Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[Tead Off]

I've had a similar experience with most of their yanchas - not impressed. I like their dancongs better. Among the yanchas, I preferred their imperial shui jin gui and their bai ji guan.

Just tried their medium-high roast Shui Xian. It actually had an unpleasant note to it...like a hint of bug spray. The roast level is an interesting middle ground between medium and high for sure, but it just doesn't work well with the mediocre material. IMO the worst of the ones I've tried so far.

Methinks it might be the brewer. But..........., the one I have from them is 2013. Yours might be a younger one needing more time in the closet.

2013 Baijiguan is very good. 2014, not as deep, yet.
2013 and 2014 TLH, I marked as a buy in my notes. For these prices, I doubt you can find comparable yancha. Indeed, there are better ones, but you will have to pay more for them.

The right vessel and techniques can make a big difference with yancha.

[jayinhk]

Or maybe I just get good yancha here in HK and in Singapore. I drink more oolong than anything else and always use the same pot for yancha. If you're happy with their tea, I'm happy for you, but I have not been pleased with any of their offerings just yet. It could be that they need to rest, or that they need to breathe a little first. I have thought of that.

Tried their baijiguan...my first. Again, something unpleasant in the background. I'll give it another whirl later. All of these samples are 2014.

[Tead Off]

This is why it is not so easy to recommend teas from anywhere. Subjectivity, tools/techniques, climactic conditions, and who knows what else, can affect the outcome. As they say on TV, YMMV.

[jayinhk]

Agreed. What matters is that you enjoy the tea!

[steanze]

Tried their baijiguan...my first. Again, something unpleasant in the background. I'll give it another whirl later. All of these samples are 2014.

I didn't try their shui xian but I did like their bai ji guan. It's interesting to see that you found something unpleasant in the background. Could you try to describe it a little more so I can look for it? Is it in the aftertaste or while the tea is still in your mouth? Does it remind you of any other taste?

Do you have any recommendations of Hong Kong stores that ship to the US?

[jayinhk]

To me it tastes like bug spray smells, but it's not overpowering by any means. I actually smelled the leaves in my Yixing earlier and it was much more pronounced. It may just be my palate.

I've been very pleased with lkytea.com, and they ship internationally. I'm going to pick up some of their TLH!

[kyarazen]

strange coincidence.... but i was brewing up some muzha tgy as well, heavy roasted winter'14 (2nd prize in some insignificant non transparent competition) in accompaniment of the late nights with an excellent read that had arrived recently

at the same price point i would definitely pay for dongding over muzha




*edit. 1000th post btw!.. :X

[steanze]

To me it tastes like bug spray smells, but it's not overpowering by any means. I actually smelled the leaves in my Yixing earlier and it was much more pronounced. It may just be my palate.

I've been very pleased with lkytea.com, and they ship internationally. I'm going to pick up some of their TLH!

Wow, I didn't notice the bug spray smell, but I'll definitely pay attention to it next time I get a chance to try the baijiguan. Thanks for the suggestion of lkytea!

[jayinhk]

Enjoy! I ordered from them for the heck of it and they just threw the tea packets in an envelope, but they were delivered by a local courier. I hope their packaging for overseas orders is better!

[sung8891]

Drank Wu-i San yin shui hsien in a brown tin today. The bottom of the tin says Fukien branch Amoy office. This means the tea was produced before Amoy became Xiamen. It's not great quality tea in any case. Just old. It is mellow though and smooth and sweet.

[steanze]

Tried their baijiguan...my first. Again, something unpleasant in the background. I'll give it another whirl later. All of these samples are 2014.

So, I got another sample of their Bai Ji Guan. It is totally different from the last Bai Ji Guan sample I had from them, which was in their "Four Famous Wuyi" sampler. The sample I had was a light roasted tea, producing a yellow colored soup and with a buttery taste reminding me in ways of high mountain oolongs but with some yancha notes. The new sample I tried is a darker roast, producing a orange/red liquid. It's very aromatic, almost like a dancong. Looses flavor quickly though, after 3-4 brews there's not much left. Not a particularly good tea and I wouldn't order it again. I emailed them to ask about the change. What version did you try?

[Tead Off]

I've had both 2013 and 2014 Baijiguan from them. I preferred the 2013, just deeper and more complex. But, there was not much difference as far as color, roasting, etc. I noticed no off tastes.

Has anyone tried Teaurchin's Baijiguan?

[debunix]

I don't think I've ever had a Bai Ji Guan (however spelled). Today I'm enjoying day two with some 2009 Fall TGY (traditional roast) from Norbu. I bought some of this tea to be a 'daily drinker' when it was first on sale, and then bought quite a bit more, and have been so pleased with it ever since. It rewards gongfu sessions like today, brewed up in Petr Novak's treebark pot, which brings out the fruity/plummy sweetness in both the liquor and somehow radiates that as scent from the pot, but it is also a faithful sturdy tea that tolerates the abuse of being tossed into a thermos, topped with boiling water, and gives good tea all day. As it ages, and it is changing and aging a bit even in the little foil lined pouches, it gets better, and I probably will stop the thermos brewing because it's too good for that now, and hoard the last unopened packet for gongfu sessions just like this one.

[debunix]

Fall 'Imperial' TGY from Yunnan Sourcing. Mellow, rich, straw and sunflowers: but surprisingly it does not go well with my usual very dark chocolate. I'll have to take a break between nibbles of the chocolate and sips of this to get full enjoyment out of the tea.

[Rui]

Teavivre's 2014 TGY to round off the green tea session of this morning.