Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[victoria3]

Sounds like a perfectly calibrated series of steeps. What were your steep parameters? I'm getting his Dong Ding in the mail soon.


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[jayinhk]

Lovely! Not sure how your package got there first when I'm only a 1.5 hour flight away from Taiwan!

[Balthazar]

I made an order from Chen earlier this year, consisting only of different dong ding samples (all from 2015). Of the spring 2015 dong ding I was only able to get the medium roast, as the heavy roast was sold out. Impressed by the quality!

For me it was really crucial to let the teas acclimatize, however. My first session happened just a few hours after I opened the vacuum-sealed bag. It was decent, just decent. However, I recalled Kyarazen's emphasis on letting these teas acclimatize. After a week or so of airing out 20 grams in a 100 gram canister, the next session was far better. I am sure they would benefit from even longer durations of airing out, my problem thus far has been to resist the temptation to brew it all after a week or so. As we speak I have a sample of his 2015 winter dong ding airing. (It should be noted that I live in dry Norway. Good for long-term storage of everything but pu. Not so good for a quick wake-up of hibernated teas.)

I'm really hoping the 2016 stock lasts for a while, but that might not be realistic seeing how interest in his teas seems to have exploded

Edit: After writing this post I had a sudden feeling that if I didn't act quickly I wouldn't be able to get any of the 2016 spring dong ding. So I contacted him, and what do you know, the heavy roast is almost completely sold out. Glad to have been able to order some

Additionally, Chen carries Muzha Tieguanyin this year! I've had some from OriginTea previously, that was really, really top notch stuff. Excited to try this to say the least.

Additionally 2, the order was made through WeChat at 2 in the night Taiwan time. Mr. Chen obviously doesn't get a lot of sleep.

[victoria3]

I made an order from Chen earlier this year, consisting only of different dong ding samples (all from 2015). Of the spring 2015 dong ding I was only able to get the medium roast, as the heavy roast was sold out. Impressed by the quality!

For me it was really crucial to let the teas acclimatize, however. My first session happened just a few hours after I opened the vacuum-sealed bag. It was decent, just decent. However, I recalled Kyarazen's emphasis on letting these teas acclimatize. After a week or so of airing out 20 grams in a 100 gram canister, the next session was far better. I am sure they would benefit from even longer durations of airing out, my problem thus far has been to resist the temptation to brew it all after a week or so. As we speak I have a sample of his 2015 winter dong ding airing. (It should be noted that I live in dry Norway. Good for long-term storage of everything but pu. Not so good for a quick wake-up of hibernated teas.)

I'm really hoping the 2016 stock lasts for a while, but that might not be realistic seeing how interest in his teas seems to have exploded

Edit: After writing this post I had a sudden feeling that if I didn't act quickly I wouldn't be able to get any of the 2016 spring dong ding. So I contacted him, and what do you know, the heavy roast is almost completely sold out. Glad to have been able to order some

Additionally, Chen carries Muzha Tieguanyin this year! I've had some from OriginTea previously, that was really, really top notch stuff. Excited to try this to say the least.

Additionally 2, the order was made through WeChat at 2 in the night Taiwan time. Mr. Chen obviously doesn't get a lot of sleep.

Balthazar good going. I'm excited to try his Traditional Dong Ding as well as Fushoushan and Lishan in the coming weeks. So glad Kyarazen was able to organize this for us. I just finished Norbu's Dong Ding and loved it, so jumped on the chance to try another one.

You speak of the need to acclimatize, Dong Ding, what Kyarazen calls 'awakening'. I wonder if this is the case with all oolongs? Interestingly, Japanese greens (which oxidize quickly) also are better a day after opening vacupack bags. I allow fresh air into bag, close, and let it sit for the day, waking up the leaves.

This afternoon I had my 13th steep of try #1 of Floating leaves Bai Hao Oolong. Sat overnight into the afternoon, a long steep. Very woodsy musky, or cinnamon, full of flavor still.

[jayinhk]

I won't even open my tea for a week after it comes in to let it settle, and it's only 90 minutes by air from Taipei to here!

[Balthazar]

You speak of the need to acclimatize, Dong Ding, what Kyarazen calls 'awakening'. I wonder if this is the case with all oolongs?

I think acclimatization is important with many types of tea, but particularly so with highly roasted ones. I also have a feeling rolled teas in general takes a bit longer to "awaken", but I'm sure there are other important variables to consider too. More generally, I think the type of "awakening" we're talking about here should be distinguished from the longer-term mellowing of the roast that happens when storing these teas for years, although this is unfamiliar territory for me as I rarely have the self-control to allow teas I love to be stored for very long

I won't even open my tea for a week after it comes in to let it settle, and it's only 90 minutes by air from Taipei to here!

Here's the quote from Kyarazen's post:

One important thing about traditional Dong Ding oolong, it is well fired and the water content is extremely low, at 3-4% so that it can store well for many years. One of the biggest mistakes is to brew traditional dongding straight from the pack. Instead, reasonable amounts like 10-20 grams should be transferred into a canister of about 100-200ml volume, and the tea allowed to “awaken”. How can you tell that the tea is ready for brewing? When you smell the leaves in the canister and you dont get the dry nutty roast notes, but instead a floral mild ripe fruit note peeks out, it is ready to be brewed. Only awaken amounts that you can finish in due time, and not the whole huge pack, because as of all oolongs, if it is too humid and too much exposure to air, moisture, the quality will reach a peak and then start to decline from there. In humid singapore, the tea easily awakens in a couple of days, and in drier weathers, colder weathers, it might need more time!

I guess that means it shouldn't take too long in Hong Kong .

[jayinhk]

You speak of the need to acclimatize, Dong Ding, what Kyarazen calls 'awakening'. I wonder if this is the case with all oolongs?

I think acclimatization is important with many types of tea, but particularly so with highly roasted ones. I also have a feeling rolled teas in general takes a bit longer to "awaken", but I'm sure there are other important variables to consider too. More generally, I think the type of "awakening" we're talking about here should be distinguished from the longer-term mellowing of the roast that happens when storing these teas for years, although this is unfamiliar territory for me as I rarely have the self-control to allow teas I love to be stored for very long

I won't even open my tea for a week after it comes in to let it settle, and it's only 90 minutes by air from Taipei to here!

Here's the quote from Kyarazen's post:

One important thing about traditional Dong Ding oolong, it is well fired and the water content is extremely low, at 3-4% so that it can store well for many years. One of the biggest mistakes is to brew traditional dongding straight from the pack. Instead, reasonable amounts like 10-20 grams should be transferred into a canister of about 100-200ml volume, and the tea allowed to “awaken”. How can you tell that the tea is ready for brewing? When you smell the leaves in the canister and you dont get the dry nutty roast notes, but instead a floral mild ripe fruit note peeks out, it is ready to be brewed. Only awaken amounts that you can finish in due time, and not the whole huge pack, because as of all oolongs, if it is too humid and too much exposure to air, moisture, the quality will reach a peak and then start to decline from there. In humid singapore, the tea easily awakens in a couple of days, and in drier weathers, colder weathers, it might need more time!

I guess that means it shouldn't take too long in Hong Kong .

Yeah, about half an hour.

[victoria3]

Today I added Osmanthus flowers to my moderately priced LuGu from Bird Pick wanting something more from this oolong. The aroma of the dry flowers is refreshingly sweet and floral. After having had a superior grade LiShan from Floating Leaves yesterday, I woke up wanting higher notes. This LuGu is 1/3 the price and is fine as a casual drink but doesn’t have the complexity or excitement of higher grade oolongs. After the 1st steep, I let the tea cool a little and added 1 teaspoon Osmanthus flowers, waited around 1 minute and filtered out the flowers, reusing the flowers after each steep. In the past I’ve found these flowers can get bitter very fast using very hot water. I love the resulting bright color and the flavor was both refreshing and floral, adding a nice layer of complexity. Does anyone else add anything to their oolong?

[jayinhk]

2000s high fire shuixian with Italian spring water. Much more flavorful with good water. Nice, calming energy and thick mouth feel. It's nice to have aged shuixian on hand all the time!

[victoria3]

Continuing with Floating Leaves Spring LiShan, harvested in the Cui Feng area at 1800 meters. With steeping parameters perfected I look forward to having this oolong again. It presents a very buttery and sweet floral liquor. Smooth and aromatic. Best part may be that it has a very long lasting lingering palate.

[debunix]

Interesting tip on reusing the osmanthus flowers. I rarely use them with oolong (more with black teA, but recently have used with bahlyocha). In either case, I've always added them to the pot.


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[jayinhk]

JKTeashop's 2014 Medium Roast Bai Ji Guan. Lovely flavor, but quite mild. Brewing in my 65ml hongni F1 pot from EoT. Still using water from the Italian Alps. Tied for my favorite water along with a lesser-known brand from the French Alps. Both work out to $1.30 a quart, so not too expensive and worth it for the great tea sessions I've had with them.

[victoria3]

Interesting tip on reusing the osmanthus flowers. I rarely use them with oolong (more with black teA, but recently have used with bahlyocha). In either case, I've always added them to the pot.
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I found adding then to the steeping pot resulted in real bitterness. To bring out the sweet floral aspects cooler water is better after steeping leaves in the hot pot. Maybe even adding them to tea for refrigerator would work although I haven't tried that yet. At any rate, you had initially posted using it with oolong, so many thanks for this idea. I like it. I'm now going to try adding some Rose Buds that I have had for a while from Wing Hop Fung.

[victoria3]

JKTeashop's 2014 Medium Roast Bai Ji Guan. Lovely flavor, but quite mild. Brewing in my 65ml hongni F1 pot from EoT. Still using water from the Italian Alps. Tied for my favorite water along with a lesser-known brand from the French Alps. Both work out to $1.30 a quart, so not too expensive and worth it for the great tea sessions I've had with them.

We are lucky here in Santa Monica to have good water only needing slight filtering as a backup. I'm going back east to Chesapeake Bay in a week and now remember my mother's house has ground water that uses a reverse osmosis system. It kills tea, amazingly bad results. So now I too will have to purchase bottled water. In the past nothing tasted right so I just stuck to medium grade oolongs. Let's see if I can find good bottled water this time.

[ethan]

organic Qin-Jing, a gaoshan from Taiwan: This is pleasant but not exciting enough for me. The fresh green taste w/o anything offensive keeps coming through several infusions. My older sister likes it a lot & is drinking many more ounces than usual.