154 replies to this topic

[gingko]

Does the "thousand mile fragrant" name refer to how far away the aroma carries, or is there more of a story to it?

I have no idea. I guess it's descriptive for the fragrance, but not sure if there is a story.

[Richard Kilgore]

The aged TGYs are an interesting subgroup, and I am continuing to explore them - three now. But I am also seasoning the pot that I hope to dedicate to them, and although it is coming along nicely today, it may be a few weeks before I can do some of the comparisons I would like to do between the teas and the brewing vessels: a porcelain gaiwan and two Yixings made of different clays.

The seasoning of the 90 ml Yixing made of Qing Shui Ni clay with aged Oolongs continues to come along nicely. Just poured two rich and pleasant infusions from it, and another brewing session or two should put it in good enough shape to use regularly and do some comparisons. I have been using 4.5 grams of leaf (any one of three aged Oolongs) and using longer infusions than I would for most Oolongs: starting at 30 seconds, with temps at about 205 or higher. And leaving the drained leaf in the pot overnight to help with the seasoning.

More to come in a week or two. I'll be in a better position then to compare the effects of using a couple of different Yixings and a gaiwan...in my usual pseudo-scientific manner.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today I broke into the Hankook korean oolong I bought at Chasaengwon last week.

I did not weigh the tea but filled the small gaiwan about 1/4 full by eye. I started with water about 190 degrees, and infused 30" after a quick rinse. Then multiple additional infusions about 30-60 seconds apiece, water temperature varying as the water in the pot cooled and was rewarmed a little.

It's an interesting fruity tea, reminds me of the Bai Mu Dan I tasted last week--peachy, a hint of fermented fruit. I'm not sure I really enjoy that particular flavor note very much, and will have to play with this one a few more times before I have a good sense of it. It also resembles the Oriental Beauty from Yunnan that I drank this week, from Yunnan Sourcing. Not as toasty or spicy as Wuyi, nor greenly floral like the low-oxidized green oolongs.

Edited by Wholemeal Crank, 06 March 2010 - 09:59 PM.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I also brewed up a little bit of the 2009 Spring Zhen-Yen Handcrafted "Rou Gui" from Houde. Spicy, sweet, complex and toasty. Will do it up with pictures another day. Today was brewing tiny quantities to not OD on tea but to check out several of the way-too-many teas that recently came home with me.

[Richard Kilgore]

This is the first of three Aged TGY Oolongs. This one is from The Cultured Cup, and the others are from Norbutea.com and jingteashop.com. Brewing is gong fu cha style in a 90 ml fang gu shape (more flat than tall) Yixing teapot made of qing shu ni clay, made some time in the last ten years. The pot with limited seasoning tends to smooth and round off the edge of roasty flavors, and may enhance other flavors slightly -- too soon to say for sure.

The dry aroma is roast with a hint of cocoa; the wet aroma is similar with the addition of a whif of stone fruit.

flash rinse

1:30 sec - stone fruit aroma; medium body; golden tea liqupr; creamy mouthfeel, roast stone fruit flavor.

2:30 - aroma is more roasty; honey, roasty flavor.

3:60 - floral aroma emerging; roasty, hint of floral flavor.

4:90 - less aroma, but floral flavor predominate.

5:120 - (after a rest of a few hours and a 10 second rinse) similar to 4th infusion. Tea liquor is still quite golden and the flavor seems likely to stand up to at least 2 - 3 more infusions.

All in all this is an elegant, somewhat delicate, aged TGY brewed in this manner.

More on the next two aged TGYs over the next week.

[Richard Kilgore]

Followup note: I got three more very good infusions out of this Aged TGY and it clearly would go for two more. But I am giving up before it does. :)

[Gail CDM]

If you enjoy teas from Teavanna, try the Monkey picked oolong. It's the best

[Richard Kilgore]

This is the second of three Aged TGY Oolongs. This one is from norbutea.com, and the others are from theculturedcup.com and jingteashop.com. Brewing again is gong fu cha style, 4.5 g in a 90 ml fang gu shape (more flat than tall) Yixing teapot made of qing shu ni clay, made some time in the last ten years. The pot with limited seasoning tends to smooth and round off the edge of roasty flavors, and may enhance other flavors slightly -- too soon to say for sure.

The dry aroma is roasty and the wet aroma is a little more roasty.

flash rinse

1:30 sec - roasty aroma; medium body; golden tea liqupr; creamy mouthfeel, roast stone fruit flavor.

2:30 - roasty aroma; creamy; stone fruit flavor.

3:45 - similar to second infusion, with stone fruit more prominent than the roasted flavor.

4:75 - less aroma, otherwise similar to third infusion.

More infusions left in this Aged Oolong, which may be slighty fuller body than the previous one. They are different, but it's difficult to describe the relatively subtle differences.

[Richard Kilgore]

This is the third of three Aged TGY Oolongs. This one is from jingteashop.com, and the others are from theculturedcup.com and norbutea.com. Brewing again is gong fu cha style, 4.5 g in the same 90 ml fang gu shape (more flat than tall) Yixing teapot made of qing shu ni clay, made some time in the last ten years. The pot with limited seasoning tends to smooth and round off the edge of roasty flavors, and may enhance other flavors slightly -- too soon to say for sure.

The dry aroma is mildly roasty and the wet aroma is stone fruit and mildly roasty.

flash rinse

1:20 sec - stone fruit and roasty aroma; medium-light body; light-golden tea liquor; lightly creamy mouthfeel, honey and stone fruit flavor over light roasted flavor. (By accident pulled this at 20 sec rather than 30.)

2:30 - stone fruit over faint toasted aroma; light-creamy; stone fruit and roasted flavor.

3:60 - fainter aroma than second infusion; deeper color to the tea liquor; creamy; stone fruit and roasted flavor.

4:90 - less aroma, color similar to last infusion; floral flavor emerging, as well as stone fruit; more astringent than roasty.

5:3 min - similar to last infusion.

There are more infusions left in this pot. I'll post a follow up note if I brew more.

Again, it is somewhat difficult to describe the differences between these Aged Oolongs. My descriptions are not as helpful as I would like since I brewed on different days and the length of infusions varied in a couple of instances. In addition, getting the same brewing parameters for the three may not represent each on at its best. All of them make a nice cup of tea for me. I'll post more when and if I find the sweet spot for any of them and if I brew them western style.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I tried re-brewing one of the above Aged TGY Oolongs, the one from jingteashop.com. This time I did it with a higher leaf:water ratio - 2 g to one ounce water instead of 1.5 g.

Much improvement in an already tasty aged Oolong. This appears to be the sweet spot for this one. I'll try the other two over the next week or so and report back to see if I can get a similar improvement.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I have a little left of a couple of aged oolong samples, and I will try them with higher leaf to water ratios. I do remember feeling like they were a little thin, without the thick liquor body of the younger leaves.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yes, it's worth a try. the usual instructions are to brew them a little longer than you would most Oolongs, which I did with the three of them above at 1.5 g/1 ounce water starting at 30 seconds rather than my usual 20. But this time I did the 2.0 g/1 ounce at the shorter 20 seconds and it was fuller bodied and the honey and stone fruit dominated the roasty component, resulting in a more balanced taste...for my tastes anyway. YMMV, as usual.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I tried re-brewing one of the above Aged TGY Oolongs, the one from jingteashop.com. This time I did it with a higher leaf:water ratio - 2 g to one ounce water instead of 1.5 g.

Much improvement in an already tasty aged Oolong. This appears to be the sweet spot for this one. I'll try the other two over the next week or so and report back to see if I can get a similar improvement.

I re-brewed the Norbutea.com aged Oolong this evening and it is also improved by brewing at the higher ratio, but not sure if these parameters are the sweet spot. Like the third infusion the best.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I tried re-brewing one of the above Aged TGY Oolongs, the one from jingteashop.com. This time I did it with a higher leaf:water ratio - 2 g to one ounce water instead of 1.5 g.

Much improvement in an already tasty aged Oolong. This appears to be the sweet spot for this one. I'll try the other two over the next week or so and report back to see if I can get a similar improvement.

I re-brewed the Norbutea.com aged Oolong this evening and it is also improved by brewing at the higher ratio, but not sure if these parameters are the sweet spot. Like the third infusion the best.

Tonight I re-brewed the aged TGY from The Cultured Cup as I did the other two above, and it benefits from the higher ratio, at least for my tea taste buds. This one is more delicate at the lower ratio and richer at the higher. Liked the third infusion best. All of these were flash rinsed with a 30 sec rinse and then brewed at 205 F (96 C).

Having done this, you may enjoy some different set of parameters best for these teas. The aged Oolongs may be a little different to brew, but I think they are interesting and worth a little effort in getting to know the leaf.

[nakji]

Over here, we were chatting about Oriental Beauty oolong, which Richard notes has a higher percentage of oxidation. I'm curious. The oolongs I have tried and liked, like tie guan yin (my favourite) and da hung pao (my second favourite) are two very different teas. The Oriental Beauty is very different from both those (although closer to the tie guan yin, if I had to compare), and I'm curious to what extent the oxidation affects those flavours. Is the difference in taste solely attributable to the oxidation percentage, or are there other factors involved?

[Richard Kilgore]

Terroir, weather, oxidation, roasting duration and other aspects of processing such as leaf shape (rolled, flat, twisted) all effect the final result, Erin, plus, of course, one's brewing technique. TGY, for example can be oxidized greener or darker, and can be aged and roasted and re-roasted over time. Da Hong Pao also can be processed with a range of oxidation. The growing and processing high quality Oolongs appear to be as much art as science to me.

Some of the Oolongs at jingteashop.com have wonderfully detailed notes about the origin and processing, as well as finely tuned aroma and flavor notes. Worth checking out. Reading through some of the descriptions of the Oolongs at norbutea.com may also help to give you a better sense of the whys and wherefores of Oolongs. By suggesting these resources, however, I do not mean to discourage you from asking more questions or discussing it further here, of course.

[nakji]

It might be fun to pick up several teas and try a tea "flight" as it were, working through various levels of oxidation for one tea. I'll read up on those sites you've suggested, Richard, thanks.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I would love to be able to taste a single batch of tea leaf, oxidized to different degrees, and then roasted to different degrees.

With TGY, I have really only seen the dark roasted version like my Sea-Dyke brand stalwart, and the new style very floral and lightly oxidized and barely if at all roasted green version. I do not know how much of the difference between the two styles is oxidation vs roasting.

I've had more variety of Bao Zhong or Pouchongs, from Taiwan: light delicate near-greens, darker versions that taste a bit more oxidized but still less toasty than the TGYs, and perhaps oriental beauty could be shoehorned into that group.

Hmmm.....seems like this would be a great thing for a tea-maker to take on: provide matched batches of teas with different oxidation and different roasting, which could be quite a unique offering for tasting classes, tea-master training, and exploration by tea-o-philes like us. I probably will have to grow my own to ever really experience this, however. While I would not expect to ever grow great tea of my own, I can imagine getting sufficient quality and quantity of leaf to make some drinkable teas processed several different ways to see these effects. With my micro-gaiwans, I'd only need a half-dozen leaves per batch....

[Richard Kilgore]

It might be fun to pick up several teas and try a tea "flight" as it were, working through various levels of oxidation for one tea. I'll read up on those sites you've suggested, Richard, thanks.

That's a good idea. A low, medium and high oxidation would give you a good sense of it. I really enjoy treating friends and out of town visitors to a flight of tea at The Cultured Cup. They don't have it on the menu as such, so what I do is order three cups (small pots) of different teas and then serve in small cups. Still a lot of tea for two or three people.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Why do we call a tea tasting a 'flight'?

And today I had an interesting new oolong. While at Wing Hop Fung to buy more of the amazing An Ji 'precious rare white tea', I decided to try the 'Zhangshu Lake' oolong from Taiwan. It is described as a 'semi-oxidized, earthy brew' on their web site. I found the dry tea leaves to be fairly dark, relative to the greener, lighter looking oolongs in nearby jars, and when I opened it up to infuse some, they were quite dense, very tightly rolled leaves. I took just a small amount--enough to cover the bottom of the small 2.5oz/75mL gaiwan--for my first brewing, and after a couple of infusions the leaves nearly fill the gaiwan.

The first impression was rich, thick liquor, sweet and floral and rich, but when several combined infusions sat for a while in my 10 oz cup, the sweetness was much less pronounced, and a deeper, earthier flavor appeared. I am used to some flavor changes as teas sit: I typically brew up a quart of my teas at a time, and drink that from a thermos over several hours during my workday. But I've not noticed such a rapid and profound change in any of my lightly oxidized Ali Shan and Tie Guan Yin Oolongs before. I guess that's why its described as "earthy" rather than predominantly sweet. Very interesting.

[nakji]

Why do we call a tea tasting a 'flight'?

Procession, then? I don't know, I just made it up.


My tea changes flavour over the day, too, but because of the various infusions I do. I have a modern Chinese tea thermal cup. In the morning, my tie guan yin leaves go in, filled with hot water. I refill the same cup over the day using the same leaves. I get as many as ten infusions out of the leaves, which I think is good value. The first cup is usually too harsh, but the second cup is magic - all floral and sweetness with no tannins. The tea gets less floral and more "tea-y" during the day, but never develops any harshness. If only I could figure out the name. I'll have to snap a picture of the label the next time I go into the shop.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I first became aware of the term in reading a menu at Tea Habitat, where Imen described tasting 'flights' of related Dan Cong teas. Just wondering if there is some interesting story behind the term, as there so often is when it comes to tea.

[Richard Kilgore]

As far as I know, the term "flight" was borrowed from the world of wine. Exactly how a flight of several wines came to be called that, don't know.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Long time, no posts!

2008 Winter Grade A Pin-Lin Bao Zhong, by Hou De

This is probably the 4th time I’ve brewed some of this wonderfully delicate tea, but I goofed in a way that probably limited the potential of the infusions significantly: I used a too low leaf to water ratio, and I was let the water cool too long before the infusions—too much attention to the camera setup as I was working on photographing what I was doing. In spite of that, the tea was good, being an exceptionally forgiving leaf.

Leaves are twisted, large, green to black, with a light sweet scent.



2.2 grams of leaf into my 6 oz glass pot, because the leaves are so pretty as they unfurl.



1st infusion 175°F/79°C 30", sweet, hay, floral, but too light, should have been longer.
2nd infusion water closer to 160°F/71°C (let it cool too long, misjudged), let it go nearly 2 minutes, again a very light, sweet, floral infusion.
3rd infusion 175°F/79°C several minutes, similar—light, sweet, floral.
4th and 5th infusions were with water just off the boil, several minutes’ steep, and were still lovely.



I've previously used water closer to 195 and 30" steep with about 2 grams in my 2 oz gaiwans, but hadn't been trying to manage cameras etc at the same time.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today did a more formal gongfu cha session with the Hou De 2009 Winter harvest wood-roasted Shui Xian oolong.

This is a very interesting tea. It is tightly rolled, unusual vs the other wuyi oolongs I’ve had, and looks fairly green in the rolled state, and unrolls to a deep green leaf. But the tea liquor reminds me more of a Dan Cong style of oolong—astringent, complex, toasted, sweet, spicy. And it has the ability to last through a dozen infusions easily, getting lighter at the end, but even the light infusions are still fruity/sweet/spicy.

I started this brewing with 3 grams of leaf in a 100mL red clay pot, water about 185 degrees, and infused at first for 30 seconds, and extended as long as 2 seconds by the end of the session.

Very very nice.

[jpr54_]

I enjoyed reading this article-
Brian has a great selection of teas-
http://www.washingto...8111100573.html

[mbhank]

At Harney and Sons you can buy small samples of almost all their teas. An ideal way to try different ones.

[jpr54_]

Yes, I agree-
but Brian has excellent selections once u know what u enjoy-
The tea he has is fresh and he is very inteligent and personable-
I visited him in Washington, DC- 2 years ago

[Wholemeal Crank]

Most Americans have heard of black tea, and green tea, but not oolong, or puerh, but I find I have no trouble making fans of oolongs after one or two tries of a nice mellow green-style or a rich Wuyi. I was lucky to focus on oolongs right away because my father learned about tea from chinese friends who were fairly knowledgeable about tea.

Neat article, and hope it brings more attention to the best of teas, although not so much that they get more expensive/harder to find!

[Wholemeal Crank]

100% Hawaiian grown oolong by Hilo Coffee Mill

I’ve been given a sample of this tea as part of a tea swap.

Dry leaves: strong tart/fruity aroma.
Infused 2 grams of leaves in a 50mL yixing pot with 190°F/88°C water for 30 seconds. The tea is fruity, sweet, like ripe plums.
A second infusion for 30 seconds brings out a little spiciness in addition to the rich fruit.
3rd infusion at 60 seconds is still strongly, deeply, fruity.
4th infusion at 120 seconds is sweet, fruity, not much tart left.
5th infusion at 4 minutes is losing strength, a little sweet, a little fruity, warm and friendly, but not strong like the earlier infusions.
6th infusion at 10 minutes (just couldn’t let it go) is still pleasant, mildly plummy, sweet, but again rather dilute.

I think I may actually buy a little of this for a treat. It doesn’t have the legs of a great Dan Cong, but the fruit up front is pretty incredible. Even the aroma of the wet leaves after the infusions are over is still quite nice.