When do the 2010 Spring oolongs come out?

[David R.]

I am not a specialist of yan cha, but I recently tasted the ones sold in Postcardteas in London and happened to love them.

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[Sacha]

For the really top quality Yancha, probably it wont come out in mid of June or July, because they need to be carefully baked by charcoal. So need to wait for a while for high quality Yancha. But I guess it is worthy.

I heard that Yan cha needs to settle and rest a bit (kind of a year or so...) after their roasting anyway, isn't? 2009 harvests would then be perfect for consumption now if they have been well stored.
I have some left of a Da Hong Pao I bought at the M3T in Paris 3 years ago and tried a bit the other day, it was more than better, it was incredible! That sets up my standards pretty high now...

Thanks for the recommandations. Jing tea seems a good place then.

[northerncalifornia]

For TGY, it depends on regions. In inner Anxi county where three traditional TGY production villages are located, Spring TGY won't come out until late April or early May. But for outer Anxi county where the elevation is lower and it is warmer, Spring TGY could come out as early as February.

Not sure if anybody heard about Golden Godness of Mercy. It is supposed to be an improved type of TGY since it is easier to grow and its fragrance is very very similar to TGY and tend to have even stronger fragrance than TGY. Its Spring picking time is normally 2 weeks earlier than TGY, usually around early to Mid April in inner Anxi county. Unfortunately we won't be seeing Golden Godness of Mercy come out early this year because a bad frost last week kills all its new growth.

Really looking forward to some fresh green oolongs to take me out of my winter funk. Any idea when the first 2010 Spring oolong harvests begin?

[spittingoutteeth]

For fans of Taiwanese oolong, Stephane from Tea Masters is now selling a couple of the first teas of 2010--- a Luanze Oolong from Ali Shan (1400 m) and a Jinxuan Oolong from Zhu Shan. Just placed my order last night; very excited!

Not an oolong, but he also has a 2010 Spring Bi Luo Chun.

[Victoria]

Great, thanks for letting us know!! Please report back and tell us how they are!

[spittingoutteeth]

Still haven't tried any 2010 oolongs yet, but a local teashop called Stone Leaf (www.stoneleaftea.com) got in some 2010 greens this week. I was able to try a mao feng and a bi luo chun; both fantastic. They were just processed two weeks ago; definitely the freshest tea I've ever tried