Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

Heard from a few people who are tea-trustworthy that Lin Mao Sen is not a very good place to buy tea, at least not as a foreigner...

Lin Mao Sen is not always friendly at all but sometimes is very friendly. For Taipei, in my limited experience, prices are good & there is a lot to choose from.
Store next door is very friendly but was silly. I did buy a decent & not very overly priced gaoshan there once.

I agree that trip to Taiwan which includes sourcing tea, should include going South. Time does not always allow it obviously.

[victoria3]

This afternoon I was lucky to enjoyed two oolongs that Ferg generously included in a batch of pots I got from him; Mountain Tea: Medium Roast Dong Ding Oolong, Special Reserve & Tony's Origin 2014 102K DaYuLing.

The Mountain Tea: Medium Roast DongDing is from QingXin 1400mt. It is very well priced and has a somewhat complex flavor profile; perfumed aromatics in wet leaves, with a rich musky spicy liquor trailing into warm chestnuts and peppermint... The leaves are not as beautiful as Chen's and the liquor is a bit thinner but it is very good at any rate.

I was happily blown away by Tony's Origin 2014 102K DaYuLing. Usually DYL is too light for me but this one is stellar; it is rich with a sweet warm chestnut profile, smooth as silk, and long lingering profile. In 2013 I did the Origin Otti 19 Chip organized and had a chance to try Tony's 2013 Spring DYL102K. Unfortunately, back then I was less experienced with steeping oolongs, and traveling with water that wasn't great, so I was pleasantly surprised that this one was so rich, it made me smile. Thank You Ferg! oh and Tony of course.

[john.b]

I was only in four shops, and only bought tea in two, and I only spent two full days in Taiwan. I would've made it further in spite of that time limit but I had two young kids along with to take care of, and we were working through an 11 hour time difference jet lag, so those two days went quickly. We had just spent a bit over two weeks back in the US and this stop was just a long layover to look around.

Why would that shop be a bad place to buy tea for foreigners? They spoke English, so I'm curious as to what any other difference would be for foreigners versus locals.

Of course I can't judge it against the range of other shops that get mentioned there, since the other two shops I visited were just standard commercial places, with the typical dozen general tea types on hand. I can speculate, and offer my impression, although it's off-subject a little here without actually saying more about an oolong I'm drinking now. It seemed if someone was interested in the range of normal or above average commercial teas it would be ideal, and a good value, and if they wanted to find the types of rare teas that never make it out of Taiwan they'd be in the wrong place.

[jayinhk]

I was only in four shops, and only bought tea in two, and I only spent two full days in Taiwan. I would've made it further in spite of that time limit but I had two young kids along with to take care of, and we were working through an 11 hour time difference jet lag, so those two days went quickly. We had just spent a bit over two weeks back in the US and this stop was just a long layover to look around.

Why would that shop be a bad place to buy tea for foreigners? They spoke English, so I'm curious as to what any other difference would be for foreigners versus locals.

Of course I can't judge it against the range of other shops that get mentioned there, since the other two shops I visited were just standard commercial places, with the typical dozen general tea types on hand. I can speculate, and offer my impression, although it's off-subject a little here without actually saying more about an oolong I'm drinking now. It seemed if someone was interested in the range of normal or above average commercial teas it would be ideal, and a good value, and if they wanted to find the types of rare teas that never make it out of Taiwan they'd be in the wrong place.

That's exactly it, and the premium they charge for fame

[jayinhk]

Drinking an excellent green tieguanyin from Yuhu Village in Anxi. I've had some really poor green TGY in China (drinking with locals in Hainan)--this stuff is moderately priced and is very clean and pleasant. The stuff in Hainan made me confused and nauseous. This TGY, on the other hand, has no bitterness or sourness, even when brewed at full boil, and interesting spearmint action from the chlorophyll. Normally I wouldn't even try a very green Anxi TGY after my experiences in Hainan, but this stuff is actually excellent and something I would reach for if I had it around as it is flavorful and balanced. Interestingly here in Hong Kong, this kind of very green tieguanyin is never sold by old school vendors since there's less of a market for it, but the green stuff's incredibly popular on the Mainland, of course. I'm quite happy with this farm's quality.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPXTEXeDd8J ... =tealifehk

[Bok]

Why would that shop be a bad place to buy tea for foreigners? They spoke English, so I'm curious as to what any other difference would be for foreigners versus locals.

A tea friend of mine went there. They told him a lot of bullshit about tea which were not true. As you said, don’t expect to find any treasures in there. In any case if you don’t have much time and want to see a range of teas, probably not the worst address either… In my experience, most shops are a challenge for foreigners, most usually do not offer their good stuff straight away. Takes some luck and time. In Taipei, what adds to it is the already much higher price. But if you usually buy online those prices will probably not shock you

P.S. I feel you on traveling with kids… under those circumstances you did pretty well with two tea shops!

[john.b]

P.S. I feel you on traveling with kids… under those circumstances you did pretty well with two tea shops!

I was in four shops, and only bought tea in two, which took some doing.

With 11 hour jet lag factoring in I used the time allocated for an afternoon nap to go to two different places in the city, I just didn't like the teas at the first stop, really limited commercial offerings. My brain wasn't firing on all cylinders and I didn't get a sim card with data access to help with navigation so I didn't make it straight to either shop out of the metro stations.

The only glitch was not going to a planned night market outing hours later due to crashing. I hadn't been eating or sleeping much for the past day and it caught up to me. I probably would have bought completely different teas on a week-long solo visit there but all in all it went really well.

[jayinhk]

P.S. I feel you on traveling with kids… under those circumstances you did pretty well with two tea shops!

I was in four shops, and only bought tea in two, which took some doing.

With 11 hour jet lag factoring in I used the time allocated for an afternoon nap to go to two different places in the city, I just didn't like the teas at the first stop, really limited commercial offerings. My brain wasn't firing on all cylinders and I didn't get a sim card with data access to help with navigation so I didn't make it straight to either shop out of the metro stations.

The only glitch was not going to a planned night market outing hours later due to crashing. I hadn't been eating or sleeping much for the past day and it caught up to me. I probably would have bought completely different teas on a week-long solo visit there but all in all it went really well.

With all you had to contend with, it sounds like you did just fine to me! For next time, you can get a prepaid SIM with data right at the airport.

Had a funny experience in Jan...went into a mobile phone store and tried to get a SIM and they said they were all out. Whipped out my British passport and HKID and all of a sudden they had SIM cards again...

[john.b]

Really it makes sense to buy a tourist SIM anywhere you go now. They're only around $20 in most places, and if you limit data use by doing more with hotel wifi--and the like; some places have free tourist access, as Taipei had set up--a couple of Gigabytes goes a long way, perfect for maps use, communications, and checking on details.

But I just visited three major cities in two weeks without doing that, brutal stuff. My wife has techno-phobe leanings, a bizarre aversion to maintaining access, and since we spent so little time in all three places passing on that common sense step sort of made more sense. In Washington DC it didn't matter; it's easy to get around, and we only spent a few days at the Smithstonian (but two is really enough). It doesn't take many half-hours wasted walking the wrong direction out of a metro station to add up for that $20 investment to pay off though.

[jayinhk]

Really it makes sense to buy a tourist SIM anywhere you go now. They're only around $20 in most places, and if you limit data use by doing more with hotel wifi--and the like; some places have free tourist access, as Taipei had set up--a couple of Gigabytes goes a long way, perfect for maps use, communications, and checking on details.

But I just visited three major cities in two weeks without doing that, brutal stuff. My wife has techno-phobe leanings, a bizarre aversion to maintaining access, and since we spent so little time in all three places passing on that common sense step sort of made more sense. In Washington DC it didn't matter; it's easy to get around, and we only spent a few days at the Smithstonian (but two is really enough). It doesn't take many half-hours wasted walking the wrong direction out of a metro station to add up for that $20 investment to pay off though.

Definitely--I used to have a coin pocket in my wallet full of SIM cards. Dumped em in Vietnam a few months ago since my current phone uses micro SIMs and the old ones were no good. I feel naked without data access! Google Maps was invaluable in Siem Reap. I used it to cruise around the city and to tour around Angkor and back.

[ethan]

Wang Tea Co.'s special oriental beauty: I think I wrote about this in the traveling in Taiwan thread. I will again say this is special, but more importantly another example of a tea that gives very different drinks w/ different preparation that are both enjoyable.

Sweetness & characteristics of darker oolong get subdued when temperature is lowered. More leaf makes it easier to taste all of the nuances. I am catching the greenness, the altitude; yet, it is o.b. but could be taken for Darjeeling....

Preference is definitely for much less leaf & probably more heat but this is very good & a refreshingly different o.b. this way.

[victoria3]

Enjoying a calm session with Floating Leaves Spring LiShan; wow this is rich buttery smooth with warm chestnuty taste and high mineral notes appearing into third, fourth steeps. Good energy

[jayinhk]

Farmer Chen's Spring '16 Charcoal Roasted Dongding in an 80ml hongni pot while I reroast some dancong from this spring that was utterly flat from the Teochew tea dealer downtown--I think the humidity got into it. Went from 100-120-140C. 140 brought out quite a bit of pleasant buttery sweet orchid/osmanthus aroma, so I stopped at 140 before it got too toasty. I'll let it rest for a few months and then see what I have. It actually smells good now, so it probably was the humidity. The dealer had a few jins in a canister that might have held 10 jin, and he had the tea inside covered over with paper. I think my little reroast should have woken it up sufficiently for it to be pleasant drinking when I revisit it.

As for the dongding, I swear I can taste the longan in it; but maybe it's just mellowed out orchid/osmanthus that I'm mistaking for longan since I know it was longan charcoal roasted.

[victoria3]

Jay, Is your farmer Chen, Chen Hua Yin or another farmer?.... reading about your re-roasting reminds me that I always use a preheated pot, swirling the tea leaves for a few minutes, just to smell the sweet aromatics coming of warmed leaves. Do other people do this also?

I am hooked on Chen Hua Yin's Traditional Mid Roasted Dongding- Spring 2016, it is a superior experience. I like it so much that his Fall version seems to be a little bit in it's shadow.
His higher priced Charcoal Roasted DaYuLin Spring Oolong offers a slightly different aromatic and flavor profile. It is a more refined experience (which is neither better nor worse). It has highly perfumed aromatics coming off the wet leaves. During my first session with this oolong I pulled out my kit of essential oils in an attempt to identify what scents I was smelling and tasting. Unfortunately the essential oils were too powerful, like a bulldozer canceling out any aroma and flavor profile from the tea. Now after several sessions trying it I can say it has a lighter liquor with a powerful sweet aroma that lingers inside glass serving pitcher for a very long time. Sweet fragrant fruit notes? Not a charcoal roasted flavor, rather elegant aromatic musk? Sweet full mouth feel ...brothy. Complex, intoxicating......

[jayinhk]

Jay, Is your farmer Chen, Chen Hua Yin or another farmer?.... reading about your re-roasting reminds me that I always use a preheated pot, swirling the tea leaves for a few minutes, just to smell the sweet aromatics coming of warmed leaves. Do other people do this also?

I am hooked on Chen Hua Yin's Traditional Mid Roasted Dongding- Spring 2016, it is a superior experience. I like it so much that his Fall version seems to be a little bit in it's shadow.
His higher priced Charcoal Roasted DaYuLin Spring Oolong offers a slightly different aromatic and flavor profile. It is a more refined experience (which is neither better nor worse). It has highly perfumed aromatics coming off the wet leaves. During my first session with this oolong I pulled out my kit of essential oils in an attempt to identify what scents I was smelling and tasting. Unfortunately the essential oils were too powerful, like a bulldozer canceling out any aroma and flavor profile from the tea. Now after several sessions trying it I can say it has a lighter liquor with a powerful sweet aroma that lingers inside glass serving pitcher for a very long time. Sweet fragrant fruit notes? Not a charcoal roasted flavor, rather elegant aromatic musk? Sweet full mouth feel ...brothy. Complex, intoxicating......

Sounds lovely! Yes, Chen Hua-Yin's Spring 2016 Mid-Roasted DD. Still have most of the can left. It appears to be falling off some--could be the humidity.

I like to smell the aromatics coming off dry leaf in a prewarmed pot for sure, and do that regularly. Some people actually wake their tea up this way and even pour water over the pot with dry leaf in it to raise temperature some (without getting water into the pot).

The DYL sounds good, but I'll hold off on any Taiwanese tea purchases until I get over there again I think. Prices in person tend to be much lower and there is lots of good tea to be had in TW!