Aged Oolong Sampler Group Buy, Update 10-30-15
I got mine yesterday (but I got back late from a quiz so didn’t post :( ). I just wanted to say a big thanks again to LP for organising and to the two gift buyers – I really appreciate all of the generosity you showed :D
(I also may have tried the ‘86 Lishan, just because it smelled and looked so fantastic, and I deffo wasn’t disappointed. Sweet, slightly woody smoke flavour, with a truly delicious berry and raisin aftertaste. Also surprisingly not roasty!)
The feeling of having two packages floating around somewhere going to the UK unsure of its location… well, it feels fantastic when someone says it arrives
:)
I returned to a card from the post office. Fingers crossed its my one! I have ordered other things but here’s hoping
So… I broke the order without meaning to by drinking the 2006 Benshan from ChaWang (which is the same as the 2006 Benshan from What Cha, teas to compare storage!) and will be visiting the 86’ Tung Ting today which has mixed reviews based on personal preferences. The 2006 Benshan is already on my list to acquire more of next year. https://www.instagram.com/p/-XAiGpRYAU/
I broke the order yesterday so I think it’s ok. Yesterday I didn’t think that tea number two was included in my box but it turns out it was labeled 2006 Benshan not 2006 Anxi Tie Guan Yin. In any case I drank this one today. It was an interesting and decidedly roasty tea. I gave it eight steeps and I can honestly say I’ve had enough tea as this is my fifth tea today. The roast eventually disappeared leaving another flavor behind. However, I really failed to pin down that note so I will wait to see what others call it. I think Liquid Proust has saved me a lot of money here. I would definitely been tempted to buy any number of these. But of the three I have tried so far I don’t think I’ll be making any purchases. I am beginning to think that aged oolong is not my cup of tea.
Are you guys brewing these gongfu or western? I always hear people talking about many steps, like as much as 7, so I am assuming gongfu?
I’ve only really done oolongs western, usually 190F/3-4g/3min/8oz. What are your brewing numbers?
Most of us are doing gongfu I think. Oolongs really shine with gongfu brewing to me.
My brew numbers are just under boiling/full packet/30sec/150ml
You trying to burn those leaves? I haven’t used over 90c yet…
I guess we all do it differently
Note : depending on price and when people jumped in, some are 5g, 7g , and 10g
I brew under the assumption that most aged oolongs have been re-roasted to help preserve and store them. I also believe aged tea needs a littel oomph to help wake them up, these are not delicate spring harvests.
Most good ones won’t have been re-roasted..
As haveteawilltravel says you should be hitting those with high heat. Clay is also helpful for its extra heat retention.
Really? I always have been told that common practice in 90’s or so has been to briefly re roast tea every 5-10yrs.
People will say that if they sell the re-roasted type. But unfortunately it’s usually just a way to keep excessive moisture out or a way to sell the leftovers/mask bad taste/fake aged taste. It’s possible to get decent aged, re-roasted tea but I’ve found ~95% of them to be very underwhelming and closer to just a heavy roast taste than anything interesting.
The ones to really hunt down are unreroasted and have been kept from getting too tart/sour and have a really nice fermented plum profile.
Marshaln’s blog is pretty much the best source for learning about aged oolongs. Here’s one post although there are many others: http://www.marshaln.com/2007/11/thursday-november-29-2007/
Tried the 2008 Anxi Tieguanyin in Bittermelon. I put it in the catalog with the full and rather long name on the Chawangshop website. This tea was good. Despite their claim that it is heavy roasted I didn’t find it so. I found roast flavor in the first steep that mostly dissipated by the second steep. The flavor left behind was quite nice. I used 6.5g in a 120ml gaiwan with 190 degree water for this and it worked well. I however failed to identify the specific nature of the sweet notes of this tea. I just don’t know how to describe them. I did find that this was not a particularly long lasting tea. It was a bit watery in the eighth steep. I think it was done for at eight although I suppose I could have done a couple of very long steeps. It was good. The best of the first four in my opinion.
I just drank this and found it less roasty than what I was expecting which was alright with me. The sweet notes were the type that hit the tip of my tongue after I drank it and sat there like I chewed some juicy fruit three hours ago and I just tasted it again… if that makes sense.
It makes me curious about buying a legit stuffed grapefruit with roasted oolong now.
This 2009 from Tea Trekker is very smooth compared to the 05’ DHP
If you drink them in the order listed… Wonderful to taste the quality difference https://instagram.com/p/-hzpUZRYL2/
ok, so ive been drinking the ’86 tung ting. It hasnt floored me with wow factor but its been nice to drink
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