Thanks!kyarazen wrote: yes.. that is a very "southern" way of doing things to achieve the flavour/profile they are looking for.
Hi Bok,Bok wrote:So back to the valleys of Lugu and Dong Ding tea…
All the talk in the group buy got me curious about Chen Hauyings tea.
Got me some heavy roasted Dong Ding. After the recommended awakening procedure (took only about a tea in my climate), I started to brew it.
Finished two sessions before passing on my opinion. One with a porcelain pot, the second with simple Taiwanese glazed clay and porcelain cups.
My comparisons to this tea would be a similarily roasted Lishan from my usual sources, various Dong Ding of unknown provenance which I had been gifted over the years and a Hung Shui oolong from the Jade Leaf. His would probably come closest to CHY Dong Ding, both are charcoal roasted.
What sets CHY’s apart from the others is, apart from the pricetag, the lack of any sour notes which tend to come up in all the others I had. Especially if pushed too hard, or forgotten about. Very clear mouthfeel and some interesting flavours going on. Hints of some flavours I previously had with some very good Laocha. Altogether nicely rounded and very balanced profile. Can‘t put my finger on it but a lot what is sold as DD has a “dirty” ruggedness about it, this tea is the opposite and feels clean.
What I was missing is a bit more throatfeel and aftertaste, but maybe that is due to being a real Dong Ding and thus from a lower elevation? Also not going for as long as I had expected, around 3 very good, six good and a couple more of ok-ish infusions. Either need to change my brewing parameters or stop after six. I have too much tea too drink to max out one session. Some people do that, but I do not see the point of drinking lightly flavoured water
All in all pretty good stuff and definitely something different to most other DD I had.
That blogpost says that competitions raise tea prices; that we benefit & suffer from competitions. When we read about a "winnter", we still may not know all that we want to know about that tea. E.g., we consumers often remain ignorant of whether a tea will provide mouthfeel or abundant pleasant aftertaste. Pay a fortune on-line? Even tasting in person does not tell all.Bok wrote:just found something on the topic http://www.marshaln.com/2016/05/competition-trouble/
Guess that answers a lot of my original question
How old would you say the culture of Dong Ding is in Taiwan?kyarazen wrote:dongding style of making is related to the cultural and tea history of taiwan. one doesnt simply take a dump at this tea profile in preference of lighter oxidations, but of course if there isnt any respect for other's cultures then its altogether another subject.
the heavier oxidation, heavier roast, and the profile of teas along this line, be it wuyi, dancong, dongding, tgy, muzha. apart from tea, i play with fragrances, oud, agarwood oils, my focus is always on the classical, the historical, the culture behind these. some of the oils can be rancid, foul, animalic, fecal, but beautiful in its own right.
it is like sheng pu, i've had enough fun there, the profile of gushu styled tea is a decade to a decade and a half old, not something that i would actively seek out nor shell out big dollars for (having had done a little of that), but everyone has their own preferences and i'm not going to say oolong is superior or inferior to gushu (since the kneading/processing of gushu does make it somewhat "oolongish" on the oxidation scale)
two separate records. one approx mid qing, the other early qing.Tead Off wrote: How old would you say the culture of Dong Ding is in Taiwan?
I believe I mentioned my post as 'subjective'. But you didn't address any of my questions, just added your subjective approach to it which is fine by me. Questioning can be the beginning of discovery. After all, what is tradition or nouveau based on?
in the early days the zhong hua tea culture association of taiwan had branded top 10 teas from taiwan.. dongding is just one of them.. the best were pricey, but other good teas in the list werent much cheaper either. i.e. dongding, wenshan baozhong, baihao, song bo chang qing, muzha tgy, sanxia longjin, alishan zhu lu, gaoshan cha, long quan cha, riyuetan hongchawulong.Bok wrote:I heard that in recent years the weather has been more unpredictable due to the climate change. So one way to cover imperfections in tea leaves is to process them as roasted or black teas. In a greener tea those lower quality leaves could not been hidden as easily.
Dong Ding or roasted teas are also the - if you can call it that - the tea of the street. Working class and older generations prefer it to the greener ones. Go down south or anywhere outside of Taipei and there are a lot more people drinking roasted teas.
One has to remember that until the 80ies DD was the highest elevation and most expensive tea!
Times change...
More info on Dong Ding.kyarazen wrote:in the early days the zhong hua tea culture association of taiwan had branded top 10 teas from taiwan.. dongding is just one of them.. the best were pricey, but other good teas in the list werent much cheaper either. i.e. dongding, wenshan baozhong, baihao, song bo chang qing, muzha tgy, sanxia longjin, alishan zhu lu, gaoshan cha, long quan cha, riyuetan hongchawulong.Bok wrote:I heard that in recent years the weather has been more unpredictable due to the climate change. So one way to cover imperfections in tea leaves is to process them as roasted or black teas. In a greener tea those lower quality leaves could not been hidden as easily.
Dong Ding or roasted teas are also the - if you can call it that - the tea of the street. Working class and older generations prefer it to the greener ones. Go down south or anywhere outside of Taipei and there are a lot more people drinking roasted teas.
One has to remember that until the 80ies DD was the highest elevation and most expensive tea!
Times change...
anyone remembers the black gold high mountain tea? 黑金典藏？
林凤池's descendents and 酥家's 哲园 will give the most authoritative info on dongding origin.Tead Off wrote: More info on Dong Ding.
Yeap. I agree. Taiwan tea can be really really expensive.kyarazen wrote:林凤池's descendents and 酥家's 哲园 will give the most authoritative info on dongding origin.Tead Off wrote: More info on Dong Ding.
price talk makes lesser sense when compared from different vendors, from different regions, different leaf material, season, and each having different markups, profit margins and bubbles. any of the top 10 teas, at the right grades.. can be incredibly expensive.
Well, that is really the nature of business and human behaviour. Nothing is free in life. And we can not expect to have excellent “authentic” tea at a reasonable price by only sitting home and ordering online. Nothing replaces to go and see for yourself in the country of origin. There are lots of interesting things out there that can not be found via the interweb, or are simply unavailable without the proper connections. Even for Taiwanese, a lot of teas are out of reach for the ordinary person.xabi wrote: Yeap. I agree. Taiwan tea can be really really expensive.
Especially if it has to be hyped up elsewhere or take a big detour on its way to the final consumer in order to fill some middleman's pockets for the sake of "service to the community"
