spittingoutteeth

All winter I have been waiting patiently to try the first new teas of 2010….and I finally got my chance this past weekend! During a visit to the wonderful Stone Leaf Teahouse in Middlebury, VT, I was pleased to discovered that they had three of the new spring teas in stock, including this Bi Luo Chun that was processed just two weeks before.

I’ve brewed it twice now and have been very impressed with the results. The flavor is (not surprisingly) very fresh and vibrant, but what did surprise me was how durable this tea was. I expected one or two good infusions and then nothing but warm water after that. I was also expecting that I would have to be very careful about my water temperature and infusion time. However, I found that it was nearly impossible to make this tea bitter and it actually responded quite well to near-boiling temperature water.

A real treat; it’s amazing to have tea so fresh!

This is one of the best unroasted, young baozhong teas that I have tried. Very fresh and full-flavored, with a gorgeous aroma that reminds me of fresh lilacs. It’s too bad that it’s currently sold out but I’m sure Floating Leaves owner Shiuwen will have a Spring 2010 version of this tea in shortly.

This is not one of my favorite teas from Dobra. It’s decent, but lacks the bold flavor of other Bao Zhong teas that I’ve had. Not bad, but not great.

I tried Mao Jian for the first time last night during a visit to Dobra. It is a very unique tea that blends the grassy, fresh and subtle qualities of a good Chinese green tea with the boldness of a young oolong. The light and refreshing qualities of this tea really make me think of a spring day, which makes this tea perfect for this time of year.

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While I’m an avid fan of oolong teas, I had never tried a Dan Cong until last night. I’d always been kind of intimidated by their cult following and all of the single bush vs. multiple bush talk, so I just ended up avoiding them.

I had some rare free time last night so I decided to go to Dobra and try something new. I’d tried every oolong on their menu except for the Feng Huang Dan Cong, so I figured I’d give it a shot.

I was very impressed. The medium roasting gave it a wonderful aroma and full-flavor, while floral and fruit notes (definitely apricot as was mentioned, along with a bit of grapefruit citrus) dominated the aftertaste. Strangely, it reminded me a bit of the Traditional Dong Ding offered by Floating Leaves.

Only complaint would be that it has a bit more astringency than I usually like in an oolong, so it probably wouldn’t be a regular long-session tea for me. That said, it’s bursting with flavor and will definitely be a go-to tea over the next few months.

I picked up this tea during a visit to the Cha Guan shop in August 2009. I’m enjoying a cup today six months later and it hasn’t lost any of its vibrance. This is a very unique tea—the leaves are very long and flat, and while it is a Chinese green, it has a vegetal taste that is more reminiscent of Japanese senchas or even gyokuro.

It is a fairly sensitive tea that can be prone to bitterness if brewed too long/too hot and it also doesn’t hold up to longer gong fu sessions well. However, it is a wonderful tea for special occasions.

I’m a big fan of Taiwanese high mountain oolongs, and this Li Shan from Camellia Sinensis is one of my personal favorites. While most high-mountain oolongs require a long infusion to draw out the subtle flavors, this Li Shan makes a hearty and fragrant cup in just over 1 min. when brewed gong fu style and rewards with several quality reinfusions. The aroma is like the first lilacs of spring and the taste is fruity and thirst quenching. A wonderful tea to celebrate the coming of the new spring!

I received a generous sample of this tea from Stephane the last time I placed an order with Tea Masters. I was expecting much seeing as 1) it was a free sample and 2) at only 7 years old, it’s a pretty young sheng. Gladly, my expectations were far exceeded.

This is one of the best young shengs I have ever tried, mellow and complex beyond its years. It brews up a beautiful dark amber-red, and has an aroma of sweet pipe tobacco. The flavor is a perfect blend of earthy and floral, with just the slightest bitterness lingering at the back of the tongue, resulting in a lovely aftertaste. This is a very special tea that will be amazing in another 10+ years.

When I introduce friends to aged oolongs, this is usually the one I start with. It is a really difficult tea not to like! All of the classic flavors of young Tieguanyin are preserved, but are made much more mellow and complex through the 20+ year aging process. The brewed tea looks beautiful, a nice crimson red. The wood flavors in this tea are very strong, and it often reminds me a really good single malt scotch. While the tea is never bitter, there is a mouthfeel and flavor that also brings to mind a good port or dry sherry. Fantastic tea.

This is a very unique aged oolong, and very different in flavor from a traditionally roasted or unroasted Ali Shan. It’s charcoal every year since the picking date of 1991, and as such the tea is very dark, almost black in color. The brewed tea however is surprisingly light in color, coming out a beige-orange.

The aroma is wonderful, a blend of aged wood and roasted dates. The flavor consists of raisin, caramel and baker’s chocolate tones. It’s a fantastic dessert tea, but a bit too naturally sweet for everyday drinking (at least for me). Definitely a nice treat though!

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A perfect example of a traditional Taiwanese Dong Ding oolong. Lightly roasted for a great aroma and malty taste, but still retaining the lovely fruit and floral aftertastes that make green Dong Dings so special. Can easily stand up to 5+ gong fu style infusions; an exceptional tea.

This is a fairly non-traditional Tung Ting (or Dong Ding, as the variety is better known) in that it is completely unroasted. While the small size of the leaves (mostly single and often broken) and dark color of the tea suggests that it is machine-made and oxidized a bit too long, it’s still quite nice. If you like your Taiwanese oolongs unroasted & blatantly floral, this is one for you. A very strong, perfume-like aroma and powerful taste, that quickly wears off after a few infusions. Not a great long session tea, but great for a quick afternoon cup.

Yet another lovely aged oolong from Camellia Sinensis. While I usually prefer aged ball oolongs, baozhongs seem to age really well too, retaining their fruity, vegetal qualities but also becoming more mellow and and gaining depth in the flavor spectrum. While I don’t love this tea as much as the 1978 Baozhong or the 1987 Mucha Tieguanyin that Camellia Sinensis offers, it is still a very, very enjoyable tea.

My favorite type of tea is high mountain Taiwanese oolongs, and this is the best that I have ever tried. Due to the high elevation it is grown at, the brewing parameters for this tea are somewhat odd. I typically brew 3g in a small round yixing for at least 6 minutes. While most teas would become bitter at such extreme brewing times, it is necessary to extract the subtle flavors from this tea.

The aroma is incredible, almost perfume-like, and the flavor is light and delicately fruity, with an amazing aftertaste that lingers for several minutes. Mouthfeel of this tea is warm and velvety. All in all, about as perfect as tea gets in my opinion.

The tamaryokucha served at Dobra is one of the fresher and more vibrant that I’ve tried. It’s somewhere between a sencha and a gyokuro on the Japanese green scale. There’s a strong fruity flavor, reminiscent of mango, yet it has a strong vegetal quality as well, just lighter than that of the shade-grown gyokuro. This is a great introductory tea for those looking to explore the world of Japanese greens. Brew in a kyusu or houhin.

I’ve only had the Da Hong Pao from Dobra a couple times, but it’s a great tea. Definitely unique for an oolong, it has a deep red color and a complex, earthy flavor. It almost reminds me more of a puerh than an oolong in this respect. A very nice tea for late fall/early winter nights.

Bocha, as far as I can tell, is just Camellia Sinensis’ name for a standard kukicha (stems and twigs from sencha). It’s not a very complex tea, but it is nice & fresh and good for a cheap, everyday Japanese green.

This is one of my favorite teas. While I only brew it for special occasions, it’s really not that mixes remexpensive for a 30+ yo aged oolong. It has a rich, complex flavor (aged wood and roasted walnut up front, with cognac and plum aftertastes) and an intoxicating aroma. Highly recommended.

The Dobra Yamacha is one of the most unique and delicious high mountain sencha teas I have tried. It has the nutty roasted flavor of a Korean Nok Cha mixed with the vegetal qualities of a shade grown Japanese green like gyokuro or tamaryokucha. Highly recommended!