Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[ethan]

Frisbeehead, I am glad you like the O.B.

A clipped bag inside almost any tight container (glass jars w/ tight lids etc.) has worked for me for long-term storage. What I plan to use for a few weeks goes into tea caddies usually. I also use top-quality resealable kraft paper/foil pouches for long & short term storage.

Part of the solution of dealing w/ owning a lot of tea is to drink more & more. The dark TGY should last a very long time. I have been getting a lot of flavor from very little leaf & lots of infusions by keeping time of steeping very short (around 15 seconds + or -). Cheers

[Bok]

This makes me think, how many teas do you all have open at any one time?

Never more than one greenish Oolong.

Roasted, heavier oxidised and black can be more, but generally I try not to have more than three teas open in total in general.

[jayinhk]

I'm embarrassed to say how much tea I have open. LOL. I have enough green and green oolong to take me through 2017, easy.

[JRS22]

Several years ago I bought some yancha from Tea Urchin. They weren't brewing up the way I hoped and one day I was so annoyed that I dumped them in a canister and mixed them up. I would brew the mixture periodically and the flavor I didn't like always dominated. Today I tried my newest pot, a Junzo Maekawa Shudei with a direct filter that's perfect for yancha. Magically the off flavors are gone and the tea is enjoyable. I might not need this effect with a better tea but it's a savior for my disappointing purchases. Plus at 65 ml I can drink 7 steeps w/o sloshing.

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[debunix]

Sweet serendipity to rescue the Yancha.

[Alucard]

Nice pot and glad to hear about the results.

[Midwinter_Sun]

Midwinter_Sun,

I'll PM Nepal recommendations in a couple of weeks ----

The "reasonable" oolong that you mention for US$2 a pound may not taste so good to you by the time you get back to New York.

Besides finding new teas, a big event was learning not to always use boiling water etc. However, about once a month a cup of the worst tea available w/ milk +/or sugar still is enjoyable for the taste & linking to the past.

Ethan, cheers on the promise of recomendations.

As far as cheaper teas - I have a nice blend of high and low through the day, I think better teas with spicy food are wasted, for example, so that cheap oolong is very nice with dinnertime, I like to sip while I eat.

Then, top it off with the good stuff!

[JRS22]

Nice pot and glad to hear about the results.

So buying this pot was not TAD, it was a necessity.

[jayinhk]

I think that's where good clay teapots shine--they make tea taste and feel better and more enjoyable. I drank Hong Kong-roasted TGY and SX from two different vendors yesterday, back to back in a very sandy and porous pin zini shuiping pot I've used for four years. That was the way I learned to drink high fire oolong tea and I've never questioned it, but I should try some in hongni I think!

[debunix]

Enjoying a session of Huang Guan Yin from Norbu: there is such a strong mineral flavor that this one seems to personify 'rock taste'. Mmmm.

[Psyck]

<...> I have read that OB is very similar to first flush Darjeeling tea, and this is how I have imagined FF Darjeeling would taste (still haven't tried it yet). <...>

Second Flush, not FF. Both owe their muscatel taste to insects sucking on the plants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongfang_Meiren

[jayinhk]

Spring 2015 San Lin Xi in my new 85ml Factory 1 hongni shuiping. Tasted wonderful and I got sweetness, vegetal aromas and tropical fruit. Really a pleasure to drink.

[tenuki]

Magically the off flavors are gone and the tea is enjoyable. I might not need this effect with a better tea but it's a savior for my disappointing purchases.

Did you try it in a gaiwan too? My experience with wu yi is that big swings in favorability over time are par for the course and it may not be your pot at all.

[JRS22]

Magically the off flavors are gone and the tea is enjoyable. I might not need this effect with a better tea but it's a savior for my disappointing purchases.

Did you try it in a gaiwan too? My experience with wu yi is that big swings in favorability over time are par for the course and it may not be your pot at all.

By "over time" do you mean week to week, or year to year? I've given this tea lots of time and there's been no improvement.

I probably tried it in a glazed pot at some point or possibly one of my smaller gaiwans in which I can safely brew with near boiling water. They're safe not because they're small, but the design makes it easier to handle the gaiwan even when hot.

[Tead Off]

<...> I have read that OB is very similar to first flush Darjeeling tea, and this is how I have imagined FF Darjeeling would taste (still haven't tried it yet). <...>

Second Flush, not FF. Both owe their muscatel taste to insects sucking on the plants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongfang_Meiren

I've never heard of Darjeelings owing their taste to insects biting the leaves of the plants like they do for Oriental Beauty. Can you show me a source for this?