Dinosara

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Hand Picked Tieguanyin Spring Oolong (2011) from Verdant Tea

Dinosara drank Hand Picked Tieguanyin Spring Oolong (2011) by Verdant Tea

Sipdown (Verdant Edition), 224. This tea is obviously old, given that it is spring 2011 picking. I only had a small amount of it left and I’m not sure why I was holding out on drinking it for so long… hoarding beloved tea impulses, I guess. I only had enough of this one for a western-style mug.

Despite its age, this smells amazing. Sweet and floral and buttery. The flavors are also still amazing, although I know they have diminished a bit. But still, if I can get this much flavor out of it two years on, it is a pretty amazing tea, and it still makes me very happy. Can’t wait until the spring 2013 picking!

2013-03-08 11:20:00 -0500

195 °F / 90 °C

3 min 0 sec

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Kashyap 2013-03-08 12:41:53 -0500

I’m not sure the exact conditions for ‘aging’ a oolong or if they bear similarity to the needs of other aged teas like pu erhs, but if so it would follow that stored in a porous, ceramic container in a climate neutral environment with passive air circulation, it should age OK and potentially even improve…

Dinosara 2013-03-08 14:40:59 -0500

I’ve heard that oolongs age well when they are of the darker/roasted variety, but I think green oolongs like this are more like green teas in the aging process. Regardless this one has held up pretty well!

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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.