Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[kyarazen]

<...> 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?

the strongest muscatel flavour is indeed developed from thrips infestation for darjeeling. there can be some basal genetic expression that can give hints of such flavours in other flushes.. but thrip infestation activates more of these genes.

[pedant]

i've always wondered if it's just basic trauma to the leaf or if there is some other mechanism going on

[kyarazen]

i've always wondered if it's just basic trauma to the leaf or if there is some other mechanism going on

~...

http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 012-9887-0

[Tead Off]

i've always wondered if it's just basic trauma to the leaf or if there is some other mechanism going on

~...

http://link.springer.com/article/10.100 ... 012-9887-0

This is the first time I've ever heard of this. Thanks.
Even in Darjeeling, no one ever mentioned this in my conversations with tea people there.

Why would this be more common to the 2nd flush producing the muscatel flavor rather than also first flush? Is it just the seasonal difference in that the insects are plentiful during the 2nd harvest rather than the first?

[Psyck]

Yeah I guess it is still too cold in Darjeeling by the time of the first flush harvest for the insects to venture out.

Some people can be put off drinking the tea knowing that insects have had a go at it first - which is probably why they may not have cared to mention it to you when you visited the estates.

[kyarazen]

This is the first time I've ever heard of this. Thanks.
Even in Darjeeling, no one ever mentioned this in my conversations with tea people there.

Why would this be more common to the 2nd flush producing the muscatel flavor rather than also first flush? Is it just the seasonal difference in that the insects are plentiful during the 2nd harvest rather than the first?

yes both the thrips and jassids do come only for a brief week or two during 2nd flush. the effects is strongest after they come, and then the effect decays through till autumn.

for taiwanese/more chinese tea species, the effect is strong but brief.

[jayinhk]

Drinking a pretty high roast Muzha TGY in hongni for the first time. Much less rounding and loss of aroma in hongni vs zini. Much more enjoyable in hongni because of the aroma and flavor, but not as smooth as in zini. I think zini is best for very high roast or rougher oolong that needs the rounding. For better quality tea, hongni is the way to go.

[Frisbeehead]

Drinking a pretty high roast Muzha TGY in hongni for the first time. Much less rounding and loss of aroma in hongni vs zini. Much more enjoyable in hongni because of the aroma and flavor, but not as smooth as in zini. I think zini is best for very high roast or rougher oolong that needs the rounding. For better quality tea, hongni is the way to go.

I've been following your posts about the hongni to see what you thought of it I just got mine yesterday, and I'm going through the process of rinsing it and soaking it in boiling water today (not on the stovetop, just in a bowl with boiling water). Can't wait to start using it. I've got some of Tea Hong's Cassia Extraordinaire set aside to try with it first.

By the way, thank you for the 福茗堂 (Fook Ming Tong) recommendation. I just placed an order with them for some of their da hong pao, dan cong, and traditional tieguanyin. Excited to try it!

[jayinhk]

I actually don't bother with boiling Yixings anymore. After washing with tap water and scrubbing the inside with my fingers, I prewarm with 190F water, outside first, then go to boiling water. Fill thoroughly, pouring through the airhole in the lid, let it sit for a while, pour out. Repeat as many times as you want to, then make some tea in it (to season the inside and pour over the pot if that's your thing). After a session of tea making (which I don't drink), boiling water, again, and then the pot is ready to use.

Whatever works, though, so if you wanna soak in boiling water, it won't hurt. I'd still prewarm though...better safe than sorry!

I also just bought a two liter ultrasonic cleaner for older, used teapots and cleaning up various items (tea boat, cups, cha hai, etc).

Let me know what you think of the FMT tea. I have a bunch of JKTeashop samples to drink through, so I'm covered as far as Wuyi goes (for a little while). I also have airtight glass jars of TGY, shuixian and rougui to get to in my storage unit!

[Frisbeehead]

I actually don't bother with boiling Yixings anymore. After washing with tap water and scrubbing the inside with my fingers, I prewarm with 190F water, outside first, then go to boiling water. Fill thoroughly, pouring through the airhole in the lid, let it sit for a while, pour out. Repeat as many times as you want to, then make some tea in it (to season the inside and pour over the pot if that's your thing). After a session of tea making (which I don't drink), boiling water, again, and then the pot is ready to use.

Whatever works, though, so if you wanna soak in boiling water, it won't hurt. I'd still prewarm though...better safe than sorry!

I also just bought a two liter ultrasonic cleaner for older, used teapots and cleaning up various items (tea boat, cups, cha hai, etc).

Let me know what you think of the FMT tea. I have a bunch of JKTeashop samples to drink through, so I'm covered as far as Wuyi goes (for a little while). I also have airtight glass jars of TGY, shuixian and rougui to get to in my storage unit!

Yeah I made sure to prewarm it. Started it at like 185F, pouring very slowly into the pot. Then progressed up in temp a couple times until I thought the pot was hot enough where boiling water would be okay. No issues, thankfully. You said you scrub the inside with your fingers? I used a very soft cloth (a microfiber guitar cleaning cloth, only used for teapots thus far) to gently rub down the inside a bit, but not too much. Then rinsed it out a few times to get any strands of fiber that may have gotten stuck in the pot.

I like to do the soak, I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not but I like the idea of covering the entire pot in the water I will be using it with and letting it sit in it for a few hours.

I'll let you know how the Fook Ming Tong tea is. I am very much looking forward to trying it. I've needed some more Wuyi yancha and dan cong, so if it is good I will be very happy. What teas from JKTea do you have? I ordered some Da Hong Pao from them a long time ago, when I was first getting into tea, so at the time I thought it was good. I have read good things about their oolongs for the price. Let me know what you think of the ones you got from there.

[jayinhk]

I bought a whole mix and was disappointed, but I realize my very sandy pin zini was taking away too much from their teas. It's much nicer in a smaller, snoother zini pot I have and more aromatic and best in hongni, IMO. I'll save the sandy zini for the very high fired stuff.

[debunix]

Da Yu Ling from Taiwan Sourcing. This is the first infusion where I only had a few seconds to get it started, then couldn't touch it for 30 minutes, and knew I'd only have a moment at the second break too. So I poured a tiny bit of hot water over the leaves and let them sit; then filled with hot water at the 2nd break and am now drinking ambrosia. An unorthodox path to a stunningly perfect cup of tea.

[ethan]

debunix, that is interesting. No bitterness? I will try the method.

[debunix]

Not a method, so much as a bit of chaotic necessity. But a fine high mountain oolong forgives such things, gracefully, without a hint of bitterness.

[jayinhk]

IMO that is a good test of inferior (Vietnamese?) material. If boiling water makes it extremely bitter, you've been conned. Drank some 'gaoshan' at a tea shop in Muzha the time before I went with ethan. They brought a portable butane stove to the table and I filled up the 90s Yixing they provided. Well, at 95 C, I was getting some extremely bitter tea and my girlfriend really wasn't enjoying it.

I took that tea to Saigon a month later and it was brewed much cooler, and it was very enjoyable. I bet that was Vietnamese material that I took right on back to Vietnam!

Drinking Sea Dyke Oolong. It is packaged in a cardboard canister and I randomly found and bought it at an Indian supermarket in Singapore! Brewing in my new Chaozhou pot. This pot is 250ml or so, so far too big for personal use. Using it to grandpa brew and I really like the results. It's thicker walled, too, so ideal for this kind of brewing.