Roasted Shan Lin Xi

[tenuki]

Man, I'm digging this oolong for rainy days. Can't get enough. Any experienced people have tips for maximizing brewing, sources, etc?

[Madam Potts]

That's funny - I prefer oolong on rainy days too.

and I just brewed some shan-lin yesterday afternoon - it rained allll day.


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Madam Potts
www.MadPotsofTea.com

[MarshalN]

How do you brew your tea? Using a gaiwan with about 1/4 full of dry leaves will be the best way to do it, IMO, unless you want to go with a small yixing pot.

[tenuki]

I have a yi xing pot I'm using for my less fragrant oolongs. I tend to brew any new tea in a gaiwan for the first sample, just to get an idea of it's flavor, etc. If it's less fragrant ( my favorites actually, not a big fan of the more floral oolongs like ali shan, etc ) I move to using a pot.

Time wise I generally do a quick rinse ( if I use a pot I warm the empty pot first ), then immediately brew. I taste the rinse to get an idea of brew time, then pour the rinse water over the outside of the pot to help keep the temp up. I find each tea varies in time to my taste, but mostly it's around 30 seconds as a starting time (up to 50 seconds depending on the oolong). Then I add 10 seconds every brew after that, usually brew 7-8 times per set of leaves.

Sadly my supplier (floating leaves tea) is now out of that particular roasted Shan Lin Xi so it's back to drinking Li Shan and Bauzhong.

[tenuki]

Oh, I forgot to mention that I just cover the bottom of whatever container I'm brewing in with a single layer. I find 'overpacking' the container results in a slight bitter taste which I don't like.