Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

"fog & fur" series: that's funny, Victoria

[victoria3]

"fog & fur" series: that's funny, Victoria

Glad you got the tongue & cheek pun..

[pedant]

dr chen 2011 father's love from ethan, 6g in 80mL hongni, 200°F, short steeps.

beyond the strong but tasteful roast are complexities i have trouble describing.
some red wine and also an aroma that i can only describe as a kind of.. cheesiness. it's something i get from yancha sometimes.
decent amount of sweetness. after a few steeps, it is reminding me of tobacco as well as dry fruit.
i brewed some for my mother, and she thought it was like figs, chocolate, and dates.
to me this tea is special.

[pedant]

'AAA' dongfang meiren from tea-side.
dry aroma in warm gaiwan is overwhelmingly tart and raspberry-like.
did the first infusion too light, and it was also bright berries.
subsequent infusions are more rounded with clove spiciness.

[jayinhk]

Tried some 2016 dancong from a local vendor who is actually Teochew. I asked him what type of dancong it was, and he had no clue. Not a good sign. Aroma wasn't all that from the dry leaves, but I decided to give it a chance anyway.

Not good dancong. It was cheap, and I only bought a tael, so no major loss there. Surprisingly his shuixian is pretty darn good, as is his tieguanyin. Go figure...

[ethan]

Father's Love 2014 from Dr Chen: Writing about this again because the last 2 sessions w/ this, I've had the parameters & teaware working ideally. A subtle but firm base of the flavor of dried fruits & thick red wine combines sweetly w/ the dominant charcoal roast & .... it is too unique to describe well. 92C water w/ tea covering the bottom of my old round yixing for 20, then 20, then 30, & finally 45 seconds or so makes 4 great infusions. I drink half of each infusion by themselves & combine the other halves for a fifth round.

Also have got the parameters going well for donfang meiren (oriental beauty). Same as above but a bit more leaf & water at 94 - 96C in celadon. Very sweet, mild tart fruit flavors move towards maltiness like dian hong or assam black
tea. (My older sister demands I make this for her but won't make it for herself. She only has used teabags & boiling water & at age 71 is not going to change)

Not rinsing these teas but preheating the pots & letting the leaves rest in the heat of the pot for a minute before the initial steeping.

[jayinhk]

Trying a very good--and very expensive--Da Hong Pao from a Hong Kong dealer. This tea is not sold to the public and was offered to me after I tried the higher grade with the dealer and had made a purchase. We later learned that her daughter goes to the high school I graduated from here in HK (small world)!

This is a lovely tea; the dry leaf only hints at the fruitiness that is to come later. First steep is a little astringent, but has a pronounced fruit flavor; stone fruit, orchid and lychee. The second infusion is similarly flavorful, but with less astringency, and there is sweetness on both the tongue and after the swallow. The sweetness returned and lingered for over ten minutes yesterday: very impressive.

I'm switching waters to San Benedetto (Italian spring water) from the Scottish Highland water I was using before. Let's see what infusion three turns out like. I'm brewing Chaozhou gongfu style in a 60ml thin white porcelain gaiwan with two 30ml cups. I would normally use Yixing for DHP, but since I got the gaiwan in a few days ago, I've been using it regularly.

Third infusion was 25-30 seconds and is a little astringent again, but the fruit flavor is pronounced. Some prune/plum notes this time along with the lychee. This infusion has the classic DHP flavor profile I expect. Some almond notes in this infusion too. You definitely don't have to search for the flavor with this tea, which separates the wheat from the chaff. Low grade DHP, whether original bush or blend, is much less flavorful.

Infusion four is much like infusion three, but with less nuttiness. There's something else going on here I can't quite identify--a flavor I can detect, but can't put my finger on.

Infusion five. getting some milk-like notes from the lid, which is interesting. I've never encountered that in DHP before. This infusion is less astringent. Still lots of flavor, but a little less than infusion four and sweeter fruit notes (not sweetness on the palate, just lighter). The milk carries over into the brew. Another good sign. I feel tea should taste like it smells. Still almond notes, too. Lovely.

Infusion six: the leaves are still quite aromatic. This tea has good longevity. Let's see what it's like in the cup. I went 30-40 seconds this time. In infusion six, this is still more flavorful than some DHPs I've tried, but I'd expect that at this price level. Really a very nice tea. Just fruit now; the almond and milk have dissipated. Still smooth on the swallow and only mildly astringent. Let's see if I can get another infusion out of these leaves...

Infusion seven: I'm really feeling the cha qi! I'm glad I had some lasagna and Teochew lo sui tofu before this session (weird combination, I know, but both delicious). I accidentally went 1 min 15 seconds on this infusion. This tea is still well worth drinking. Wow. I don't think I've ever had a DHP with this kind of longevity. There is roast detectable now; it was present all along, but very subtle compared to the flavor of the leaves themselves. Still prune/orchid/lychee DHP flavor (to me, this is what all DHP should taste like).

Infusion eight: Wasn't expecting this kind of longevity, but let's see what happens. Going 1 min 15 again. I might have to come back to this tea later. Definite cha qi here...I feel calm and content. This infusion is astringent and has the lingering sweetness again. Still plenty of flavor and the roast is as present as it was in infusion seven. Really a great tea. I will return to this tea in ten minutes or so and try for infusion nine!

Infusion nine: definitely tea drunk and I'm feeling the caffeine too. Going for two minutes with this infusion to get whatever I can out of the leaves. Still pleasant, but not much left. This tea would be a prime candidate for boiling, which I never do with spent leaves, but I should. Pronounced almond notes after the swallow. Really quite nice from start to end. I feel this tea is worth it. I bought another nice DHP yesterday as well--let's see how they compare!

[debunix]

Sounds like marvelous stuff. I was working on a lovely spicy puerh but before the leaves gave out, decided it was time for more Fushoushan, stuffed into a small Seong-Il pot. Grandpa style, loose in Tokoname pot, stuffed in porcelain pot, delicious every which way.

[jayinhk]

Drinking a 1995 laocong shuixian. High roast, and from a tea company I discovered by chance, even though I've walked through the area hundreds of times and even lived nearby until a year ago. The place is PACKED with Factory 1 Yixings, but with painful prices to boot. Totally droolworthy stuff in there, but I have so many 80s-90s pots (and a few 70s) that I'm only interested if I get a deal. I saw one of my large late 70s pots for sale for US$800. Lovely pot, but no thanks!

This tea is GOOD. A little bitter, but lovely huigan in every infusion. Raisin, prune, and I got a little Concord grape (?!) in infusion two. Minerals in the background too. Just lovely tea. Probably my favorite laocha of the moment. I'm discovering and drinking the best Wuyicha of my life right now because of my new tea venture, and I'm loving every moment of it! Brewing with San Benedetto again (Italian spring water). This is my go to water now. I prefer it to Volvic for aged pu erh and Wuyicha (which are the teas I drink every day, pretty much). It appears as I learn more and talk to more people, I'm getting offered better and better teas, none of which are openly advertised.

[ethan]

. It appears as I learn more and talk to more people, I'm getting offered better and better teas, none of which are openly advertised.

Yes, Jay, that is the best part of buying a lot of tea. I hope on my upcoming 2 weeks in Taiwan when I will buy much < I bought last time, that I don't burn bridges. Perhaps the quantities purchased don't really matter; rather, just try to avoid the biggest affront, not realizing how special a fantastic tea is.

After experimenting w/ green tea early this morning, I am drinking a 50% oxidized TGY bought at the shop attached to the Red Barn (which is not colored red) at Maokong. I used to taste 2 distinct flavors at once, a sweet black & typical green TGY. Now I have a less unique experience drinking this, but it is very good roasted/oxidized TGY.

Short steeping at 85C produced a satisfying green TGY liquor smoothed perfectly by oxidation & roasting 85C. Since Jay had suggested upping temperature for a green tea I have, I upped to 88C which brought produced liquor w/ more dynamic flavor. Really excellent though not as unique as I described it in my post on TeaSwap.

[jayinhk]

. It appears as I learn more and talk to more people, I'm getting offered better and better teas, none of which are openly advertised.

Yes, Jay, that is the best part of buying a lot of tea. I hope on my upcoming 2 weeks in Taiwan when I will buy much < I bought last time, that I don't burn bridges. Perhaps the quantities purchased don't really matter; rather, just try to avoid the biggest affront, not realizing how special a fantastic tea is.

After experimenting w/ green tea early this morning, I am drinking a 50% oxidized TGY bought at the shop attached to the Red Barn (which is not colored red) at Maokong. I used to taste 2 distinct flavors at once, a sweet black & typical green TGY. Now I have a less unique experience drinking this, but it is very good roasted/oxidized TGY.

Short steeping at 85C produced a satisfying green TGY liquor smoothed perfectly by oxidation & roasting 85C. Since Jay had suggested upping temperature for a green tea I have, I upped to 88C which brought produced liquor w/ more dynamic flavor. Really excellent though not as unique as I described it in my post on TeaSwap.

Try the TGY at 95-100C. Is that the TGY we bought in Jan?

[ethan]

Jay, It's the same vendor but tastes different. It's also less expensive. I learned that that family has big farms in Hsinshu & supplies donfang meiren to shops in Pinglin.

At 96C it moves slightly away from green TGY flavor. It's okay but I prefer the 88C brew. 50% oxidized, roasted TGY should be different & so should my boazhong. Yet, I really have nothing to worry about. I can get what I want, just not from where I expect to get it.

At 88C the TGY is very smooth, green oolong flavor; at 92 - 96 the boazhong seems like a smooth, simple, light - medium roasted gaoshan. I should switch the labels.

[ethan]

Opened a 50-gram pack of High Roller this evening. Wow! I never prepared this better. Caught the complexity that I had experienced at Dr Chen's. Flavor of roast, of fresh gaoshan, &.... je ne sais quoi. I don't know that handrolling & traditionally roasting is necessary; however, most of the tea that I like the most has been handrolled & traditionally roasted.

[jayinhk]

Revisiting Chen's traditional charcoal roast dongding (via kyarazen). Wow, this tea is amazing now. The roast has dissipated significantly. Getting sweet plum and coconut notes and this tea is clean with nothing at all unpleasant. Just lovely. The roast was quite dominant earlier this year, but it's now a much more pleasant tea after resting some! This tea is definitely worth the asking price.

[victoria3]

Revisiting Chen's traditional charcoal roast dongding (via kyarazen). Wow, this tea is amazing now. The roast has dissipated significantly. Getting sweet plum and coconut notes and this tea is clean with nothing at all unpleasant. Just lovely. The roast was quite dominant earlier this year, but it's now a much more pleasant tea after resting some! This tea is definitely worth the asking price.

Yes it's great, the wet leaves are super aromatic and beautiful chestnuty earth shades to look at. I'm saving them. Roasted sweet chestnuts, slight camphor, maybe plum, but never had coconut notes appear. Likely your locations humidity interacts with dry leaf to unveil unique properties.
Also, Chen's Charcoal Roasted DaYuLin is a supreme experience, and his Roasted High Mountain tasty as well as a fantastic value.