Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[Alucard]

More Red Alishan from norbu--this time, gongfu style from a tiny Petr Novak black magda pot, and drunk from a small Greenwood Studio snowflake cup. A sweet combination during an enforced idleness waiting to be able to complete weekend call at work: mildly floral, deeply fruity tea with a base of Alishan earthiness.

Do you get apple or perhaps cinnamon notes from this tea?

[Devoted135]

Tell my girlfriend to leave me alone while I make my tea.

Cracking up at this. My first step is often "clear the area of any and all cats/infants."

[debunix]

More Red Alishan from norbu--this time, gongfu style from a tiny Petr Novak black magda pot, and drunk from a small Greenwood Studio snowflake cup. A sweet combination during an enforced idleness waiting to be able to complete weekend call at work: mildly floral, deeply fruity tea with a base of Alishan earthiness.

Do you get apple or perhaps cinnamon notes from this tea?

A deep spiciness that is a little bit earthy, yes. There's a common note to all the Alishan oolongs I've gotten from Norbu and the high mountain oolongs I've gotten from other places. In this tea is is more central than in the greener verisons, where the floral notes predominate at first.

[jayinhk]

Got a higher fired zini shuiping today. Drinking the same Muzha dark TGY I've been struggling to brew, it excels in this pot. Strong aroma of orchid/osmanthus and deep huigan.

[jayinhk]

Two year old Dayuling picked up in Taipei a few months ago. Really lovely tea, although mild since it's got a few years on it. Still giving me lots of flavor six+ infusions in. I'm getting berries from it this morning; blueberries perhaps. Nice sweet/sour aftertaste too.

[jayinhk]

Aged Dongding from Tony (pre-Origin Tea). This has been stored in a Royal Selangor pewter tea caddy for several months. Wow, this is nice aged tea. Tony definitely knew how to pick out good laocha. I didn't understand the appeal of aged oolongs when I was given these samples in 2012/2013, so I'm glad I didn't quaff them immediately. This is outstanding tea. Pleasant, light sourness and an interesting date-like taste. Excellent cha qi too. Very calming and very smooth drinking.

In later infusions, I'm getting coconut and even vegetal flavors, but different from what you'd get in greener gaoshan. You can definitely taste a hint of moisture in the storage too, but that might be because the back i was given was only sealed with tape and it may have absorbed some moisture here in HK. Alternatively it could have been from storage in Taiwan, where I've tasted some pretty wet-tasting laocha!

[ethan]

Jay, et.al., I have had some aged oolongs from Hou de Asian Art & Red Blossoms Tea that were excellent, i.e., like Origin's. Got them through barter & want more. Unfortunately, they are expensive.

Last weekend enjoyed a tea session w/ couple of Bangkok TeaChatters & was so happy to see them enjoy tea I brought from Taiwan. Even happier to watch an experienced man use a minimum amount of leaf (as I usually do). He also was keeping length of infusions quite short which allowed fruit flavors etc. to show themselves more for the dark-roasted TGY & the Oriental Beauty.

[jayinhk]

Ethan,

The only aged tea we hunted was baozhong--gonna look for laocha on my next Taiwan trip. For now I have lots of oolongs aging away in airtight glass jars. Maybe 2kg total. I should put some more away for later!

[oolongtimenosee]

High Roasted Tieguanyin from Fukien Tea Co. in Hong Kong. Very nice tea with a hint of chocolate. Thanks again for the tip Jayinhk!

[jayinhk]

Glad you like it! Haven't had any of their TGY in a while. I put my oolong jars into storage when I moved!

[Frisbeehead]

High Roasted Tieguanyin from Fukien Tea Co. in Hong Kong. Very nice tea with a hint of chocolate. Thanks again for the tip Jayinhk!

Is it possible to order tea from them and have it shipped? I was thinking about emailing them to see.

I've been checking out their selection of roasted tgy and when I got to the price, I had to look up the weights they use. It looks like you can either get a 兩 (leung) which is about 38g, or a 斤 (gan) which is around 604g or a little over a pound.

[jayinhk]

I don't think they ship small amounts and they really don't speak much English either. They have more than enough walk-in and wholesale clientele. I've seen them shipping really large amounts in the past, but I don't think they have time to pack up small quantities for buyers in the West. I've helped a few TCers get tea from them in the past since I work in the area.

[Frisbeehead]

Having some of Hojo's Dao Hua Xiang Phoenix dan cong right now. A delicious, floral, just slightly bitter tea. I finished up my sample of Tea Hong's Honey Orchid dan cong the other day, which was much more fruity (lychee/peach) than this Dao Hua Xiang.

I am running low on phoenix dan cong, and I will have to re-up soon. I was checking out Tea Habitat, because I have heard wonderful things about Imen's dan cong. However they are a bit pricy, and I think I will explore this type of tea a bit more before I dive into the higher end stuff. Jing Tea Shop has a bunch that I want to try, especially their AAA Mi Lan Xiang and some from the more recent winter harvests.

I emailed Siu at Tea Hong the other day asking when they will be getting more oolongs in, and she said that they will be getting them around summer. I would really like to get more of that honey orchid, it was very enjoyable.

It's funny, the other day I did a gongfucha demonstration for my university's Confucius Institute. They were doing a small Chinese New Year event at the university medical campus, with a few different tables set up with various Chinese cultural activities, games, short language lessons, calligraphy, etc. I had my own table dedicated to tea, so I brought my teaware and a few different teas with me. They had set up a bamboo tea table, and I started brewing different teas for all the medical students walking through. They got to see how a gaiwan is used, and I explained to them different aspects about Chinese tea culture. One of the teas I had brought was that honey orchid dan cong from Tea Hong, and everyone that tried it loved it. I took a few cups for myself, and I was happy with how well it turned out. I also brewed some Yunnan hongcha, aged raw pu'erh, and some longjing for the students. It was a fun experience, and I think I got some people interested in Chinese teas

[Noonie]

I bought 25g each of the three Dan Cong's that Teaspring offer...first I tried the cheapest one (I don't have the site open to tell you the names, sorry), I wasn't impressed. I tried the most expensive one yesterday and it was much, much better. Haven't tried the middle one as of yet.

Frisbeehead - if you're looking for good and affordable Dan Cong I suggest the highest price one at Teaspring. I think it's worth a try.

[ethan]

Today I opened the expensive Oriental Beauty from Taiwan: The first infusion was extraordinarily complex w/ hints of many flavors & w/ a unique satisfaction. Second & third infusions were quite less exciting but still tasty.
I should note 2 factors: I prepared this in glass gaiwan which I like to do for initial tasting; &, I think the tea would benefit from some air. I have a feeling use of my yixing at home will improve later infusions greatly. I'll be back in Boston in < 2 weeks.
I would not say this O.B. is better than the cheaper one I mentioned in this thread. The first infusion is WOW but the whole session is not as satisfying as one w/ the cheaper O.B. If there is a big improvement w/ giving tea some time in tea caddy & preparing in more ideal teaware, I'll post.