First taste of Wuyi

Owes its flavors to oxidation levels between green & black tea.

Dec 31st 13 1:47 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Dec 31st 13 1:47 am

Noonie wrote:
Ursinos wrote:its a little glass gung fu pot from davids tea. website says 198ml
I see you're in southern ontario...are you in Toronto? If so, try Tao Tea Leaf, they have good tea and pretty good Wuyi (a step up from David's, and some times cheaper). Tao is more authentic, David's less so.

For tea ware, try tap phong in chinatown.

Enjoy the journey and great idea with the notebook!
I'm in kitchener actually. I do plan to make a trip to Toronto at some point to hit up china town for tea and teaware. It'll just be getting money for the GO ticket and the tea stuff (not to mention TTC fare).

The Wuyi I have isn't from Davids, but a smaller tea store (I think they only have two locations, here and Stratford) called Distinctly tea. They are less corporate retail, more personal. I don't think I'd call them much more than entry level on the tea, but I like their quality of oolong better than davids.

Dec 31st 13 5:31 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Dec 31st 13 5:31 am

OK, this Wuyi has started to grow on me. the flavor has really mellowed now that I'm on the fifth infusion. I'm starting to think of this Wuyi like a pair of jeans lol. uncomfortable at first, but with wear, they can become the most comfortable thing in your dresser lol.

Of course, like when that pair of jeans finally dies, I'm starting to think about how I'll grieve to have to break in a new pot of Wuyi lol.

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Dec 31st 13 10:48 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Teaism » Dec 31st 13 10:48 am

Ursinos wrote:oh wow! what a difference!

5 second steep time, and the mostly gone
Wuyi can changed quite drastically within seconds. it is good to experiment the infusion timing, quantity of tea levels etc. to calibrate to the brew that meet your palate.

Cheers and happy new year!

Dec 31st 13 4:48 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Dec 31st 13 4:48 pm

OK, so it seems that part of my problem might have been water temperature as well.

Today I decided to run a bit of an experiment for myself. instead of using my electric kettle to boil the water, I used my cast iron teapot on my stovetop. Brought it to a boil then let it sit until it dropped back down to the 85C (the temp the package said to brew the tea at), then pit it on a warming stand with two tealights under it.

it's maintaining the temperature nicely, I've gotten 2 brewings out of it so far this morning. The taste of the tea is SOOOO much better. Maybe it's because this is the 6th and 7th steepings, but it's worth trying the tea from the start again using this method.

and the best part is that I can keep the cast iron on the table beside my desk and keep enjoying tea while I read the forums :D

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Dec 31st 13 5:04 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by debunix » Dec 31st 13 5:04 pm

For really fine Wuyis, I often start at 185°- 195°F for the first few infusions, then raise the temp to 205°F for the rest--it helps keep the first few a bit mellower.

Dec 31st 13 5:07 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Dec 31st 13 5:07 pm

debunix wrote:For really fine Wuyis, I often start at 185°- 195°F for the first few infusions, then raise the temp to 205°F for the rest--it helps keep the first few a bit mellower.
I'll keep that in mind when I start a new batch. I'd only gotten a sample pack this time around. I am seriously contemplating heading up there in the next couple days and grabbing another. This time brewing it this way right from the beginning and seeing how that first brew changes.

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Jan 1st 14 3:33 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Teaism » Jan 1st 14 3:33 am

For taditional Chazhou brewing style for Wuyi, the water is boiled to max. for every brew. The kettle is very small and place next to the pot and poured into the brewing pot immediately when the water boiled. The infusion time to calibrate the brew is split seconds. It is really enjoyable to see the old Chazhou grandma brew tea in this way.
You should try it out as one of your experiment.

Cheers!

Jan 1st 14 5:02 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Jan 1st 14 5:02 am

Teaism wrote:For taditional Chazhou brewing style for Wuyi, the water is boiled to max. for every brew. The kettle is very small and place next to the pot and poured into the brewing pot immediately when the water boiled. The infusion time to calibrate the brew is split seconds. It is really enjoyable to see the old Chazhou grandma brew tea in this way.
You should try it out as one of your experiment.

Cheers!
hmm, all the material I've seen has said brew it at 85C. I guess it's another one of those variations on brewing style.

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Jan 1st 14 5:16 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Teaism » Jan 1st 14 5:16 am

As long as you are trying out and experiment, your skill and level of appreciation will improve. It is really nice to see your dedication.

Cheers!

Jan 1st 14 5:34 am
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Ursinos » Jan 1st 14 5:34 am

Teaism wrote:As long as you are trying out and experiment, your skill and level of appreciation will improve. It is really nice to see your dedication.

Cheers!
:D a friend accused me of becoming a "tea snob" the other day lol. made me chuckle a bit (though I only think "snob" applies to someone if they are belittling the way someone else does something. I just want to get the most out of my tea :D ).

My mom and I, neither of us can drink coffee, it makes us sick. My mom breaks out in hives, I get nauseous and dizzy. So growing up, instead of coffee in the house, it was always tea. I remember quite a few childhood talks with my Mom over a pot of tea :) So the love of the leaf was instilled at an early age :D Learning about loose leaf tea just blew my world wide open lol.

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Jan 1st 14 2:29 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by jayinhk » Jan 1st 14 2:29 pm

Teaism wrote:For taditional Chazhou brewing style for Wuyi, the water is boiled to max. for every brew. The kettle is very small and place next to the pot and poured into the brewing pot immediately when the water boiled. The infusion time to calibrate the brew is split seconds. It is really enjoyable to see the old Chazhou grandma brew tea in this way.
You should try it out as one of your experiment.

Cheers!
That is how I brew Wuyi teas too--the hottest temperature I can achieve, with fast, potent brews. At 85 degrees I'd feel like I was losing out on a lot of tea goodness!

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Jan 1st 14 2:32 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Teaism » Jan 1st 14 2:32 pm

Try this style with Puer and you will be amazed. Slowly remove the Puer leaf by leaf and treat it like Wuyi and brew it Chazhou style. One of my fav way.

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Jan 1st 14 2:38 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by jayinhk » Jan 1st 14 2:38 pm

Teaism wrote:Try this style with Puer and you will be amazed. Slowly remove the Puer leaf by leaf and treat it like Wuyi and brew it Chazhou style. One of my fav way.
I do brew my pu erh the same way, but I do not separate the leaves--I let the rinses do the work for me. :)

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Jan 1st 14 2:47 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by Teaism » Jan 1st 14 2:47 pm

Great, welcome to the same club. I did that often too and let the tea ceremony flow, without all the fuss.

Happy New Year! my friend.
Cheers!

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Jan 1st 14 4:18 pm
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Re: First taste of Wuyi

by jayinhk » Jan 1st 14 4:18 pm

Cheers, 新年快樂 and I wish you lots of good tea!