Official what Oolong are You Drinking Right Now?

[abnyc]

Who is this Chen that people are talking about? All my yancha and yancha tea ware are packed away for a renovation project so I'm enjoying it second hand on this thread.

The job should be done mid-October, which is yancha time in my home, so I can still shop for yancha.

HY Chen is a farmer & roaster in Nantou, not WuYi, who sells his teas by Facebook message & PayPal. If you like Dong Ding, he's worth checking out.

[victoria3]

Who is this Chen that people are talking about? All my yancha and yancha tea ware are packed away for a renovation project so I'm enjoying it second hand on this thread.

The job should be done mid-October, which is yancha time in my home, so I can still shop for yancha.

HY Chen is a farmer & roaster in Nantou, not WuYi, who sells his teas by Facebook message & PayPal. If you like Dong Ding, he's worth checking out.

Yes, Kyarazen hooked us up with Hau Ying Chen, a farmer with a century old farm in Lugu Township last year. He follows traditional farming and roasting methods and makes excellent charcoal roasted oolongs such as roasted DongDing, DaYuLin, High Mountain, Wild LiShan. Some of the teas he sells are also from other select single source farmers he knows who also practise traditional methods. I order from him on facebook via his company page;

薪誠坊 Shin Cheng Fang/百年茶園/凍頂烏龍專賣店
https://www.facebook.com/%E8%96%AA%E8%A ... 529387740/

He's also on Instagram under his name
http://instagram.com/hauyingchen

& kyarazen wrote about HY Chen here
http://www.kyarazen.com/traditional-don ... xperiment/

[debunix]

I've been working through a packet of Norbu's Winter Alishan, a 2015 tea that has been well stored in the meantime. The vacuum sealed package has been great from the start, mellow, floral, with that great spicy/cinnamon finish that is so nice in a good mountain oolong.

I managed to find myself without my tea bag when I arrived at the satellite office last week--I only had the Alishan because, as noted above, I'd been drinking the newly opened package at home and wanted to keep working on it, and it was tossed into another bag that did make it with me at the last minute. So instead of the Zhangsu Lake oolong from BirdPick/WingHopFung I've been depending on for cool brewed flask/thermos tea for ages, I used the fine Alishan. The brewing conditions, of course, could hardly be less optimal, but the fine leaf made it lovely to the last drop.

And now, drinking through a bit of JinXuan Milk Oolong from BirdPick. It is nice but not cloying like the stuff I got from Dragon Tea house that I couldn''t enjoy; this one tastes like an amplification of the buttery golden hayfield taste of other fine Taiwanese light-roast oolongs, rather than a flavored thing.

[victoria3]

Debunix, How are you cold brewing oolong? Curious since oolong leaves are thicker than 1st flush Sincha and Gyokuro which I have cold brewed over ice.

I also had a Jinxuan this morning from Té Company, 'Graceful Hill'. It's Ok, although l'm not blown away by it. It has a buttery floral aroma and tasting notes, but also has a slight brassy background. Maybe I should try boiling water in my ceramic kettle that smooths water out and see if it helps. I've also been using an extra piece of charcoal in my Brita filter, possibly this is negatively affecting the steep.

Finished samples of HY Chen's DongDing Sz Chi Chun and Mucha Muzha Tieguan Yin. They were just Ok also. Better check my water filter too.
mmm one of those days

[Bok]

Debunix, How are you cold brewing oolong? Curious since oolong leaves are thicker than 1st flush Sincha and Gyokuro which I have cold brewed over ice.

Best results I get is to brew the tea with lesser than hot water, for 20 min, discard leaves and put into fridge. Easiest way to get the temperature right is half boiling water, half room temp.

Or the longer but equally good way just add room temp water to the leaves and leave them to it overnight. Leaves can be left in it afterwards, won’t affect the brew and you can top up if you like.

[Bok]

Finished samples of HY Chen's DongDing Sz Chi Chun and Mucha Muzha Tieguan Yin. They were just Ok also. Better check my water filter too.
mmm one of those days

Sijichun are not the nicest leaves to begin with, so I am not sure his usual magic can improve much. That is the varietal that is used for Thai and Vietnames oolongs as it performs better with the weather conditions there.

[victoria3]

Debunix, How are you cold brewing oolong? Curious since oolong leaves are thicker than 1st flush Sincha and Gyokuro which I have cold brewed over ice.

Best results I get is to brew the tea with lesser than hot water, for 20 min, discard leaves and put into fridge. Easiest way to get the temperature right is half boiling water, half room temp.

Or the longer but equally good way just add room temp water to the leaves and leave them to it overnight. Leaves can be left in it afterwards, won’t affect the brew and you can top up if you like.

I'll try this method, thanks Bok.

[Bok]

Debunix, How are you cold brewing oolong? Curious since oolong leaves are thicker than 1st flush Sincha and Gyokuro which I have cold brewed over ice.

Best results I get is to brew the tea with lesser than hot water, for 20 min, discard leaves and put into fridge. Easiest way to get the temperature right is half boiling water, half room temp.

Or the longer but equally good way just add room temp water to the leaves and leave them to it overnight. Leaves can be left in it afterwards, won’t affect the brew and you can top up if you like.

I'll try this method, thanks Bok.

Suffice to say that you don't need the best leaves for cold tea, especially for rolled oolong. I usually take a lower grade I have for casual drinking and/or teas I don't really fancy, usually gifts.

[dizzo]

Today is an epiphany day for me!
In my short tea journey I had never tried Dan Cong before. Im having a lower grade Guang Dong Pheonix from Teavivre. This is a game changer. Ordering from Hojo tonight!!!

[victoria3]

Today is an epiphany day for me!
In my short tea journey I had never tried Dan Cong before. Im having a lower grade Guang Dong Pheonix from Teavivre. This is a game changer. Ordering from Hojo tonight!!!

Teahabitat here in Los Angeles also has very special DanCongs from single trees, she also does samplings. The owner Imen is a DanCong expert, good blog posts about DanCong also. My favorites from her so far have been 'Crystal White Long Jing' and '2015 Dao Hua Xiang - Rice Flower Fragrance'.

Curious, what did you like about this particular DanCong?

[dizzo]

Today is an epiphany day for me!
In my short tea journey I had never tried Dan Cong before. Im having a lower grade Guang Dong Pheonix from Teavivre. This is a game changer. Ordering from Hojo tonight!!!

Teahabitat here in Los Angeles also has very special DanCongs from single trees, she also does samplings. The owner Imen is a DanCong expert, good blog posts about DanCong also. My favorites from her so far have been 'Crystal White Long Jing' and '2015 Dao Hua Xiang - Rice Flower Fragrance'.

Curious, what did you like about this particular DanCong?

Thanks for the suggestion! It would be easier to order from there for me. Then I wont have to make a large order for it to be worth it!
It was the fruitiness that hit me. At the first sip I said blackberry...no, thats not it. Lychee! Thats it! On my fourth steep I still cant deny that lychee is in there. Never tasted that in a tea before. I did find on the second steep that I left it a bit too long. It became astringent. ruined the cup. Third steep was shorter and delicious:) If this is considered low quality material, I cant wait to see what this kind of tea can be like

[JRS22]

Who is this Chen that people are talking about? All my yancha and yancha tea ware are packed away for a renovation project so I'm enjoying it second hand on this thread.

The job should be done mid-October, which is yancha time in my home, so I can still shop for yancha.

HY Chen is a farmer & roaster in Nantou, not WuYi, who sells his teas by Facebook message & PayPal. If you like Dong Ding, he's worth checking out.

Yes, Kyarazen hooked us up with Hau Ying Chen, a farmer with a century old farm in Lugu Township last year. He follows traditional farming and roasting methods and makes excellent charcoal roasted oolongs such as roasted DongDing, DaYuLin, High Mountain, Wild LiShan. Some of the teas he sells are also from other select single source farmers he knows who also practise traditional methods. I order from him on facebook via his company page;

薪誠坊 Shin Cheng Fang/百年茶園/凍頂烏龍專賣店
https://www.facebook.com/%E8%96%AA%E8%A ... 529387740/

He's also on Instagram under his name
http://instagram.com/hauyingchen

& kyarazen wrote about HY Chen here
http://www.kyarazen.com/traditional-don ... xperiment/

I'll have to look into this. In the past I've only enjoyed yancha but then I bought some milk oolong (true milk oolong - not a flavored tea) and I enjoyed that enough to get another bag.

[Bok]

Today is an epiphany day for me!
In my short tea journey I had never tried Dan Cong before. Im having a lower grade Guang Dong Pheonix from Teavivre. This is a game changer. Ordering from Hojo tonight!!!

I recently had something similar myself, first time encounter, lucky buy in Shanghai. Very happy with it and it has something special that makes me crave it, especially now in summer. A certain fruity flowery lightness with a punch – if that makes sense in its contradiction

Not an easy tea to brew though, not forgiving at all compared to Taiwanese oolongs. Make sure to vary your parameters, less/more leaves, quicker brewing is advised in any case, it turns bitter really quick! Those teas keep going for a lot of sessions, funnily they get stronger with each infusions before they go down. Where the tea comes from they stuff their pots with leaves, I found slightly less better and easier to control.

Mine is a 黃栀香 Yellow gardenia Dancong.

[ethan]

A certain fruity flowery lightness with a punch – if that makes sense in its contradiction

Not an easy tea to brew though, not forgiving at all compared to Taiwanese oolongs. Make sure to vary your parameters, less/more leaves, quicker brewing is advised in any case, it turns bitter really quick! Those teas keep going for a lot of sessions, funnily they get stronger with each infusions before they go down. Where the tea comes from they stuff their pots with leaves, I found slightly less better and easier to control.

+1

[victoria3]

A certain fruity flowery lightness with a punch – if that makes sense in its contradiction

Not an easy tea to brew though, not forgiving at all compared to Taiwanese oolongs. Make sure to vary your parameters, less/more leaves, quicker brewing is advised in any case, it turns bitter really quick! Those teas keep going for a lot of sessions, funnily they get stronger with each infusions before they go down. Where the tea comes from they stuff their pots with leaves, I found slightly less better and easier to control.

+1

Water is very important with DanCongs Imen even recommends distilled for certain ones