Your method of brewing oolong

[Tead Off]

Just opened my bag of Origin Tea Alishan today. Giving it a try now to give myself a benchmark. It's quite thin, not bad, but thin. Going to acclimate it over the next few days and report back.

Thinness can either be a sign of tea deficiency or the wrong teapot used for brewing. Experiment and see if there is a change in the body.

Using a gaiwan, this tea was fine when I opened my first bag in June.

Gaiwans are not known for enhancing body, but aroma. Hard to comment on your tea experience. Try clays.

[bonescwa]

Good gaoshan is always very thick for me in a gaiwan.

[Tead Off]

Good gaoshan is always very thick for me in a gaiwan.

Yes, it should be. The key word is good. The OP was saying his wasn't. My suggestion to try clay is not a guarantee that the tea will become thick. But, some clays do enhance body.

[drinking_teas]

the first time I tried this tea back in June it was quite thick. I might pick up a clay teapot for green oolong in the future, but for now I'm sticking with a Gaiwan.

[Tead Off]

the first time I tried this tea back in June it was quite thick. I might pick up a clay teapot for green oolong in the future, but for now I'm sticking with a Gaiwan.

Another variable could be your body chemistry. Many times I have tasted a tea and in future brewings, could not taste the same thing again. Some could even argue that it is in our mind.

[BW85]

Another variable could be your body chemistry. Many times I have tasted a tea and in future brewings, could not taste the same thing again. Some could even argue that it is in our mind.

+1

[Tead Off]

I just did an experiment with some Alishan which has never been my favorite gaoshan. I brought out a Banko teapot that is reduction fired and a Chao Zhou teapot that is oxidation fired.

The Banko teapot produced a smoother tea with greater aroma. The Chao Zhou teapot produced much more mouth action, body, and fullness. Which is better? I think it is a subjective decision. Personally, I don't really like green Alishan. There is a roughness in the tea that could be due to the long stems that Alishan often comes with, an astringency that sticks in the throat. The Banko smoothed some of this out and was more pleasant. I find other gaoshan richer in body, flavor, and aroma. Just my opinion.

[William]

I just did an experiment with some Alishan which has never been my favorite gaoshan. I brought out a Banko teapot that is reduction fired and a Chao Zhou teapot that is oxidation fired.

The Banko teapot produced a smoother tea with greater aroma. The Chao Zhou teapot produced much more mouth action, body, and fullness. Which is better? I think it is a subjective decision. Personally, I don't really like green Alishan. There is a roughness in the tea that could be due to the long stems that Alishan often comes with, an astringency that sticks in the throat. The Banko smoothed some of this out and was more pleasant. I find other gaoshan richer in body, flavor, and aroma. Just my opinion.

Ho TO,

Try Bizen clay reduction fired. The well fired ones pair really well with lighter Oolong that present some roughness.

[Tead Off]

I just did an experiment with some Alishan which has never been my favorite gaoshan. I brought out a Banko teapot that is reduction fired and a Chao Zhou teapot that is oxidation fired.

The Banko teapot produced a smoother tea with greater aroma. The Chao Zhou teapot produced much more mouth action, body, and fullness. Which is better? I think it is a subjective decision. Personally, I don't really like green Alishan. There is a roughness in the tea that could be due to the long stems that Alishan often comes with, an astringency that sticks in the throat. The Banko smoothed some of this out and was more pleasant. I find other gaoshan richer in body, flavor, and aroma. Just my opinion.

Ho TO,

Try Bizen clay reduction fired. The well fired ones pair really well with lighter Oolong that present some roughness.

I have a Bizen clay teapot but I have no idea if it is reduction or oxidation fired. It's old. Bought it used.

I have plenty of teapots to brew green oolong in. Not looking for another. For me, the tea is more important than the pot. Buying the right tea is the key. I have plenty of wares to brew them in already. Even a gaiwan will brew a good tea very well.

If you know where to get a good roasted Alishan, I'd be interested. I don't recall Origin carrying one and I'm not sure a good one is easily found.

[William]

I just did an experiment with some Alishan which has never been my favorite gaoshan. I brought out a Banko teapot that is reduction fired and a Chao Zhou teapot that is oxidation fired.

The Banko teapot produced a smoother tea with greater aroma. The Chao Zhou teapot produced much more mouth action, body, and fullness. Which is better? I think it is a subjective decision. Personally, I don't really like green Alishan. There is a roughness in the tea that could be due to the long stems that Alishan often comes with, an astringency that sticks in the throat. The Banko smoothed some of this out and was more pleasant. I find other gaoshan richer in body, flavor, and aroma. Just my opinion.

Ho TO,

Try Bizen clay reduction fired. The well fired ones pair really well with lighter Oolong that present some roughness.

I have a Bizen clay teapot but I have no idea if it is reduction or oxidation fired. It's old. Bought it used.

I have plenty of teapots to brew green oolong in. Not looking for another. For me, the tea is more important than the pot. Buying the right tea is the key. I have plenty of wares to brew them in already. Even a gaiwan will brew a good tea very well.

If you know where to get a good roasted Alishan, I'd be interested. I don't recall Origin carrying one and I'm not sure a good one is easily found.

Hi TO,

If it is reddish in colour, it should be oxidation fired.

In my opinion, 50s/70s high fired dense Yi Xing red clay teapots are unbeatable with Oolong tea.

Of course, tea is more important than teapots. Without tea leaves, we could not be able to brew anything!

[Tead Off]

It may surprise you that I find zini/zisha pots, purplish in color, the best Yixing for roasted oolongs. These are also oxidation fired although purplish/brown in color due to the clay. The ones I like don't seem as dense as the high fired red clay ones and are always very matte vs gloss. They seem to bring out the mineral structure in the roasted teas.

For green oolong, I would agree with you although I also have some exceptional brewers that are not red Yixing. That older clay was really loaded with something. It's nice when you find the right pot for your tea. Some of Seong il's unfiltered porcelain teapots brew very good tea. The minerals in the clay have not been filtered out as in refined porcelain that most people use. But, whatever floats your boat, as they say.

[William]

It may surprise you that I find zini/zisha pots, purplish in color, the best Yixing for roasted oolongs. These are also oxidation fired although purplish/brown in color due to the clay. The ones I like don't seem as dense as the high fired red clay ones and are always very matte vs gloss. They seem to bring out the mineral structure in the roasted teas.

For green oolong, I would agree with you although I also have some exceptional brewers that are not red Yixing. That older clay was really loaded with something. It's nice when you find the right pot for your tea. Some of Seong il's unfiltered porcelain teapots brew very good tea. The minerals in the clay have not been filtered out as in refined porcelain that most people use. But, whatever floats your boat, as they say.

Agree with you about roasting and purple/brown clay, but in my opinion it depends if the roast is gentle, like many Dong Ding or Hong Shui. With these teas I still prefer reddish dense clay; with stronger roast, like many traditional roasted Yan Cha or TGY, at least until the roast is pretty obvious, I prefer more the porous purple/brown clay.

[Tead Off]

It may surprise you that I find zini/zisha pots, purplish in color, the best Yixing for roasted oolongs. These are also oxidation fired although purplish/brown in color due to the clay. The ones I like don't seem as dense as the high fired red clay ones and are always very matte vs gloss. They seem to bring out the mineral structure in the roasted teas.

For green oolong, I would agree with you although I also have some exceptional brewers that are not red Yixing. That older clay was really loaded with something. It's nice when you find the right pot for your tea. Some of Seong il's unfiltered porcelain teapots brew very good tea. The minerals in the clay have not been filtered out as in refined porcelain that most people use. But, whatever floats your boat, as they say.

Agree with you about roasting and purple/brown clay, but in my opinion it depends if the roast is gentle, like many Dong Ding or Hong Shui. With these teas I still prefer reddish dense clay; with stronger roast, like many traditional roasted Yan Cha or TGY, at least until the roast is pretty obvious, I prefer more the porous purple/brown clay.

Still great for light roast, too.

[ethan]

I would need to keep notes to make good use of the many teapots that some teachatters own. I admire how perceptive their senses of taste are & the strength of their memories. W/o notes I remember this about performance of my teapots compared to each other:

Glazed medium-thick gaiwan & porcelain gaiwan: > aroma & < body;

glazed teapots not filled to capacity: > aroma, avg. body, & > flavor on secondary infusions;

yixing: < aroma, > body, > flavor on 1st infusion.

In my limited experience, gongfu brewing usually is disappointing. Some tea just does not taste so good prepared that way; or, the use of much more tea only provides 1 or 2 more good infusions than Western practice. Yet, the exceptions to this rule are so pleasing that one should not stop trying gongfu. A tea session of superior oolong providing 6 or more delicious infusions w/ flavor changes etc.......!

Most of the time, I imagine we are not striving for bliss but good tea; so, most of the time I choose which teapot to use by how much tea I want to prepare at the time. So happens by size my yixing fits between the smallest (gaiwans) & largest (glazed teapots).

[wert]

While some brewing vessels achieve better results than others, this kind of generalisation is seldom helpful to others.

There are thousands of unknowns and variables which makes such comparisons moot. The brewing vessel is a way for the user to achieve certain taste profile, it is the user that is ultimately responsible for the brew. A pot is a fixed object, it is up to the user to adjust to it, not the other way round. This, of course could be done only up to a point. It is also undeniable that it is much easier to achieve good results with certain vessels.

The problem is that when making statements such as XYZ tea only do well with ABC teapot, there are so many variables that could be differ from one user to another. Many could not even agree on what's a ABC teapot. So at the very base when even the definition of comparisons is unclear, how could there be a meaningful discussion?

Not to mention the others unknowns, the water, the tea itself, the brewing method etc etc... AND on top of it, there is still a matter of personal taste.

In conclusion, this kind of preference is seldom transferable or applicable to another.