Aging Oolong?

[PolyhymnianMuse]

Thanks herb! And also for correcting my he/she

[Susana]

I accidentally aged a Wuyi for about three years. I forgot about it in the back of my cupboard (sorry!) and I took it out and it had the most amazing roasted notes. I was totally into it. I drank hot and cold brew!

I also had a 2005 dan cong that I just opened a couple of months ago. I was not able to try it in 2005 but I was told that it had some heavy astringency which helped it hold up over time. Some of the floral notes were no longer there but the very strong fruity notes prevailed! I thought I had peaches and apricots in my mouth!


My friend also had some and he very lightly re-roasted it before he tried it. I did not try his, but he was very impressed with the results.

[Jayaratna]

Hi Susana,

I love Sprekelias too!



A

[Herb_Master]

and if they are not re roasted they get a nice plum taste.

I recently spent some time in Jing Dian Teashop - Kuala Lumpur - with famous Teamaster Chong L M - she specialises in Yan Cha and is adept at roasting and re-roasting (2 different shop owners asked how she looked and commented that her face at times looked dark and prematurely aged from spending so much time over her roasting pans, they had heard that she spent much less time roasting her Yan Cha these days and hoped her skin was looking younger)

I tried a 1992 Tie Luo Han at Jing Dian which I did not like, so did not buy, other Yancha drinkers in different tea haunts told me that they never bought her re-roasted Yan Cha they preferred their aged Oolong to be totally un-reroasted, but 1 yancha drinker said he loved the reroasting done by L M Chong but it gave the tea a taste which had to be acquired by the drinker.

I suppose there is no definitive answer, as to which and what should be done when aging Oolong, it will come down to personal preference once you have done all your experiments and decided which you prefer.