Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[kyarazen]

works very well with well made and well stored dancong (3-5% water content)!! its nice showmanship too for those whom like to demonstrate the tea ceremony

to test if the leaf is well stored a leaf can be crushed and rubbed on the palm. if it crushes easily into a fine powder, then its perfect storage, if its "tough" and flexible, it may have picked up excessive moisture.

pictures and blog post about this: http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -fire.html

[bonescwa]

It's good info but I was wondering more how you practically did it... over fire, in a wok, an electric rice cooker, oven, etc

[kyarazen]

It's good info but I was wondering more how you practically did it... over fire, in a wok, an electric rice cooker, oven, etc

exactly like in the video using a lin's ceramic roaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g5hx3n0Xi4

i hold the roaster a little differently though.

[Teaism]

A tea friend dropped by and we tested a few batches of Taiwan tea, Lisha, Alishan, Dong Ding samples etc.etc. Looks like the green movement is very apparent in the newer tea. I used to drink a lot of Taiwan tea in the early 90s and in those days a few leaves in hot water will fill the room with pleasant tea aroma. Hardly can find such quality in the last decade or so.

Luckily I have some good older styles tea to enjoy on regular basis.

Hmmm...the search continues....

Cheers!

[puerhking]

2014 Spring Shan Lin Shi from Hou De on the docket this morning. This leans toward the vegetal with umami notes and basically, no florals. Body is good...with a lingering taste on the palate. I'm glad to get away from the floral character that inhabits many gaoshan teas. Personally I'm liking this one.

[kyarazen]

Drinking high-fired Wuyi Star DHP...been comparing in a 50s low-fired SP and CR high-fired SP, both 3-cup size.

50s one serves clearly better, it's just an idea that wood-fired Yixings match better with Yancha.

which base seal is your 50's SP? any pictures to share of the seal?

btw do you have a close up photo of the clay inside and the spout hole area?

am collating a small "database" on early era hong ni. in the 50s its probably shi-huang type hong ni, CR era is into xiao hong ni already..

[chrl42]

Drinking high-fired Wuyi Star DHP...been comparing in a 50s low-fired SP and CR high-fired SP, both 3-cup size.

50s one serves clearly better, it's just an idea that wood-fired Yixings match better with Yancha.

which base seal is your 50's SP? any pictures to share of the seal?

btw do you have a close up photo of the clay inside and the spout hole area?

am collating a small "database" on early era hong ni. in the 50s its probably shi-huang type hong ni, CR era is into xiao hong ni already..

Sorry, I am currently away from Beijing

I find it's really hard to take high resolution photos with my i-phone 4..but because wert has asked as well....hope you guys can understand!


There is a joint line in the front of the pot inside, not in the back..some 5~60s pots are that way..the clay is very tender..but its nature is pretty similar to zini than zhuni or 6~70s hongni...Taiwanese call this kind of clay as 'Fen Tai' from what I know..there are seen white-ish dots that you cannot sense it with a finger

[wert]

There is a joint line in the front of the pot inside, not in the back..some 5~60s pots are that way..the clay is very tender..but its nature is pretty similar to zini than zhuni or 6~70s hongni...Taiwanese call this kind of clay as 'Fen Tai' from what I know..there are seen white-ish dots that you cannot sense it with a finger

It is nice 矮肚平底 shuiping. Typically of the late 50s-early 60s. You had shown all but the most important shot...

p.s: we are getting off topic.

[chrl42]

There is a joint line in the front of the pot inside, not in the back..some 5~60s pots are that way..the clay is very tender..but its nature is pretty similar to zini than zhuni or 6~70s hongni...Taiwanese call this kind of clay as 'Fen Tai' from what I know..there are seen white-ish dots that you cannot sense it with a finger

It is nice 矮肚平底 shuiping. Typically of the late 50s-early 60s. You had shown all but the most important shot...

p.s: we are getting off topic.

This kind of stuff is far away from any master kinds

Zaoqi Penggai is cheaper than Qing Yin or Gao Tang Po these days, although they were made earlier.


There are blacken spots due to a wood-firing..from what I know, during the earlier days (5~60s) of Factory-1, the factory couldn't afford to get pine woods for firing which is best and had done before the PRC, hence they used other wood materials that caused the pots many blacken spots and seized the time of firing...correct me if I'm wrong

[kyarazen]

There is a joint line in the front of the pot inside, not in the back..some 5~60s pots are that way..the clay is very tender..but its nature is pretty similar to zini than zhuni or 6~70s hongni...Taiwanese call this kind of clay as 'Fen Tai' from what I know..there are seen white-ish dots that you cannot sense it with a finger

from the picture of the internals.. looks good although it would be most informative with a proper macro/close up (haha! asking too much here)

different people from different schools of thought look at different things when validating pots of different eras.

so far i've observed from both qing, to ROC, to factory time, to modern that the internal clay can be very informative when compared to the outside smooth surface, and clay is of utmost priority in my opinion.

way off topic already

[Poseidon]

Today Im sipping some "Grocery store" DaHongPao that comes in those little premeasured packages. Not great tea but the roast helps...i guess.

[kyarazen]

having an alishan oolong as a breakfast drink.

a student brought back some from the eastern tea company in taiwan knowing that i like tea. surprisingly cheap and good!

[drinking_teas]

having an alishan oolong as a breakfast drink.

a student brought back some from the eastern tea company in taiwan knowing that i like tea. surprisingly cheap and good!

a lot of cheap Alishan that's sold in Taiwan is actually high-mountain oolong from other countries - Vietnam and Thailand are the big names, though I know that Yunnan and New Zealand produce high mountain oolong as well. Apparently very similar to Taiwanese oolong, although it lacks the "charm" that Taiwan gives to the teas (unique terroir).

The thing is - Taiwan consumes more tea than they produce. They have to make it up somehow. I have a bag of supposedly real (sourced from a competition judge, legit looking box) competition Alishan, I wonder if it will hold up to some of the wonderful oolongs I got online.

[Tead Off]

a lot of cheap Alishan that's sold in Taiwan is actually high-mountain oolong from other countries - Vietnam and Thailand are the big names, though I know that Yunnan and New Zealand produce high mountain oolong as well. Apparently very similar to Taiwanese oolong, although it lacks the "charm" that Taiwan gives to the teas (unique terroir).

Do they tell you that the tea is produced in Vietnam or Thailand? Is it written on the packaging? Or, are they trying to pass it off as Taiwan origin?

[kyarazen]

a lot of cheap Alishan that's sold in Taiwan is actually high-mountain oolong from other countries - Vietnam and Thailand are the big names, though I know that Yunnan and New Zealand produce high mountain oolong as well. Apparently very similar to Taiwanese oolong, although it lacks the "charm" that Taiwan gives to the teas (unique terroir).

The thing is - Taiwan consumes more tea than they produce. They have to make it up somehow. I have a bag of supposedly real (sourced from a competition judge, legit looking box) competition Alishan, I wonder if it will hold up to some of the wonderful oolongs I got online.

it still boils down to whether the consumer knows what is the exact/proper trait of an alishan oolong though, do you happen to be able to offer any information on this?

non-taiwanese teas are passed off in the guise of taiwanese teas has been going on for an incredibly long time