Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[wert]

Zheng Yan Que She, quite fragnant and durable in brewing..

The plate is getting more and more rare.

[chrl42]

Zheng Yan Que She, quite fragnant and durable in brewing..

The plate is getting more and more rare.

I heard Ge kiln plates are popular for Gongfu, just trying to see whether it matches or not

[JRS22]

Does tea taste better in a beautiful, well made cup? The one pictured above is from Shawn of Greenwood Studios, on the occasion of its first tea outing.

I'm not sure I did a fair test today, as I've been enjoying a sample of 2011 handmade bei dou yi hao from EOT. I didn't appreciate the quality of this tea when I first purchased it, but I have enough experience now with lesser yanchas to begin to.

[debunix]

There is a lot of research to prove that wine is rated better by people who drink it from more prestigious bottles--why not tea? Drinking from a special cup certainly adds to my overall happiness, and it might well add to the flavor of the tea.

This morning, enjoying an overnight session with some dark roast TGY from a beautiful chawan by Shawn McGuire. Tastier than from a generic white mug? Who knows? It's definitely tasty and pleasing.

[Noonie]

There is a lot of research to prove that wine is rated better by people who drink it from more prestigious bottles--why not tea? Drinking from a special cup certainly adds to my overall happiness, and it might well add to the flavor of the tea.

This morning, enjoying an overnight session with some dark roast TGY from a beautiful chawan by Shawn McGuire. Tastier than from a generic white mug? Who knows? It's definitely tasty and pleasing.

I would have to think that it could make the tea seem to taste better. Your eyes looking at the vessel is using one of your senses, and while eyes are not directly involved in the process of drinking tea, if your attuned to such things (I.e., not a cold hearted person) it has to count. I think where it gets fuzzy is where the price you paid comes in...than your just fooling yourself.

[Potapka]

BTW, has anyone managed to find any decent TG at Ali? I've tried ordering TG there like 4-5 times, got poor to mediocre results, even buying at 'widely recommended' Grandness shop. TG I got was sort of yellowish and looked pretty old.
(I'm still geting nice puers from Ali though. I prefer Ali at the moment due to its flexible payment system and straight delivery to my country)

[Poseidon]

...dark roast TGY from a...

Really? Brewing up really light in the liquor! Interesting.

[debunix]

These were late infusions, basically sweetwater stage, as I kept pouring water through the leaves to try to get the shot. Earlier infusions were amber, but as I nearly always brew my tea on the dilute side, never especially dark.

[debunix]

Jiri Mountain Hwang-Cha from Morning Crane tea: I love a tea that I can rely on no matter what, and this one delivered when I did not have a chance to start the leaves with properly hot water, but had to use the water cooler whose hot tap dispenses water 150-180 degrees....and it still shone. Fruity plummy delicious.

[kyarazen]

having some more fun exploring the boundaries/extreme conditions of "gongfu tea", a heavy roasted shuixian dancong that had undergone some experimental "aging" for the roasted notes to disappear.

pot packed totally full with leaves to the brim, followed by four core crushings. a recent fancy of 花货 style pots. a mid-light brew despite so much leaf

[ethan]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

[BW85]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

Read his blog post on ChouZhao gongfu. Its just crushing the leaves in the center with your index finger

[Tead Off]

having some more fun exploring the boundaries/extreme conditions of "gongfu tea", a heavy roasted shuixian dancong that had undergone some experimental "aging" for the roasted notes to disappear.

pot packed totally full with leaves to the brim, followed by four core crushings. a recent fancy of 花货 style pots. a mid-light brew despite so much leaf

Nice blog, Kyarazen. Very informative and well presented. Congrats!

[j.p.rich]

Keeping with the recent Tea Urchin theme for me, 5g of Old Bush Zi Lan Xiang dancong. Using a zisha pot instead of a gaiwan for the first time with this one. A bit more body, a touch less aroma. Win/win either way.

[kyarazen]

kyarazen, "followed by four core crushings" I don't understand what you mean.

with a pot full of leaves, in theory there would be a limitation to how much the leaves can expand, if the leaves have no space to expand, water cannot enter the leaves much, it limits the amount of tea substances dissolved.

since the leaf i used was of the shuixian cultivar, made the "dancong" way, most of the leaves are whole, a bit of crushing in the core creates some space for leaf expansion, and the crushed bits will add weight to the body