Regional Oolong Group Buy Discussion
Now that most of us have had a few weeks to sit with the different kinds of tea and do some tastings. Were there any in particular that jumped out as your favorite of the bunch? Any you liked that you didn’t expect to like or defied your expectations in some other way?
I find myself going back to the “Gold Rose” from Yunnan Sourcing, for it’s balanced profile. Enough roast to make it a good roasted tea, but with smooth sweet floral notes and a lasting sweetness.
I finished the “Wild Orchid Pearls” from Nepal first; however, as it was a super delicious flower bomb. I would have guessed it was a Taiwanese oolong.
The dark tea from Hankook was like a memory teleport, instantly dashing my mind back to childhood, sipping on tea with my grandmother when I didn’t have a care in the world.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I’m still really new into tea in general, so I haven’t gotten around to tasting all of the ones from the group buy yet.
However the high mountain Yushan (not the charcoal roasted) was remarkable to me in that the leaves were the most beautiful and unbroken of any of the teas I’ve had thus far. It also intrigued me that I got a slight savory aftertaste from it, especially in the early steepings.
I liked it so much that after having it I ordered 4oz from Beautiful Taiwan Tea. :).
I did a comparison tasting of the two Yushan’s with some friends and we all loved that tea. The first cup had the most wonderful floral fragrance and taste that immediately won us over.
Just wrapped up a comparison between the two Yushan teas from BTTC. Both have a wonderful fruity aftertaste, with peach, citrus, lemongrass, and other tasty things. Also, both have a salty marine umami note that develops, much more so in the unroasted version.
The roasted version has less complexity than the unroasted, and is missing most of the herbal, floral, and vegetal notes.
Excellent side-by-side comparison thanks to this group buy. I would also recommend checking out BTTC’s Dong Ding and their “Old Style” (i.e. unroasted) Dong Ding for those looking for more roasted vs. unroasted adventures.
I tried some of the Bai Yai assamica oolong a few days ago. The aroma was excellent, especially on the dry leaves. I highly recommend heating the pot and putting the dry leaves in before brewing to get some nice aroma. Also, instead of drinking the later steepings while hot, I combined the last handful of steepings and put them in a jar in the fridge for the next day. It was GREAT. Recommended! Surprised to see the aroma survived the fridge.
I always found the darker liquid oolongs to create really good cold brews, I will try this : )
I have been overwhelmed by the Jingmai orb. That had some staying power, and I am on my 18th steep over two days. Granted, it took a few steeps before it really opened up, but it brews more like a puerh than an oolong.
Such an incredible sweetness to it, too. I’ll be sure to keep that on my list!
It’s a very unique experience. I enjoy when tea styles cross over like this orb, or black tea made from quality puer material. I want to do a blind tasting with some other tea enthusiasts and see what they think without knowing what is it.
What are folks’ thoughts about charcoal roasting? I love roasty Wu Yi oolongs like Tie Luo Han, and I enjoy the smokiness of things like Lapsang Souchong and tian jian. But, there is something about Taiwanese charcoal roasting that just doesn’t seem to work for me. It either reduces the flavors to a generic nuttiness, or it just overwhelms the whole experience with charcoal notes.
For example, in this sampler, I found the unroasted Yu Shan substantially superior to the roasted version. Same goes for the Dong Ding teas offered by BTTC. Unroasted is better. The roasted versions were good, but just not as complex or tasty.
I’ve also had some seriously roasted teas that just tasted like lighter fluid. So, I want to get any tips that might enhance my enjoyment of these charcoal roasted oolongs. I’m about to tackle TeaLife HK’s High Fire TGY, and I want to give it a fair shot. I read TeaLife HK’s comments on this tea via SNielson222’s review, so I will try out their suggestions.
Any other insights to share?
My favorite aspect of a good charcoal roasted tea is how many times I can re steep it. With the Yushan, I also found the un-roasted tea had superior flavors, until I got to steep five or so, then it died off much more quickly than the roasted vegetable flavor of the charcoal Yushan. I know roasting is a key part of other teas like Dan Congs, to tamp down astringency and bring out certain aromas, while not tasting charred.
Definitely follow Tealife HK’s suggestion, my second experience with that tea was greatly improved with the higher temperature and the rinse. He suggests a clay pot to manage the roast level a little more evenly throughout brewing, I went lighter on the leaves since I don’t have a roasted oolong pot, and it worked out well for me.
I have to confess that I haven’t enjoyed the teas as much as I hoped, largely because I’m not into heavily roasted teas, which seem to be the majority of the ones I’ve tried. I’m still glad I participated, since it is always fun to try new teas.
Well, like I said above, I really don’t mind roasted oolongs. From this purchase, I really enjoyed the Japanese oolongs, and I am sure that I will enjoy the DHP bricks and the Wu Yi oolong (just haven’t gotten around to those yet.)
The issue I am struggling with is overt charcoal flavors. I like roastiness, but when something tastes like a charcoal briquette and some lighter fluid, I struggle to enjoy it. I noticed this with the Thai Dong Ding, which has these flavors, but finishes well and has a nice aftertaste. I found myself almost swallowing the tea without tasting it just so I could skip the charcoal and go right to the aftertaste.
After just smelling the HK roasted Tieguanyin, I know I’m going to have to brace myself. I figured I would get any pointers before I dove in.
I figure these kinds of teas wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t something to them that people really liked. I just question if it’s the actual flavor of charcoal that they like or something else that I’m missing.
I feel the same way about charcoal roasted teas. It would be interesting to try the same tea, charcoal roasted, and then one that was done in an electric roaster. I suspect they would end up quite different even if they were going for the same roast level.
I enjoy roasted teas like DHP, but when it comes to the charcoal roasted ones that I’ve had I find it hard to taste anything but the roast, and after 5-6 cups I find myself getting bored.
So a few things here:
1) I break those DHP bricks into two or three pieces and use a single piece for a session. Worth trying for anyone who thought it was too much.
2) I also find greener oolongs to be more pleasant than those that are darker in color; this preference is on average as the Assam oolong is my favorite of all these!
3) I personally find that the HK roasted stuff is quite enjoyable and not very demanding of the mouth in regards to the roast but my taste buds are not going to interact the same with the tea as anyone else as we all have different taste buds.
4) I did my best to put this together and it is quite hard to incorporate greener oolongs from places like India, Nepal, Japan, South Korea… many places process them to a higher level of oxidation and I have featured some of the greener options already in other buys.
5) These discussions are amazing : )
I missed this buy, but I ordered Hklife high roasted TGY as part of their recent sale. Im kinda anxiously looking forward to tasting it.
@JXTUCK006 – Charcoal vs. electric roasting would be an awesome comparison. Smoky flavors like wood smoke, peat, tobacco – all of these are fine with me. But charcoal? Nope. I don’t get it.
@LP -
1) Can’t wait to try the DHP bricks. One of my all-time favorite teas.
2) Assam oolong is still waiting in the wings. Will get to it soon!
3) I just grabbed a pinch of the HK tea and sniffed it to see what was up. Was surprised to note that the roast smelled like beautifully roasted coffee beans. Getting excited to try it this weekend.
4) This was an excellent selection. Great tour of the world through some very unique oolongs.
Last thing – I reviewed an aged oolong that literally tasted like lighter fluid. It was interesting to read other people’s perspective on it. My palate was far more critical of the roast!
So, all of this could just be me. Anyway, if you’re interested, have a look: https://steepster.com/teas/taiwan-tea-crafts/41616-1993-family-reserve-aged-oolong-tea-lot-238
Having made a negative comment above it’s only fair to say that the last tea I tried (Tealife.hk Hong Kong Roasted hi Fire TGY) was much more to my liking. As LP says, our taste buds are all different.
So, I saddled up with HK high-fire TGY this weekend. The aftertaste is good – a nice, quality TGY was used, it seems. The roast itself is approachable, and does have some hints of more interesting flavors like dark chocolate and coffee bean, but it is predominantly a charcoal briquette flavor.
I guess this is just some folks’ thing. Some people like burnt toast and blackened fish. I guess charcoal is like that too. For me, it is too pungent and unpleasant.
For heavy roasting, I’ll stick to coffee, which is much more suited for heavy roasting than a tea leaf. And no one uses charcoal to roast coffee beans…
Otherwise, I’ll stick to green TGY, where a wide range of flavors are dynamic in the mouth. This just simply isn’t the case for the roasted versions.
How would you describe the rock oolong note? To be clear I know that there is a lot of variation between different rock oolongs, but from what I have tasted they all have one note in common… its almost mineral, slightly biting. I want a real world comparison to put in my tasting notes, and always come up empty handed when I try and figure it out.
This note is not present is dan congs, Taiwaneese oolongs, or other oolongs I have tried; but I picked it up in every rock oolong.
Edit: Yan Yun seems to be the descriptor for this taste/aroma, do you agree?
Now you will have to describe Yan Yun. I looked at this post on the subject and learnt exactly nothing from it:
https://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=10032
When I looked up a few articles on the phrase it translates loosely as “rock echo”. Not only a mineral/rock like taste, but one that is lasting, and full of aroma. The taste is distinctly different from the mineral notes in raw puer, and other teas I have tried.
I don’t think it’s perfect by any means, but I was really at a loss for what to call it, so I will probably use Yan Yun going forward.
This is going to sound silly, maybe, but I’ve used “limestone” in my tastings to describe it. Like, calcium carbonate.
Not a perfect description, but it’s one I’ve found appropriate to my tastes.
I just did 8.5 grams of the Rose Gold in a 150 ml Gaiwan and it was sublime. that is probably one of my favorites. It’s not too fancy or floral, t’s not to roasty or green. It’s a Sensible Oolong. Something I could drink anytime of day, any day of the week but still feel fancy.
I normally don’t use so much leaf but I only had 8.5 left and I wanted to see what it felt like at full volume. It didn’t disappoint.
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