Oolong Teas: a complex world between green & black

[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.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/11/AR2008111100573.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.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Tuesday I mostly drank a new-to-me tea from Norbu: 2009 Old Plantation Qing Xin oolong. It was so good that after a bulk thermos brewing of the sample (a free sample included in my last order), I had to do a gongfu session straight away to confirm how nice it was.

The leaves are dark, tightly rolled, some stems, toasty dark tart scent.

1.5 grams of tea into 60mL gaiwan, water 180 degrees, rinse x 15 seconds, then 20 second steep: first impression is spicy, interesting, but oops, before I can form a proper opinion, I am thirsty and it is gooood, gulp, gone. 2nd infusion is a little spicy, a little sweet, a lot toasty-roasty, but there is a smoothness here even in the 2nd infusion that often takes 4 or 5 infusions to achieve in a more assertive Wuyi rock tea or even my old supermarket brand Ti Kuan Yin. And there’s no sense that a bitterness or astringency is just around the corner if I am careless with times or temps.

I was interrupted and have lost count of the infusions, but I am pretty sure the current one is 9 or 10. The flavor is more dilute now, but there is still some sweetness and a little something else that is very Ti-Kuan-Yin-like. And the flavor was smooth but still quite definite out to the 7th or 8th infusion—that smooth 2nd infusion carried over without turning to water at the 3rd or 4th.

After the infusions, the leaves are unrolled, but still very crumply and twisted, with a dark brown color and a charcoal scent: with some determination they can be coaxed and pressed and flattened into medium sized, quite intact leaves.

It's a lovely nice tea, like a refined version of the SeaDyke that I drank forever and a day. But after these two brewings, one for thermos and one gongfu, it's almost gone. So I ordered some more.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Two Yunnan "Oriental Beauty"-Style Oolong Teas

2009 Fall Bai Yun Oolong--Yunnan Oolong Tea from Norbu (BYO)

Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty" Oolong from Yunnan Sourcing (YSOB)

Note: this is comparing the end of a sample bag of the BYO, so the leaves were not in as good a shape as those in the YSOB sample.

In the end, both were lovely teas. Oddly enough, given that the BYO was end-of-bag with more broken leaves, it took the 2nd infusion to start showing the spiciness and full flavor that the YSOB gave immediately. The BYO, however, seemed to hold that lovely flavor a little longer, but by the 5th infusion, both are starting to thin out, pretty much done. I have only had one Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, and that was a rose scented version that was quite unlike roses or like these lovely teas. A high quality Taiwanese Oriental Beauty is reputedly quite hard to come by, but these teas are quite satisfying, and not too pricey, so I don't feel any particular need to try the genuine article.

1.9 grams of tea

about 4 oz water (larger gaiwans, not preheated)

1st 195 degrees, 45 seconds

2nd 185 degrees (too impatient to wait for full reheating), 30 seconds

3rd 175 degrees (ditto), 1 minutes

4th: 195 (more patient this time), 2 minutes

5th: water just off full boil, 1 minute

(stopping because of diminishing marginal returns)

2009 Fall Bai Yun Oolong--Yunnan Oolong Tea from Norbu

Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent

1st infusion: sweet, fruity, floral

2nd: spicy flavor there now, still fruity and floral

3rd: still spicy/sweet/fruity/floral, but starting to thin a little esp in the fruity notes

4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; holding up better than the YSOB

5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy

Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart

Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty" Oolong from Yunnan Sourcing

Leaves: thin, dark twists, with sweet fruity tea scent

1st infusion: sweet, plummy, floral, with a spiciness that is not there in the BYO

2nd: spicy, fruity, floral

3rd: losing a bit of the spicy and sweet edge, thinner flavor, perhaps dissipating a little faster than the BYO, but really not much to choose between them at this point

4th: 4th: a little thinner, but still quite enjoyable; not holding as well as the BYO

5th: thinner, still a little fruity/spicy

Wet leaves: dark red leaves with hints of green; scent is sweet/tart

Edited August 15, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

That's an interesting idea--rinse to the end.

Tonight I am drinking the Honey Orchid Gold Medalist No 1 from Tea Habitat. I bought this tea and opened it thinking it was the same as the ‘commercial’ version that I had been enjoying so much, and was brought up short by some harsher notes it expressed on first brewing. I looked again at the label and realized this was the single-bush Dan Cong version, and unsurprisingly it demands a bit more respect.

Tonight I am brewing it in the Chao Zhou pot I bought from Tea Habitat, and it is lovely. It’s flavors are sharper, spicier, and sweetness is more honeyed and distinct. It is like the prior tea brought into sharper focus.

So far I am on about the 9th or 10th infusion, and anticipate plenty more infusions are left in it.

I used about 2 grams of tea in the 60 mL pot, and infusions from 30 seconds at first to 1-2 minutes now, water 195 degrees, give or take 5, and the entirety of this gongfu session has been delightful. The tea and the pot are brilliant together.

[Richard Kilgore]

I have been interested in the Chao Zhou pots and am pleased yours is working out well for you. One simply has not yet gotten to the top of my teapot want list. Maybe next year.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Huang Jin Gui by Norbu Tea, fall 2009 harvest

Just opened this one, and it is lovely.

Using a small porcelain gaiwan, about 2 grams of tea in 60mL with water 195 degrees, about 30-45 seconds per infusion to start.

First impressions are sweet, floral, delicate, with less caramel than an Alishan and yes, less sharpness than a TGY, but these changes bring the sweet and floral notes front and center. Wow.