What is the taste of "age" ?

[futurebird]

Aged liu an.
Aged Oolongs.
Aged Sheng.

Is there anything common to the taste and aroma of aged teas?

Is it true that sheng puerh is the tea most likely to improve with age?

Is a part of the appeal of old teas in the connection with the past? not just flavors?

[Evan Draper]

Gold Bond Medicated Powder.

[Evan Draper]

Haha, jk. I await the replies of those more experienced than I, but I will venture an honest reply. I think anaerobic aging produces a common taste profile in several different kinds of teas. You find this in aged oolongs but I have had it in Liuan too. It's sticky sweet and perfumey, a little raisiny. (Jasmones? Somebody marshal the aroma compounds) And I'm sure you've tasted "wet-stored" age: you can make a blasted mold-scape out of any tea with a lot of air and humidity.

The few significantly aged teas I've had (that didn't qualify for the above) also tasted similar to each other, but others would be able to describe it better. I note the consistency first, a deep, smooth soup. Medicinal.

I think the earlier stages of puerh probably create more disparity because you're tasting that big-leaf variety (don't let on, but it's assamica) more than anything else. Somebody else can enumerate those stages.

[BioHorn]

Grandparents old furniture smell

[kyarazen]

Aged liu an.
Aged Oolongs.
Aged Sheng.

Is there anything common to the taste and aroma of aged teas?

Is it true that sheng puerh is the tea most likely to improve with age?

Is a part of the appeal of old teas in the connection with the past? not just flavors?

old camphor wood furniture, that aged woody vanillic note..

if a tea goes stale, the only redemption is when lignin starts to breakdown.

there's a plum sour note but i'll usually avoid the plummy sour notes..

[futurebird]

LOL I think some of you have been drinking the puerh with the yellow mold.

[futurebird]

Aged liu an.
Aged Oolongs.
Aged Sheng.

Is there anything common to the taste and aroma of aged teas?

Is it true that sheng puerh is the tea most likely to improve with age?

Is a part of the appeal of old teas in the connection with the past? not just flavors?

old camphor wood furniture, that aged woody vanillic note..

if a tea goes stale, the only redemption is when lignin starts to breakdown.

there's a plum sour note but i'll usually avoid the plummy sour notes..

I think this describes the taste... the aroma will often be more floral...honey.

[BioHorn]

Aged liu an.
Aged Oolongs.
Aged Sheng.

Is there anything common to the taste and aroma of aged teas?

Is it true that sheng puerh is the tea most likely to improve with age?

Is a part of the appeal of old teas in the connection with the past? not just flavors?

old camphor wood furniture, that aged woody vanillic note..

if a tea goes stale, the only redemption is when lignin starts to breakdown.

there's a plum sour note but i'll usually avoid the plummy sour notes..

I love that that aged woody vanillic note.. And actually am into some plummy notes in aged DC and some balled oolongs. (And no...no yellow pu, just yellow fu!)

[jayinhk]

Aged oolongs always taste like cinnamon to me!

[wyardley]

For me, the ideal of aged tea is a kind of integrated taste that just tastes "old", something that's complex, but hard to describe or pick apart.

[Rui]

Yumminess!

Now seriously, tea's astringency tends to break down with age and therefore improving smoothness and possibly some sweetness. There is also a general change in the taste of the tea varying from tea to tea and the way it has been stored.

[Evan Draper]

Aged oolongs always taste like cinnamon to me!

yay like cookies

[William]

Aged oolongs always taste like cinnamon to me!

Agree!!
I thought I was the only one!

[djtanng]

My experience with aged sheng pu-erh and shu pu-erh is this: I throw out the first 10 second brew to remove as much of that musty wet basement aroma as possible (I believe this is common in China), in other words I "wash" the tea.

The second brew is really the first brew for me, and that's where I taste the flavors that I most enjoy in pu-erh, like earthy wet forest floor after rain, fresh mushrooms, woody, moss, and even honey. That's just what I get from it and I've only been drinking pu-erh for about a year.

I also have an aged oolong from 1963 that to me tastes just like a random aged pu-erh.

I also learned that letting some black teas from Yunnan age for about 2 years gives it smooth caramel notes.

[mcrdotcom]

My experience with aged sheng pu-erh and shu pu-erh is this: I throw out the first 10 second brew to remove as much of that musty wet basement aroma as possible (I believe this is common in China), in other words I "wash" the tea.

The second brew is really the first brew for me, and that's where I taste the flavors that I most enjoy in pu-erh, like earthy wet forest floor after rain, fresh mushrooms, woody, moss, and even honey. That's just what I get from it and I've only been drinking pu-erh for about a year.

I also have an aged oolong from 1963 that to me tastes just like a random aged pu-erh.

I also learned that letting some black teas from Yunnan age for about 2 years gives it smooth caramel notes.

Haha that's the first time I've ever heard somebody suggest "mushrooms" as a tasting note! Although now that you say it, I can see what you mean :O