Back to the fold, tell me what to buy!

[tiohn]

I've been drinking tea off and on for years. For a long time, I mostly drank whatever green teas I could get from the Durango Coffee Company, but I have since moved to the other side of the country. Within the last two years, I discovered Rishi teas as pretty much the only decent tea available to purchase in Raleigh, NC. They were my first introduction to puerh, a tea which I have enjoyed but seem to consume more time and money than I would prefer. Lately, I've been on an oolong kick and have found them in general to be the most satisfying teas I've ever had, if that makes any sense. The most notable teas I've had recently are the Rishi Wuyi, which I really, really enjoy and am seriously considering purchasing a pound of that as an every-day tea. I also splurged on 300 grams of the Ten Ren 913, which I do enjoy as something a bit different, but at $45 for 300 grams, just doesn't seem that special, although I do enjoy the ginseng in it. I haven't warmed to the Rishi Tae Guan Yin yet, but I think I just need a bit more practice with brewing. I've been experimenting with brewing in gaiwan, although I think I'll reserve this for greens and puerhs, and also with a yixing pot that I've had for years but never really used. I don't even have any idea what quality it is, but I'll do a smell test asap. So I'm switching from long steeping times with smaller amounts of tea to longer steeping time with larger amounts in my yixing pot, and am looking forward to the Zojirushi boiler I recently ordered so that I can have a bit more control over water temperature, along with the digital scale that I ordered on a recommendation from another thread.

So after that ramble, here's the deal: I'm looking for more and new-to-me oolongs to try, but am feeling a bit overwhelmed. There are a million teas available from a thousand vendors, and a thousand million opinions. Unfortunately, as a married, full-time student with a child due on two months, time and money are equally short, so I'm going to be lazy and implore the good citizens of teachat to tell me what to try next. I would really like to order three or four oolongs of varying characteristics and as money is short, I'd like to get them all from the same place if possible. I am simply overwhelmed with choices after a few days of reading these forums, so I am imploring you all for suggestions based on the facts that I really like the Rishi Wuyi and would like to try other, better Wuyis since I have a baseline, and that I would also really like to try a few new things as well, so long as they are easy to brew since I'm still working on my technique.

Thanks!

Edit:
I stumbled across this thread AFTER starting this one, but I think it gives a lot of what I'm looking for. I may place an order from teacuppa.com, but feel free to add further suggestions.

[Herb_Master]

Did you see this thread

I gave some options on the 4 Different Regions from the same supplier, 2 suppliers, for someone on a budget

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=7561

[Ron Gilmour]

Greetings!

Seven Cups Tea has a series of tea-education videos, several of which concern Chinese oolongs. I haven't bought anything from them yet, but I have enjoyed their website.

[greenisgood]

im kind of an oolong noob myself but i just made my first purchase from a Hou De online and i'm very impressed. its not that cheap but im sure all their stuff is good. and it was delivered really fast.

[Herb_Master]

im kind of an oolong noob myself but i just made my first purchase from a Hou De online and i'm very impressed. its not that cheap but im sure all their stuff is good. and it was delivered really fast.

Yes there are more than a dozen reputable oolong suppliers out there as recognised by members of this forum.

If the seeker is looking for a budget priced entry to oolong they are better looking at places like DragonTeaHouse and TeaCuppa

But where happy to pay a decent price SevenCups, Hou De and TeaHabitat come into their own.

All these and others give excellent Oolongs.

[tiohn]

I received my order from TeaCuppa today, 50g each of the 2007 Rou Gui and the Lao Cong Shui Xian.

Finding proper brewing information has been a nightmare, but I ended up brewing the Rou Gui first. I put enough in my gaiwan to cover the bottom evenly and then brewed for 45 seconds in 208 degree water, with following infusions of 1:30, 1:30, 1:45, 2:00, and 2:30. This tea was very aromatic with mild cinnamon and tasted somewhat buttery. It was lighter bodied than I expected (hence the much longer subsequent steepings), so I'll try more leaves next time. It brewed up a fairly pale yellow liquor. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I'm wondering if my expectations of the body were off.

I just finished the first steeping of the Lao Cong. I used about twice as much tea as with the Rou Gui and steeped for 45 seconds. This one is much more full bodied (perhaps due to using more leaves) and has a lot of chocolate flavor. I'm looking forward to the next few steepings.

So far, I am very happy with my first forays into oolong outside of the Rishi Wuyi.

[Herb_Master]

I received my order from TeaCuppa today, 50g each of the 2007 Rou Gui and the Lao Cong Shui Xian.

Finding proper brewing information has been a nightmare, but I ended up brewing the Rou Gui first. ................


I just finished the first steeping of the Lao Cong. I used about twice as much tea as with the Rou Gui and steeped for 45 seconds. ..............

So far, I am very happy with my first forays into oolong outside of the Rishi Wuyi.

Glad you have had an enjoyable start!
And that your first brews have been successful!

I have had TC's LC Shui Xian.

Rou Gui [from any vendor] is high on my list of wants, but I have yet to acquire any. Tell us more about your TC RG when you have found YOUR ideal way of brewing it!

Imen on brewing DanCong
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/ ... -cong.html

Suggests varying one's brewing approach for New teas, those 5years aged or more and again for those aged 20 years or more - but she then goes on to describe the preferred brewing times and quantities for Older Bushes.

Can anyone confirm if Imen's approach to DanCong is generically likely to hold true, for New , Short Aged, Long Aged and Old Bush Wuyis ?

[tiohn]

Huh. The LC Shui Xian seems have given everything up in the first brew, especially the chocolate notes. The second and third rounds have been lackluster. The Rou Gui definitely held on longer.

[Beidao]

I like my Rou Gui to be reddish-brown, not pale yellow. You should probably try more leaves. How full were the gaiwan when your leaves had expanded?

[Bubba_tea]

You should get a gram scale. I don't think you're using enough leaf, as you should probably get at least 5-7 good cups.. unless it's just not very good tea.

We've been talking about this in another post - but start at 7gm for 100-120ml gaiwan, 9gm for a 150ml etc, and use boiling (or near - 205') water, probably 15-30 seconds for the first two brews. If it's too weak, add time, too strong, subtract.

One guideline is to use 1-2gm / oz (or 30ml). Personally, I'd start at 1gm / oz since it's much easier to deal with and prevent going bitter when starting out. Just covering the bottom with the large leaves of rou gui or other non-rolled tea is not going to be enough.

[tiohn]

Thanks for the information. I determined that my gaiwan holds 100-120 ml of water when empty, so I measured out about 7.5 grams of the RG and steeped it for 30 seconds. I guess I'm going to have to accept that my 50g of tea isn't going to last nearly as long as I would like, because this made a vastly better cup of tea, with some nice honey notes and absolutely no bitterness. From what I saw yesterday, I know the leaves aren't fully unfurled after just one steeping, but the my gaiwan is about half full. I expect that after one or two more steepings, they'll nearly fill the gaiwan.

Thank you again for the help. I look forward to trying the LC again with more leaves.

And now that I do the math, even using more tea, I'm still only spending a little over .25 per cup assuming I get 7 cups from 7 grams of the Rou Gui.

[Herb_Master]

Thank you again for the help. I look forward to trying the LC again with more leaves.

And now that I do the math, even using more tea, I'm still only spending a little over .25 per cup assuming I get 7 cups from 7 grams of the Rou Gui.

It sounds like you are getting hooked
Welcome to the club!

[Tea Noob]

I just got an order in from TeaCuppa myself. I got 5 samples. TGY, Dong Ding, Oriental Beauty, cui yu, and Dahong Pao. The package arrived very quickly considering I got the cheapest shipping, around $5. However, the packaging is not great. The tea packaging remind me of a high school drug dealer with the cigarette cellophane that is burned with a lighter to seal it. It was sent in a small padded envelope, so quite a bit of my tea is dust from being crushed along the way.

[Bubba_tea]

LOL - thanks for the visual!

[JasonC]

I just got an order in from TeaCuppa myself. ... SNIP ... However, the packaging is not great. The tea packaging remind me of a high school drug dealer with the cigarette cellophane that is burned with a lighter to seal it. It was sent in a small padded envelope, so quite a bit of my tea is dust from being crushed along the way.

Oh my! I just had to laugh, awesome description of the erm packaging methods!

--Jason