Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

People here are quite kind. As Jay warned me, sometimes too kind--answering an inquiry though they don't know the answer because they want to help. Nonetheless, no trains or buses missed etc. The teashop in Tainan had a son, father, & mother come & go for giving me samples w/o one infusion being mishandled. In stock were 150 oolongs on the green side (which might often be called gaoshan, I guess, though it literally refers to the height of the tea-growing) & 50 others. That I was referred that shop & don't prefer such tea was slightly strange. I left w/ 4 high-altitude teas but they 3 were dark & the dayuling, which I think is green, was sort of aged or something--definitely unusual.
Now I am in Lukang. I used the hostel's teaware & kettle to prepare & share a high-mountain black given to me by another guest at the hostel in Tainan. It was quite disappointing prepared Western style. One of the owners suggested gongfu preparation. All 4 of us drinking agreed: tea went from drinkable to moderately enjoyable. I'll probably look at temples here during the day tomorrow & sleep here another night. The bed in Tainan was awful but here it is fine.
Lunchbox on trains is excellent & reasonable. Food in Lugang is good & cheap.

[jayinhk]

Sounds like you're doing just fine! What were the prices like?

Yes, gaoshan just means high mountain.

What were the prices like?

I appear to have left my headphones behind in Taipei. I strangely knew they'd go missing before I turned in the night before...I guess my gut warned me. Wish I'd taken better care of them!

[ethan]

We should move to a travel thread or write privately. Nonetheless,
Prices in Tainan were lower. However, what we bought elsewhere was not a mistake. There was no Oriental Beauty down there nor roasted TGY

[jayinhk]

Good to know our time in Taipei wasn't a waste then! I've been drinking exclusively gaoshan since I got back. The new teapot is perfect for it and is a significant improvement over my easy gaiwan, which really surprised me.

Drinking a stuffed pot of DYL this morning and I forgot how much I enjoy gongfu brewing gaoshan. The way it evolves from brew to brew is like eating a fine meal. I'm getting mint, mango and musk melon in the sixth infusion!

[Tead Off]

I was very impressed in the end I'm still surprised that there was such a change after pouring through the pot vs the easy gaiwan!

Experiences like this go a long way to teach us about brewing teas. It's also nice to meet up with fellow drinkers and share tea. There's always something to learn and tea is a good facilitator to get to know people and share insight. Nice to read about your combined experiences with Ethan and Bok.

[jayinhk]

I was very impressed in the end I'm still surprised that there was such a change after pouring through the pot vs the easy gaiwan!

Experiences like this go a long way to teach us about brewing teas. It's also nice to meet up with fellow drinkers and share tea. There's always something to learn and tea is a good facilitator to get to know people and share insight. Nice to read about your combined experiences with Ethan and Bok.

I agree. Bok has experience making teapots and was told that heat retention was the only thing that made Yixings special. My little experience, to me, shows that there's more to Yixing teapots than that, even if the pot was only a modern hongni shuiping (it might not even be from Yixing at all and just a Taiwanese-made pot)!

Definitely shared some good conversations with both ethan and Bok and learned a great deal about a great deal, so I completely agree on tea facilitating conversation. I wish we had teahouses like that here in HK! I've been mentally thinking about the possibility of opening one up here in my new neighborhood, where there aren't any tea stores at all!

[ethan]

& on the quirky side: I've failed to find an oolong here that has fruitiness

back at hostel in Taipei I put some old Thai Oriental Beauty into a paper cup & voila! Delightful fruit flavors (but I must admit the basic good tea flavor is not there nor the cinnamon flavor) in unusually cold weather here anything hot probably tastes good cheers

[jayinhk]

Drinking baozhong that I've had stored in sealed bags for almost a year, and that probably had several months of storage before I bought it. Much of the sweet, fruity aromas (canteloupe) have faded and I get something more vegetal (it reminds me of vegetable oil). Not as pleasant as it was fresh, but I do detect the sweet melon flavor now, several minutes after drinking it. Using a cheap white porcelain aroma cup set I bought in Yingge that was surprisingly well made and finished for the price. I was going to buy a fancier, thinner set, but the set I bought is better than I remember!

[debunix]

Lovely Huang Guan Yin--a nice deep roast Wuyi oolong from Norbu.

[jayinhk]

Spring 2015 San Lin Xi I picked up in New Taipei City. GOOD stuff. SLX is always like a meal to me; everything from grilled meat to steamed vegetables to fresh fruit.

[jayinhk]

Trying to get the same results out of the higher roast TGY ethan and I picked up in Taipei. I've tried my hongni/modern zhuni pot and now I transferred the leaves to a medium-high fired pin zini pot that I use for high fire oolong and Wuyi. Not sure if this is a bait and switch issue or if it's something I'm doing. I'm pretty sure the tea wasn't rinsed during testing, but I'm definitely not getting the intense hui gan and osmanthus aroma at home after a flash rinse. I might have to try brewing with a bowl and spoon to see what my results are like!

EDIT: nevermind, I can detect the osmanthus aroma and hui gan now, but it's not as intense as it was in Taipei. It's definitely the same tea, so it's something I'm doing wrong. Either way, an enjoyable and calming brew, and tasty too!

Just took a deep breath and I can taste the tea much better. Could it be my breathing alone than made all the difference?

http://www.futurity.org/smell-food-volatiles-1049222-2/

[Math]

Yesterday I Had Master Xu's 2014 Niu Lan Keng Rou Gui.

Brewed the full 8 grams in 100 ml zhuni pot.

That was a bit too much leaf for this tea. Second brew turned out a sharp roasting arcefact that I didn't really appreciate. I had a lot of difficulty coaxing this tea to shine. But I blame this only on my own brewing skills. Removing some leaf from the pot the tea was pleasant, good mouthfeel and comfortable but wished I had brewed it with right amount of leaves from the start.

Last time I brewed the 4 shui xian trees from Master Xu I used to few leaves, that's why I wanted more leaves this time. I should have known that I usually prefer more leaves for shuixian and less for rou gui. Oh well these not too perfect sessions are great learning opportunities after all.

[ethan]

Great timing, Jay & Math: I've had similar experience today.

I brought some highly roasted tea from Alishan vicinity to Tea-Village in Pattaya to drink w/ Vee & Lita. Vee examined the leaves & disagreed w/ my suggesting we prepare our drink as if the tea were a black. Indeed, steeping for only 45 seconds in one of his yixing pots, he produced wonderful bai-hao type Oriental Beauty (notes of cinnamon) pleasure. Previously, I had used a glazed celadon pot to steep for 2 minutes or so which produced a fair, simple black tea flavor.

Repeating his preparation w/ another "dark" oolong from Taiwan, Vee transformed another "black" tea into an oolong, but this time I did not prefer his mild oolong result to my mild black product (but Lita definitely did prefer "oolong" steeping to "black" steeping for this tea which surprised Vee).

I like to think good leaves & good hot water is enough for a good cup, but it does seem it is worthwhile to take preparation seriously.

[jayinhk]

Preparation can absolutely make or break a tea...which is why there is an element of gongfu (skill) to making good tea. I feel like I've forgotten how to get the most out of teas I once brewed well and I have to relearn how to get the most out of them all over!

[Math]

True. I have become lazy lately and been slacking too much on the mindfulness part of brewing teas. To be honest I prepared that expensive tea a bit too casual and and honestly almost quite carelessly in an absent manner.

It really does matter to pay attention, center yourself and invite stillness