Roasted oolongs

[teaskeptic]

I find roasted oolongs to be pretty tricky to brew sometimes. I'd like to hear some experiences or suggestions if you've got any.

In particular, I find the first infusion is usually pretty straight-forward, but from then on it can be a toss up as to what happens next.

So, how do you brew your yancha, traditional tgy's, etc... ?

[TIM]

I find roasted oolongs to be pretty tricky to brew sometimes. I'd like to hear some experiences or suggestions if you've got any.

In particular, I find the first infusion is usually pretty straight-forward, but from then on it can be a toss up as to what happens next.

So, how do you brew your yancha, traditional tgy's, etc... ?

Traditional brewing of Yancha and TGY are very different. The more modern style is similar (greener/lighter roasting). Which one are you drinking?

[Tead Off]

I find roasted oolongs to be pretty tricky to brew sometimes. I'd like to hear some experiences or suggestions if you've got any.

In particular, I find the first infusion is usually pretty straight-forward, but from then on it can be a toss up as to what happens next.

So, how do you brew your yancha, traditional tgy's, etc... ?

Can you tell us what you are doing now and what do you find tricky after the 1st brew? Is it just the time of the subsequent brews? This is experimentation with the heat of your water and how strong you like your tea. Also the amount of leaves in the pot vs. the time for infusion has a huge effect.

Often, what I do with a tea is drink only that tea for a day and play with the infusion times, the amount of tea in the pot, and, sometimes changing pots. All pots are not created equal.

[teaskeptic]

Traditional brewing of Yancha and TGY are very different. The more modern style is similar (greener/lighter roasting). Which one are you drinking?

I'm talking about the darker stuff. Basically, anything with a lot of roasting.

Can you tell us what you are doing now and what do you find tricky after the 1st brew? Is it just the time of the subsequent brews?

OK, the basics... For yancha I will fill half my pot/gaiwan with leaves, less than that for roasted rolled teas. First infusion will be about 5 seconds for yancha, 10 seconds for rolled.

Next infusion will be about the same amount of time, maybe slightly longer. Increase by a couple of seconds for the next infusion... Always boiling water.


When I quickly get to a "bad" infusion, it tastes slightly burnt and bitter. As if the tea has already given up all it has to give. This doesn't happen with all teas, but it has happened with very many of them. I will often noticed the same bad taste I'm talking about in the smell of the wet leaves after the first infusion.

[TIM]

Seems like you are into traditional style, tea and brewing alike.

For YanCha, I usually fill the pot 75% with leaves. Boiling water flash rinse, then rest for 1 min. Flash brew, water in n' out, shrimp eyes boiling. Increase your time after the 3rd steeps to 10 sec., adjust to you tolerance after.

For Heavy roasted tgy. I would crush the leaves and fill 1/5 of the bottom with it. Fill up half of the pot with whole balls after, light tap to settle leaves. Again boiling water, gentle flash rinse, rest 30 sec. 3 mins off boiled water for flash brew 1st. add 2-5 sec. onwards.

Let us know if this traditional style might works for you.

[Tead Off]

Hmm. I never use a gaiwan with Yancha and never get bitter teas unless I use too many leaves and steep too long. With gong fu brewing, my first infusion is usually 30sec. I tried using a gaiwan with Da Hong Pao but the difference was enormous compared to clay teapot. Much more complex taste and aroma with pot. Same with other Wuyi teas.

I also crush about 15% of my leaves going into the pot. I do this with all teas. It seems to make a difference with flavor. A Chinese woman tea seller here in BKK showed me this trick that is evidently more common than I knew.

[teaskeptic]

TIM, thanks for the advice. I've tried brewing using those methods, and will continue to do so with the few teas that can stand up to it. The other teas just seem to get even more "exposed" in their inability to last.


Let me ask this: does anyone know what type of taste I'm referring to? Brewing suggestions are good, but I think it would be more useful if someone has actually faced, and possibly fixed the issue at hand.


I don't think there's anything obvious that I'm doing incorrectly. I've pretty much played with the 3 usual parameters, and don't see any other way to tweak them. Do I blame the teas then?

[TIM]

TIM, thanks for the advice. I've tried brewing using those methods, and will continue to do so with the few teas that can stand up to it. The other teas just seem to get even more "exposed" in their inability to last.


Let me ask this: does anyone know what type of taste I'm referring to? Brewing suggestions are good, but I think it would be more useful if someone has actually faced, and possibly fixed the issue at hand.


I don't think there's anything obvious that I'm doing incorrectly. I've pretty much played with the 3 usual parameters, and don't see any other way to tweak them. Do I blame the teas then?

Not all tea are equal. So if you find one that did not stand up for the test. Have another one?

[gingkoseto]

When I quickly get to a "bad" infusion, it tastes slightly burnt and bitter. As if the tea has already given up all it has to give. This doesn't happen with all teas, but it has happened with very many of them. I will often noticed the same bad taste I'm talking about in the smell of the wet leaves after the first infusion.

I usually take it easy with myself, and when I taste "burnt and bitter" (sometimes unpleasant kind of smokey), I simply blame the tea

But did you mean with the same tea, you sometimes get better taste without "burnt and bitter"? If so, it's worth experimenting with brewing. But if the same tea turns out the same burnt and bitter, I would definitely blame the tea. Or it's not bad tea but simply isn't your cup of tea. I personally can't take many heavily roasted oolongs.

Something else worth trying is leaving the roast oolong exposed to air for some time. I first got the idea from ABx and a few tea sellers. I amplify the idea by leaving some roasted oolong in a ginger jar (not as air tight as Mylar bags or regular tea tins) for months. There is a roasted oolong that I previous like but wish it didn't have that smokey flavor. I left it in a ginger jar for months and just tried it today. It turned out great without any smokey flavor

[wyardley]

Yeah - or try just letting the tea rest longer in a sealed container (but not vacuum sealed).

You can also try a more gentle pour - pour from 4-6" above the pot or gaiwan, very slowly and around the rim with a really thin stream of water, so that it takes 10-15 seconds or more to make a circle, and so the pot is full when you reach where you started and go towards the center a little.

[teaskeptic]

You can also try a more gentle pour - pour from 4-6" above the pot or gaiwan, very slowly and around the rim with a really thin stream of water, so that it takes 10-15 seconds or more to make a circle, and so the pot is full when you reach where you started and go towards the center a little.

I will try that, although I think I am being pretty gentle as it is.

Just to clarify, when I say a "burnt/bitter" flavor, I don't mean the charcoal flavor that is typically associated with teas that have been over-roasted. In fact, those teas are usually easier to deal with because they just consistently taste like charcoal. The teas that are usually problematic for me are typically medium roasted, I guess.

For now, I will stick with the "bad tea" explanation :p

[Proinsias]

I find I have this problem when I don't use enough leaf in the pot. I'm usually more in favour of packing in the leaf and having the first few brews a little over powering which then settle down to many flavourful brews.

[Intuit]

Sometimes you get a great thread that answers many questions at once.

I wondered about 'resting' after flash rinse for roasted oolongs. Needing more leaf if the infusions quickly turn bitter and improving extraction by crushing make a lot of sense.

"There is a roasted oolong that I previous like but wish it didn't have that smokey flavor. I left it in a ginger jar for months and just tried it today. It turned out great without any smokey flavor."

This comment echoes a similar observation on Keemuns that need 'aging' to smooth them so that the flavor is richer and the smokey edge milder.

Thanks!

[Proinsias]

I do recall Hobbes mentioning that's better to remove some leaves if you've overdone it than it is to try and add new tea to the batch you have on the go.

edit: the other painful thing I've found is that generally the better, and unfortunately more expensive, the yancha the more leaf you want to cram in to get the best from it.

[ABx]

I generally try to maximize the temperature and use lots of leaf. I had problems with high-fire wulong for a long time and this was what finally opened them up for me.