I snagged a tea at Central Market (a speciality store in Texas) in the bulk canisters. It was labelled Teance Old Grove Water Oolong. I had a hard time locating the tea online for info about it. Although, Space Samuarai (who works for CM) tracked it down for me. Thanks Space!!

http://www.teance.com/Old_Grove_Shuixia ... tea393.htm

This is a very dark roasted oolong and quite different from the others I have tried so far, the darkest being a Da Ye Wuyi from Teacuppa. I was wondering if other have tried Shui Xian (Hsien) oolongs and what their thoughts were, because I would like to try others. Here are my short notes on this particular tea. As a note, the term 'come-back' for sweetness is a term I learned from the Taiwanese lady who has been teaching me gongfu. She said in China an oolong is considered to be a very good oolong in two instances, one is if there is a complexity of flavors such as florals and honey which hold through out, the other is if it has a rich flavor that begins to fade and draws out a sweetness that 'comes-back'. Here are those notes:

Teance Old Grove Water Oolong

Dry leaves have a robust nutty, almost tobacco-like smell. Wet leaves smell a bit like tobacco with hint of summer fruit. Gongfu: mini gaiwan, 1/3rd full. Note: after a few infusions, leaves have not expanded much. Final Note: I really enjoyed this tea. It is very different from other oolongs I have tried and it is long-lasting and robust without going overly bitter like many oolongs.

First infusion: 190/10s
Color: deep orange gold
Aroma: robust, roasted, hint of tobacco and green
Flavor: subtle, tobacco and honey

Second infusion: 190/20s
Color: deep orange gold
Aroma: robust, mostly tobacco
Flavor: subtle with less tobacco, bit more nutty with honey

Third Infusion: 170/35s
Color: medium orange gold
Aroma: robust honey tobacco
Flavor: very similar to second infusion (holding up well)

Fourth infusion: 160/50s
Color: medium orange gold
Aroma: less robust honey tobacco
Flavor: very subtle, nutty with a bit of honey, almost no tobacco, hint of bitterness on finish

Fifth infusion: 155/60s
Color: medium orange gold
Aroma: vaguely sweet nutty aroma with a hint of green (similar to hojicha)
Flavor: very subtle nutty, a bit sweet, noticeable bitter finish with a ‘come-back’ subtly sweet aftertaste

Sixth infusion: 145/90s
Color: medium gold
Aroma: very subtle, nutty, herbal, sweet
Flavor: extremely subtle, nutty, herbally with hint of sweetness, bitter on finish with very subtle “come-back” sweetness.

Seventh infusion: 140/120s
Color: pale gold
Aroma: extremely subtle, herbal with sweetness
Flavor: extremely subtle herbal, no bitterness, no ‘come-back’ sweetness.
DONE!
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[tenuki]

My understanding is that Shui Xian is the most commonly drunk wu yi, and is a very popular tea in China for gong fu.

There is a prime example of it in the oolong box pass, hopefully there will be some left by the time it gets to you. I regularly get well over 15 good infusions out of it, these teas can be very very long lasting, it is very common for me to be done before the tea is. I would encourage you to try something more along the lines of 15, 10, 10, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc, to find the boundaries of that particular tea. I actually brew shorter than that, but it depends on the Shui Xian. The tea in my gong fu garden video is the same Shui Xian in case you are interested in seeing my brew style, leaf amount, etc first hand.

I use boiling water throughout the session too, I noticed you trailed off to 140?? My understanding and experience is these teas require boiling water. I would bet that it's is a longer lasting tea if you don't drop the temp. I bet if you took those leaves you abandoned at infusion 8 and poured boiling water on em you would be back in business. Try it and let us know.

Because of that I read your report more as a comparison of what the result of different water temperatures and brewing times than on how the tea moves though multiple infusions. I bet if you brewed your first infusion at the same parameters as the 7th you would get somewhat similar results (probably stronger, but different in that way). Or maybe not, I'm assuming it's good quality tea, which it sounds like it is.

btw: If you are geting 'overly bitter' for a lot of your other oolongs you are probably brewing too long for the temp you are using. A tea can be weak, or short, or boring, but if it is _overly_ bitter 80% of the time it's the fault of the brewer IMO (except in the case of puerh of course).

[Victoria]

Thanks for posting Aphro - My reply - as previously sent -

I have not heard of Old Grove Water Oolong. But the reference or emphsis is on "Water" oolong. The only "water" oolong I know of is Water Sprite Oolong.

Wuyi Water Sprite Oolong aka: Shui Xian or Shui Hsien

"Old Grove" of course referring to an old grove - older trees.

Look what I found on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Wu-Yi-Moun...dZViewItem

TeaSouce has this one -
http://teasource.com/merchant2...ct_Count=7

Oh - ok, I see now you found it! Thanks Space! Anyone else have thoughts on this tea?

[Space Samurai]

I haven't had this particular one, though I can't resist having a yancha in the bulk section, so I will add it to the next order and sample some them.

In general though I like shui xian, but I have difficulty distinguishing one yancha from the other.