Taiwanese Teas!

[Oni]

I think houde gave good instruction of brewing taiwanese oolong, flash rinse, pour water from high to apply pressure, you can shower the teapot if you want increased heat, put it in a bowl that catches water for further increased heat, the higher you pour your water the lower the temperature, if you pour from low it increases the temperature, first infusion 30 seconds, 20, 30, 40, and after that increase with 10 seconds if the tea is still strong and 20 seconds if it is getting weak, I tried a few Dong Ding`s, those are strong robust oolongs, and I tried some high mountain oolongs, even now I have one coming towards me in a week, Da Yu Ling from Dragon teahouse, DTA brand, I think it is worth trying this brand out, it is better priced than most other shops that sell high mountain oolong.

[tenuki]

I personally think of pouring water from high as a way to increase the leaf swirling action - although the drop may cool the water it still is a relative thing and you could just let the water sit a bit first instead. That said, if you think the water may be too hot at that moment you could pour from high I suppose. Be very curious to know how many degrees it cools in the under 1 second drop through the air....

[Oni]

Ball shaped oolong need the pressure from gravity, and water should hit it with force, if it doesn`t open properly and all at the same level, the tea is not good, the leaves should take up all of the space in the teapot, and they all should be open to a certain level, after they are opened you can pour water from low to increase temperature. With puerh tea it is even more important, imagine if the piece of pu is not open you extract only a little bit of taste from the surface area of the compressed piece, that is why they wash puerh twice.
Regarding temperature drop with pouring from a height, greener oolongs need it, I think if the water in your kettle is around 95 to 98 C, if you pour from high it can be around 90 C, this is just a guess, it is hard to measure precisely, I think gong fu brewing needs more intuition than science.

[Tead Off]

Ball shaped oolong need the pressure from gravity, and water should hit it with force, if it doesn`t open properly and all at the same level, the tea is not good, the leaves should take up all of the space in the teapot, and they all should be open to a certain level, after they are opened you can pour water from low to increase temperature. With puerh tea it is even more important, imagine if the piece of pu is not open you extract only a little bit of taste from the surface area of the compressed piece, that is why they wash puerh twice.
Regarding temperature drop with pouring from a height, greener oolongs need it, I think if the water in your kettle is around 95 to 98 C, if you pour from high it can be around 90 C, this is just a guess, it is hard to measure precisely, I think gong fu brewing needs more intuition than science.

I think the opening of leaves in a teapot is due more to the size/shape of your teapot vs. the amount of leaf one uses. If you use a lot of Taiwan gaoshan in a small pot, all the leaves are not going to open fully due to lack of space. I will often use a larger pot than I need to allow the leaves to open as much as possible and many times I use less leaf in smaller pots to acheive the same effect.

The processing of the tea leaves will also affect how they open. I almost never pour from high up and I can brew some great tea! I think a lot of these little 'tricks' may fall into the 'old wives category'. Too much thinking for me.

[shah82]

I find ballshaped oolongs to do very well in large glass pots, for the reason that there is enough space to really open up.

[wyardley]

If you use a lot of Taiwan gaoshan in a small pot, all the leaves are not going to open fully due to lack of space. I will often use a larger pot than I need to allow the leaves to open as much as possible and many times I use less leaf in smaller pots to acheive the same effect.

While I think not over-stuffing the leaves is a good general rule of thumb, I think sometimes that's the result you want. My view is that, like most things related to tea, there are no absolute rules. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard it said that sometimes you want that pressure to press more oils / flavor out of the tea. I think that stuffing the pot can be the right thing if you know what you're doing and what result it will give.

[debunix]

I almost never pour from high up and I can brew some great tea! I think a lot of these little 'tricks' may fall into the 'old wives category'.

I have had fun with my instant read thermometer, and how I pour the water can easily make a 10-15°F difference in temperature, which shortens the time I have to wait before I can brew and drink my tea.

I'm still agnostic about questions of force hitting my oolong leaves, but do like to hit the puerhs hard to get them to loosen up faster.

[Tead Off]

If you use a lot of Taiwan gaoshan in a small pot, all the leaves are not going to open fully due to lack of space. I will often use a larger pot than I need to allow the leaves to open as much as possible and many times I use less leaf in smaller pots to acheive the same effect.

While I think not over-stuffing the leaves is a good general rule of thumb, I think sometimes that's the result you want. My view is that, like most things related to tea, there are no absolute rules. I don't know if it's true, but I've heard it said that sometimes you want that pressure to press more oils / flavor out of the tea. I think that stuffing the pot can be the right thing if you know what you're doing and what result it will give.

Aesthetically, I love the look of brewing in a larger pot so I can see the leaves unfurl. But, I'm really not sure if there is a preferential way to get the most flavor out of gaoshan apart from temp and time. This applies to pouring from high vs low, too. Because good gaoshan is not cheap, I find myself minimizing on the leaf and still getting a great brew. In my case, this also applies to sencha. Maybe I'm just stingy.

[tjkoko]

Personally I've had some experience with the oolongs from Floating Leaves Tea and have enjoyed most of their tea selections. Personal preference here. And their customer service is great.

[spittingoutteeth]

Floating Leaves is great. Just had a pot of the 2009 Winter Farmers Choice Baozhong and really enjoyed it.

[JustinW]

I got the crumple brown box in the mail today. Can they not deliver any packages without smashing them up? Everything I get from Asia is crushed. Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, it doesn't matter. Thankfully the tea always survives.

First off I'll start by saying I'm very impressed by the presentation. These samples are in really nice packaging. They're still in plastic bags, but these are nice, vacuum sealed plastic baggies, with vibrant colors and illustrations.

I'd also like to note that being a first time customer you get some really good discounts on your 2nd order.

I think I'll start with the Four Seasons first to test the water. Then I'll move up to one of the better ones.

[JustinW]

Mmmmmm. Good stuff. Very smooth, and refreshing. The expanded leaves look really cool in the gaiwan, like a jungle or something. I like how they are very 'raw', like there's 3 leaves still connected to a stem.

I brewed according to Houde. It said 1/4 - 1/3 full of dry leaves. I measured the whole sample pack as 1/4 or a little more in my 100ml gaiwan. It actually measured at like 7.3 grams. I figured, "what the hell, I'm not going to have enough for two pots so I'll just go with it. That's quite a bit isn't it? The leaves were really pushing out of the gaiwan.

Regardless, it tasted excellent. Not over-brewed. When I dumped the leaves out they didn't seem excessively cramped, they were a bit cramped.

This was the Four Seasons. It's cheap yet tasty, I'll probably pick some of this up.

I'll post my thoughts after tomorrows session with one of the more 'sophisticated' teas.

Thanks,
Justin

[rhondabee]

Justin, I'm curious to know how you like the other samples.

I just received my order from Tea from Taiwan today and I tried the Tsuei Luan oolong (Li shan). I'm still a tea newbie, but I thought it was very good and tasted & smelled as I was hoping it would - smooth, a bit flowery, a bit savory, buttery. I got about 5-6 good 4 oz infusions out of it (120 ml gaiwan and used just enough leaf to cover bottom) I would say the wet tea leaves are not quite as lovely as the tea from Floating Leaves (maybe because they are supposed to be organic, so more bitten, torn?), but at half the price, I'm very happy with it. I haven't tried the Long Feng Xia (shan lin xi) yet, as I'm saving it for the weekend when I can brew it at home. I also ordered an Ali Shan - Zhong Shu Hu and can't wait to try it tomorrow. I am also expecting an order from IShopO this week and am curious as to how this even less expensive tea is. I ordered the same types so that I can compare.

I will have to wait awhile before ordering again from Floating Leaves. I daydream about drinking the Da Yu Ling... And her 2009 Winter Alishan sounds wonderful.

[spittingoutteeth]

7.3 grams in a gaiwan is pretty intense....half as much should yield good results.

[JAS-eTea Guy]

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm trying to learn about Taiwanese teas also.