Dinosara

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Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” Oolong Tea (Ti Kuan Yin) from Teavivre

Dinosara drank Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” Oolong Tea (Ti Kuan Yin) by Teavivre

Ugh, my computer froze and I lost my note on this one. I have had it before so it’s not too big of a deal, but still annoying.

Mainly I am trying to figure out some of my gongfu brewing issues. No matter what I can’t seem to have a good gongfu session. Maximally I get one good first steep, a decent second steep, and after that it’s all meh, regardless of the tea. I thought maybe I wasn’t using enough leaf so I went crazy with this one. It’s actually less good than the last time I went gongfu on this one and used half the leaf. Still don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve obviously enjoyed the gongfu sessions I had at tastings that other people ran, and I have even successfully gongfu’d tea myself before (a jasmine green), so I don’t know what my problem is here. I think I cannot seem to figure out the optimal leaf amount for my pot. Maybe someday.

2012-10-14 13:39:44 -0400

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Invader Zim 2012-10-14 14:29:15 -0400

I’m wondering if it’s the water you’re using.

Azzrian 2012-10-14 14:41:47 -0400

I always do my bigger posts in a word program and transfer it here for that reason.
Frustrating when that happens.

Dinosara 2012-10-14 15:59:47 -0400

Invader ZIm— I kind of doubt it for a couple of reasons: 1) I use the same water for all of my teas and I don’t run into other problems with them; 2) I did a taste test with bottle water vs. my water and they were almost identical; and 3) I really doubt the Beijing tap water that I used in my hotel, and one of the few places I had some success gongfu-ing, was of better quality than my current water!

That said, I might try gongfu-ing with different water just to see if it makes a difference.

Invader Zim 2012-10-14 19:59:00 -0400

That was the only thing that the problem seemed like it could’ve been. I hope you are able to figure it out and enjoy past your second brew.

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Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

I’m a grad student and in my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

I have an Adagio Teas UtiliTEA kettle and a Tea Forté Kati cup for brewing. I also have a Chinese Ru Kiln tea set for gongfu brewing.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: These teas are mind-blowingly good to me.
89-80: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
79-70: Tasty teas that I enjoy, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
69-65: Teas that I would probably drink again, but wouldn’t seek out. They don’t quite do it for me in one aspect or another; often just not quite my style
64-60: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
59-50: Bleh. I usually choose not to finish the cup because life’s too short to drink tea I dislike.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.