Mine is a spring 2011 tea but it is SO wonderful. It is amazing the difference between a quality cup of tea and, well, others lol. My husband loved this and sat drinking with me and that is a rare occasion – for someone who rarely drinks tea and knows nothing about it he is a total tea snob! At least he knows a good cup though!
Buttery, slightly floral but not so much as I don’t usually care for floral teas, and vegetal but not overly so this is one I really adore!
Thanks Life in Teacup for the sample!
Taiwan Cui Yu Green Jade High Mountain Oolong
One of the “greenest” oolong, with leaf color and tea taste close to green tea. This tea was produced from high mountain region of Nantou, Taiwan, in spring 2009. It has very refreshing floral fragrance.
Brewing method:
1a. Oolong, ball-shaped dry tea leaves
- Vessel: gaiwan or small teapot
- Water temperature: newly boiled water (above 95 °C or 203 °F)
- Amount of leaves: 5 gram for every 120ml total volume (Or reduce the amount to 3 gram for some heavy oxidation and/or heavy roast products)
- Warm-up infusion: pour hot water in the vessel, and immediately drain it. Wait for about 1min. before starting the next infusion.
- Time for each of the first 3 infusions (after warm-up): 20sec. (Or reduce the infusion time to 10-15sec. for some heavy oxidation and/or heavy roast products)
- Extend infusion time based on taste for later infusions. Most oolong tea can well last for at least 5-7 infusions.
1d. Oolong, Go easy…
(recommended if you would like to go easy; not recommended if the tea is expensive to you and you expect very strong flavor in every sip.)
- Vessel: gaiwan or use half volume of your mug
- Water temperature: (same as “1a”) newly boiled water (around 95 °C or 203 °F)
- Amount of leaves:
o ball-shaped oolong: 5-10 grains of dry tea leaves
o stripe-shaped oolong: 5-8 whole leaves- Steep time: 1-2 minutes
- Re-steep: when there is 1/3 liquor left in the vessel, add hot water to re-steep.
