Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

+1 to comments of Teadoff about curating etc.

I am going to be in Taiwan soon & have no idea how many good teas I will encounter. I have been told that the very best would not be offered to someone on his first visit; however, I expect the very best is not necessary. I hope to have some that is very good. We will see.

[jayinhk]

+1 to comments of Teadoff about curating etc.

I am going to be in Taiwan soon & have no idea how many good teas I will encounter. I have been told that the very best would not be offered to someone on his first visit; however, I expect the very best is not necessary. I hope to have some that is very good. We will see.

The very best is also VERY expensive...I have no doubt you will be overwhelmed by the sheer variety of tea available to us in Taiwan. Not long now

[MarcusReed]

Zhengyan ShuiXian 2015 Harvest.

[SilentChaos]

Curating definitely seems like quite a task to have along with running a business. It takes a lot of time and effort I'm sure, as well as money. I am genuinely interested to see if anyone else has anything to add or say about this.

If you're serious about your tea business, curating is part and parcel of the business model. This would virtually insure that the serious vendors will not have inventory as long as your arm and leg. They have to establish relationships with sources that are making tea that they think are superior. This takes time and I'm sure that those makers are often sold out of their product because of the commitments to other sellers. In a sense, you also have to be lucky to find a good producer. Plus, the product may vary from season to season and year to year. This years may not measure up to last years. If you drop that producer, you may never get them back. I would think the tea business would be walking a fine line between quality and availability.

Never mind year to year or season to season. It's incredibly difficult to maintain consistent quality in processing let's say batches of tea in a single day. The first batch harvested in the early morning when the sun is just coming up will have a real hard time competing against the second batch harvested from the same spot but a bit after 12 noon. If the weather cooperates during the first part of the day, then the first batch should have no issues during processing (all else being equal of course.) If it starts raining in the second part of the day however, discerning local vendors vendors would probably skip the second batch and look elsewhere first. (Weather during TW spring tea harvest is usually erratic and in the last few years, down right uncooperative)

There are completely closed off climate controlled tea processing plants in TW, but AFAIK these are still rare.

[Tead Off]

Silent Chaos,

What did you find most challenging about the tea business? How difficult was it to buy tea that met your standards?

[CWarren]

Edited

[SilentChaos]

Silent Chaos,

What did you find most challenging about the tea business? How difficult was it to buy tea that met your standards?

As far as oolongs went, Origin had a rather unreasonable approach of prioritizing quality over everything else (relative to grades/price points of course. If no tea could meet a articular price-point-quality then none was offered. And as you can probably guess, Origin didn't stick to particular "farms" (Nevermind the fact that most farms don't really sell tea. They mostly sell leaves!!) So for Origin, sourcing and curating was pretty much the same thing - a 24/7 mad rush hoping to find that one tea that meets or exceeds a certain price-point-quality.

The most challenging and somewhat regrettable thing for me had to be finding really great teas, but having to make stocking decisions knowing that the overwhelming majority of sales for western online tea shops is in samples. (Such stocking decisions are almost always on the spot. Taste on the spot, buy on the spot. You snooze you loose. Top shelf tea in TW is always in short supply. Of course, knowing a few upstream sellers where good tea often ends up helps.)

[ethan]

2015 Himalayan Bouquet of Jun Chiyabari

+1 to comments of Teadoff posted in this thread about a week ago on this tea. (his is from 2013)

Only thing I'd add is that it is oolong but very close to black tea. I've been sensitive to caffeine lately & feel this has plenty.

[ethan]

re: comments of SilentChaos on being in tea business: very helpful to hear that the majority of tea ordered online is samples.

I; & I suspect many other people, would not love to have a business that mostly ships tiny packets.

Thanks for the info, SilentChaos

[MarcusReed]

HuangDan Yancha!

[BioHorn]

2011 Mr. Yu Tie Luo Han YanCha from Tea Urchin (Eugene)

http://teaurchin.com/shop-for-tea/oolon ... o-han.html

This was my first time using a sesame roaster to "refresh" a tea.
Last month I brewed this tea. It was good, but muted and underwhelming.
This time using a roaster completely changed the experience. Per previous advice I first very very gently warmed it and checked with a thermostat. I was able to put my hand on the bottom for a second or two. Really it was more re-warming than roasting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAA8g7nPV29/

It brought out many beautiful high notes and had a long brewing mineral taste. Quite revolutionary! Makes me think of how much great tea I must have wasted (or grossly underutilized) in the past.

http://toirokitchen.com/products/horoku/

[Tead Off]

Using the roaster judiciously, can really make a difference with a lot of teas. There is no way for us buyers to know how teas we buy online are stored or what they come in contact with before they are sold. These roasters are also very good for wet stored puerh and removing any off tastes and smells due to moisture.

[Frisbeehead]

That's really cool, BioHorn. I may have to get one of these myself in the future. One of the things that really appeals to me about them is their ability to transform my older, more stale sencha into hojicha.

The sesame roaster you linked looks nice, albeit a bit more expensive than the ones I have looked at on Thes du Japon and other Japanese vendors' stores.

[Tead Off]

That's really cool, BioHorn. I may have to get one of these myself in the future. One of the things that really appeals to me about them is their ability to transform my older, more stale sencha into hojicha.

The sesame roaster you linked looks nice, albeit a bit more expensive than the ones I have looked at on Thes du Japon and other Japanese vendors' stores.

I don't think I would recommend that hojiki for 2 reasons. The first is cost, when you can buy one very inexpensively at yuuki-cha, for example. The second is that the opening doesn't really allow you to get a good look at the tea you are roasting. Keeping a visual inspection is important.

Most hojicha are not made using only sencha leaves. There is a high proportion of stems that make up most hojicha. Maybe you know that already.

[Frisbeehead]

I was thinking the same thing, Tead. I like the one on Thes du Japon, the opening is wide so you can see what's happening. And it's a bit cheaper.

And indeed, I was thinking about using it with some old karigane I have so I figured I could get something like hojocha out of it, maybe after adding some other sencha to it too.