Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[kuánglóng]

Enjoyed some 5yr old Youhua Xiang Dancong with a friend of mine. Pretty refreshing with amazing grapefruit notes but unfortunately I don't remember where I got it from.

[Zared]

Butterfly Brand TLH. Stumbled upon this in Chinatown recently. I liked the roast level on their DHP so thought this might be similar. Unfortunately its way less roasted. Ok body but not much besides soft floral notes. Worth having around when I want something cheap/simple but I prob won't be reaching for this too often.

[victoria3]

Really liking two new offerings from Hau Ying Chen; Yan Yun Oolong and Charcoal Light Roasted Wild Garden DongDing. The Yan Yun (rock feel/rhyme) may be a result from a trip he took with kyarazen to Wuyi Horsehead Mountain. It is a limited special production with only 30 packs of 15gr produced, I believe it is a High Mountain medium/light roast. It has a very nice profile with complex spicy camphor notes through multiple steeps. The Charcoal Light Roasted Wild Garden DongDing has a similar profile although it is richer and deeper overall. Both are super good.

[jayinhk]

Tried a dancong from a HK vendor who is more famous for pu erh! The vendor has excellent Wuyicha, but I had no idea the family carried dancong until someone suggested it recently. I balked a little at the price since I had to buy 150g, minimum, but I'm glad I did.

This is the best dancong I've had yet! The flavor is clean and balanced, the tea is smooth on the swallow and the bitterness is tolerable, even when the tea is overbrewed. I'll give it another shot with more careful brewing as I was on the computer and forgot about the gaiwan (twice)!

It is from this spring, but I didn't get specifics on the variety of dancong that it is. Appears to be a very good milanxiang and well worth the money IMO! It costs 2.5x the price I pay for drinking-grade dancong direct from Chaozhou, but it is in an entirely different league as far as quality! I won't even bother with the cheaper stuff now as there's really no comparison!

[Teasenz]

I had this meizhan oolong tearecently and it was truly amazing. It's a lesser known rock tea. It's flowery, but the sugary after taste was really surprising.

https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/mei ... k-tea.html

[William]

I am drinking right now a really good grade of unroasted TGY, from this new season's harvest.
I have been told the farmer used a new cultivar, probably as a form of experiment. This man knows how to process tea. The flavors of this TGY are quite remarkable, an halfway between the pineapples flavor of wild DaXueShan and the flowers flavor of some YouLeShan. Good stamina too.
I procured myself only 50 grams though!
I brewed this tea using an early/mid 70s F1 SP, 100 ml. I definitely need to use the 70 ml one next time, since this TGY can be brewed so many times.

[victoria3]

I am drinking right now a really good grade of unroasted TGY, from this new season's harvest.
I have been told the farmer used a new cultivar, probably as a form of experiment. This man knows how to process tea. The flavors of this TGY are quite remarkable, an halfway between the pineapples flavor of wild DaXueShan and the flowers flavor of some YouLeShan. Good stamina too.
I procured myself only 50 grams though!
I brewed this tea using an early/mid 70s F1 SP, 100 ml. I definitely need to use the 70 ml one next time, since this TGY can be brewed so many times.

This sounds very nice William. Any info on farmer or vendor ?

[William]

I am drinking right now a really good grade of unroasted TGY, from this new season's harvest.
I have been told the farmer used a new cultivar, probably as a form of experiment. This man knows how to process tea. The flavors of this TGY are quite remarkable, an halfway between the pineapples flavor of wild DaXueShan and the flowers flavor of some YouLeShan. Good stamina too.
I procured myself only 50 grams though!
I brewed this tea using an early/mid 70s F1 SP, 100 ml. I definitely need to use the 70 ml one next time, since this TGY can be brewed so many times.

This sounds very nice William. Any info on farmer or vendor ?

This TGY comes from a Japanese dealer base in Tokyo who usually sells good quality oolongs from south China; unfortunately he doesn't sell online. He already contacted the farmer for next year's harvest, since this small batch literally sold off within hours.
Maybe next year I will be able to procure more, who knows!

[ethan]

Father's Beginner. I got this oolong in January. Then it was more different than now from the aged Father's Love which is produced in similar fashion from identical leaves. Half a year later Beginner has acquired aged characteristics of of Father's Love (deeper flavors, more body). Lovely tea. In September, if it is still available and cheaper than Love, I'll load up on Beginner.

Thought that what I said above was absolutely so. No, it is not.

In Thailand without all of my accesssories, I steeped Father's Beginner in my water bottle at an unknown temperature for the time it took for me to come from the lobby to my room and got the wonderful tart flavors that differentiate Father's Beginner from Father's Love, especially in the first infusion.

We can think about preparation, plan, etc. but tea will still surprise us. Excellent.

[dizzo]

Chens charcoal medium roast 100yrs garden.
Amazing!!!

[kyarazen]

Chens charcoal medium roast 100yrs garden.
Amazing!!!

could you describe what you liked or disliked?

the farmer needs to keep improving he divided his harvest into 4 separate days this year at 2-3 times more expense than usual, but allowing him to work with smaller quantities achieving better uniformity and focus.

[dizzo]

Chens charcoal medium roast 100yrs garden.
Amazing!!!

could you describe what you liked or disliked?

the farmer needs to keep improving he divided his harvest into 4 separate days this year at 2-3 times more expense than usual, but allowing him to work with smaller quantities achieving better uniformity and focus.

ive never had chens offerings before, so I can only compare to other vendors.
Other roasted teas always seem to have an overpowering roast. I have a hard time tasting past the burnt toast. This has a lovely sweet caramel taste that isn't overpowering. I can taste the layers underneath it. It coats the mouth and throat, giving a long lasting and complex aftertaste. I also found that it has excellent longevity. Still wonderful on my 7th infusion.
Looking forward to trying chens other teas

[chrl42]

Wu Yuan Jian SX..

A hint of a laver..sweet in the end, a good qi and yan yun,
A kind of tea that keeps your back straight and ponder awhile.

Wasn't good in mood today, and good tea is what washes that *all* away.

[victoria3]

I seem to have already almost run out of many of HY Chen's Roasted oolongs that I enjoy in the morning ( 100year garden Charcoal Medium & Heavy Roast, plus Light Roasted Wild Garden DongDing) so put in another order, meanwhile I'm exploring other oolongs I have in my newly organized tea cabinet.

Mountain Tea's 4 Seasons Spring 2016, difficult to brew so lowered temp to 185f through most steeps due to slightly brassy back notes. I liked their medium roasted DongDing special reserve, so thought I'd give their other teas a try, but so far only liked their Jin Xuan, which I may get again. Basically, in this case, you pretty much get what you pay for. Very affordable oolongs that are not stellar, although their roasted DongDing and Jin Xuan are nice. Not sure if this is the case year in year out though. Not sure I want to find out.

To make up for a blah early morning, I pulled out Origin Tea's 2010 Traditional High Fire LiShan Oolong to steep in my 80's F1 Zuni Yu Li. This roasted LiShan is stellar, with rich complex notes of camphor, spices, chestnuts, and intense aromatics especially coming off glass pitcher for a long time afterwards. The roast is sublime, with no notes of charcoal, an elegant experience. Where is Tony? Any news of him?

[JRS22]

Who is this Chen that people are talking about? All my yancha and yancha tea ware are packed away for a renovation project so I'm enjoying it second hand on this thread.

The job should be done mid-October, which is yancha time in my home, so I can still shop for yancha.