Da Yu Ling 105K Cold Brew High-mountain Oolong

This coveted Taiwan high mountain oolongg grown at a height of nearly 3000 metersand handpicked this spring. An organic tea with little production!

Located at the Taiwan Hehuan Mountain, intersection of Nantou, Taizhong, Hualian County, 2,200 meters above sea level, it is Taiwan’s highest altitude tea production area. It is generally believed that Taiwan’s high mountain tea is the best origin. It is often covered in clouds and midst and surrounded by fresh streams and the cool crisp air of the high mountains. Besides its impressional flavour, there is no road access to some of the plant gardens, local farmers have to carry the tea by human labour, there is very limited supply. Tea here is harvested every spring and fall. The fermentation is between 20% and 25%. This tea can be steeped up to 10 times and the leaves and buds are really something to look at when wet. Each time unlocking a unique flavor. The taste is full and smooth, with a fresh orchid finish. A smooth in the throat feeling emerges when the superb tea is enjoyed.

What is 105K? 105K refers to Song Lu tea garden locates at the north peak of Hehuan Mt.. It is at the 105.5 Km site of Zhongheng road. The top elevation here reaches 2565m, the temperature here is quite low all the year and the tea tree is always coated with snow in the winter. The cold temperature makes the tea tree there grow slowly, the abundant environment creates a unique excellent tea. Deliciouse!

Cold Brew. This top grade Formosa oolong is ideal for cold brew. Different from using regular boilling water to make a cup of tea, cold brew is a mwthod adopting cold water to brew the tea. It is suggested to use mineral water or purified water, one portion of dry leaves with 50 portions of water, then stored in refridgerator for 4-12 hours. Normally, keep the tea in cold water for 4 hours will get the same result as brewing it with boilling water for 5 minutes. Cold brew is a good way to make the liquor sweeter while prevent tannin and caffeine from the tea.

2 Tasting Notes

teaddict 2 tasting notes

I had been reading a lot of praise from various people on TeaChat for Da Yu Ling, from a variety of suppliers. Norbu, my number one supplier, hasn’t carried one so labelled, so when I placed an order from Dragon Tea House, I added some of this to check it out. Although their description praises it as a cold tea, I mostly drink my teas hot, so I have both some brewing up cold in the refrigerator for later, and am brewing up some hot now. I’d estimate I used between 1 and 2 grams of tea for my 60mL korean pot, and water 205 degrees. It is a very nice summery spicy Alishan-type oolong, but not dramatically different than those I’ve been enjoying from Norbu. I’m at about the 5th infusion now, and the leaves have expanded to nearly fill the little pot. The floral is gone and spicy grassy notes predominate.

All in all, I’d have to say its quite a nice tea, but not one that makes me feel like I must go out of my way to seek it in preference to the Alishans I’ve been enjoying.

I’ll add some notes on the cold brewing later.

2011-06-19 19:21:05 -0400

205 °F / 96 °C

0 min 30 sec

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