Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[the_economist]

Nice plate (and teapot ), economist!

Thanks!

A wonderful Dancong, multiple subtle baking with very nice and balance baking aroma with lingering sweetness and full bodied. A nice tea friend shared half kilo with me at reasonable price.
Today is a really tea buying day, half kilo of very high grade Dong Ding for aging and some Gykoru and Japanese green tea. The Dancong sweetness still lingering in my taste bud after a few hours. A fulfilling tea day.

Cheers!

Is the Dancong for aging too?

[puerhking]

2011 Taiwanese Shui Xian from Hou De - Roast is still prevalent in the first four or so brews...but it is balanced. Later brews are very tasty - mildly floral with some minerality. Good stuff.

[Teaism]

A wonderful Dancong, multiple subtle baking with very nice and balance baking aroma with lingering sweetness and full bodied. A nice tea friend shared half kilo with me at reasonable price.
Today is a really tea buying day, half kilo of very high grade Dong Ding for aging and some Gykoru and Japanese green tea. The Dancong sweetness still lingering in my taste bud after a few hours. A fulfilling tea day.

Cheers!

Is the Dancong for aging too?

Yes I just load them in a antique pewter canister and aged it from there. Done that before and it aged well into another character that is nice as well. I probably throw in 3 pax of 200cc oxygen absorber and some moisture absorber for the start as the original packaging seems compromised. The tea taste very good and nice so it is a good start.

Most my other Yancha is sealed in individual 50gm foil bags so that I can open them in smaller quantity when I use them in future. This way, I don't have to disturb the rest of the tea. If the quantity is smaller eg like 500gm of the Dancong, I would just dump them into pewter canister, maybe in one or two lot.

Cheers!

[чай]

Pinglin Aged Baozhong gong fu style. Enya on the background.

[shah82]

I think that yancha is the only non-balled wulong that ages well as a group. Milan dancong, of the heartier sort, also ages well. And yeah, for dancongs, I think it either needs more roast, or if lighter processing, should have a strong and proper bitterness.

Dongdings, on the other hand, always been happy with those aged teas.

[wyardley]

I think that yancha is the only non-balled wulong that ages well as a group.

I think the varietal (and how the processed tea is shaped) is less important than the processing style and the overall quality of the tea. For example, many baozhongs (generally the type with a bit more traditional style of processing) age very well. And you'll find most types of wiry oolongs in a range of styles. With Phoenix teas, it seems like maybe the style is swinging back away from the super green ones a bit.

"Ages well" is also very much a matter of personal taste. Some people prefer a more sweet / toasty / caramelized taste, whereas other people prefer the more funky / sour type aged oolongs.

Anyway, I have had plenty of aged dancong that I like very well.

[shah82]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of aged baozhongs.

[Muadeeb]

I've heard that green balled oolongs don't age well and go flat over time, yet I also see some aged versions. I just stocked up on some spring 2013 Lishan from Red Blossom, one of the sweetest teas I've had. Would aging heighten or lessen the sweetness?

[bonescwa]

If I have a ton of some green oolong and I know I'll just keep it, I just do the rice cooker roasting method and it definitely gets sweeter and changes color. But I do this with random Seadyke or other cheap stuff that tastes good to me, just as an experiment mainly.

[bonescwa]

And hou de was selling some aged baozhong that I thought was great, although I can see how it's not for everyone

[bagua7]

I've heard that green balled oolongs don't age well and go flat over time...

Not only that, they do it quite quickly too. One of the downsides of this particular kind of tea, I am thinking here of the high-mountain TW variety.

Anyway, I have been brewing (and liking them a lot) in the last couple of days a couple of dancongs: Lao Cong Ye Sheng - JTS and also YS/Mi Lan Xiang AA grade - YS.

[SilentChaos]

I've heard that green balled oolongs don't age well and go flat over time...

Not only that, they do it quite quickly too. One of the downsides of this particular kind of tea, I am thinking here of the high-mountain TW variety.

AFAIK, provided that they aren't nuclear green to start with, and that they've been stored in airtight containers, they should age alright after the initial 5 to 7ish years (they taste pretty ugly during that period).

[debunix]

Hm....idea: take the green oolongs that occasionally get lost behind others and lose their fine bloom, and combine them in a tin, and wait, and then dip into them......can't be any more wasteful than my attempts to roast them a little, which have generally been pretty unsuccessful.

[bonescwa]

Hm....idea: take the green oolongs that occasionally get lost behind others and lose their fine bloom, and combine them in a tin, and wait, and then dip into them......can't be any more wasteful than my attempts to roast them a little, which have generally been pretty unsuccessful.

I feel like it worked out for me, I used cheap green TGY to practice with. I heated the tea in a rice cooker for a couple of days and then fried it in small batches in a wok over high heat until there was a very different smell and color, but no burning. Is this the basic principle of roasting or am I missing something?

[William]

Jin Xuan from Meishan, 1200 m.
Good.