tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9651321277550764482023-11-16T02:07:23.447-05:00Microshrimp's Book of TeaMicroshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-66879858392110758312018-01-10T22:10:00.000-05:002018-01-10T23:19:25.753-05:00Xiaguan 2006 sheng Jia Ji Tuo (purchased from Crimson Lotus)For anyone who has read my tea blog in the past, you may have noticed that I haven't updated in almost a year. I am doing well and I still drink about as much tea as always, but I just haven't been writing. I am coming out of hiding today after I was discussing Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuos with a friend and I mentioned that I have one from 2006 that I bought from <a href="https://crimsonlotustea.com/" target="_blank">Crimson Lotus</a>. My friend wanted to know if it was any good, and today as I was preparing it, drinking it, and making some notes for my friend, I thought I would go ahead and post about it here too.<br />
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Because this is a quick and mostly unplanned write up, the photos I have were taken with my phone while most of the other photos on my blog were done with a Canon digital camera.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo</td></tr>
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This is a common sheng tuo made every year by Xiaguan Tea Factory. They are 100g in size. The wrapper states that it is "Jia Ji" (甲級) or "Grade A," and I usually see these sold in the green boxes, although Xiaguan does sell other teas in similar boxes, some of which are also green. This one here is from 2006, and I purchased it from Crimson Lotus tea who says it was stored in humid Guangzhou in southern China.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo</b></span></td></tr>
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Xiaguan tuos are very heavily compressed. My understanding is that some time around 2005-ish (maybe?) they started imprinting the side of the tuos with this seal. Such tight compression can affect how the tea interacts with the atmosphere since air doesn't readily flow between the leaves. Although this is over 10 years old and has been stored in a humid province of China, it still retains some greenness. Compare this though to the one below which is from 2014 (photographed in 2015) which is greener and the tea buds have more silver color to them instead of light brown. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">2014 Xiaguan sheng tuo (photographed in 2015). </span></b></td></tr>
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The tight compression of these tuos makes them difficult to break apart without breaking most of the leaves. When these Xiaguan Jia Ji tuos are young they can be fairly bitter if not brewed carefully. A lot of that is due to the source material used, but I think having a lot of broken leaf will also contribute to bitterness since those smaller leaf pieces will brew stronger in the same amount of time that larger intact leaves can. It's important to not use too much leaf when these are young and to be careful with the infusion times. But what about when they have over 10 years of age?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo</td></tr>
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I broke off about 5g and brewed it in a 75ml gaiwan with boiling water. My first infusions were only a couple seconds long. Unlike the 2014 version which brewed up an orange-yellow when I had it in 2015, the 2006 version brews up a beautiful clear vibrant orange. The liquor has very impressive mouthfeel that is thick, oily, and slick in texture. Some astringency is present, but it's mild and it's the pleasant kind that stimulates the mouth and makes you salivate.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji sheng tuo - leaf looks a little greener in the photo than it did in person.</td></tr>
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The taste is also quite impressive. It does retain some of the coriander savoriness that I remember in the younger version, but it's deeper and more rounded. The savory profile is not as forward and is surrounded by a sweetness followed by old book and leather notes. The sweetness is a real nice surprise and can even be mouth watering at times. This was said to be stored in a humid environment, but the tea does not taste musty. This is likely a combination of the tight compression and the Xiaguan storage box which help to stabilize the ambient factors.</div>
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Later steeps reveal some apricot flavors, and when pushed hard, the tea can still provide some bitterness, but it's balanced out by an increase in leather intensity and orange citrus. Generally speaking I did not feel that I had to be extremely careful when brewing this one. The classic Xiaguan smokiness is present, but not dominating. It comes through in the aftertaste with some of the leather notes to create a nice fresh tobacco leaf profile.</div>
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I should also mention that although the age has mellowed out some of the harsh edges that this tea can have, the energy is still quite present. I may regret drinking this so late on a weeknight when I have to wake up early tomorrow!</div>
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Overall I am very impressed with this tea especially after having the 2014 version a couple years ago, and I'm also wondering how much better this could be with even longer age in the correct environment. It's an example of how a cheap sheng can transform into something good with time. When these are new they cost about $5. Although I'm just now drinking it for the first time, I bought this 2006 one for $26 back in 2015, and it seems that Crimson Lotus still has them in stock and have not raised the price. At this price that comes out to $0.26/g which is equivalent to a $93 standard size cake (357g). Depending on where you buy your semi-aged tea, $0.26 is a pretty good sweet spot where you can usually find very drinkable and enjoyable tea so this tea does have some competition, but I feel like the price is fair, especially for anyone not willing to navigate away from Western facing vendors to find other deals. And again, it would be interesting to see how this tea would be with another 10 years or so of age on it if the storage was good, but I can say that about a lot of teas. </div>
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Thank you for reading. This post does not necessarily mean that I'm going to start posting regularly again, but who knows! I'll try to write when I think of anything that might be interesting. </div>
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Crimson Lotus website: <a href="https://crimsonlotustea.com/" target="_blank">https://crimsonlotustea.com/</a></div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-10635398672312713772017-02-15T08:45:00.000-05:002017-02-18T12:30:46.841-05:00White2Tea - Long Jing (February 2017 club)I am still alive! Unlike this time last year, I have no real dramatic reason for not posting in a while, just a combination of holidays, vacation/travel, being distracted, mild illness, and sporadic water quality crisis which I might write about later. (Water has a huge impact on how tea tastes, and if your water tastes funny, any tea made with it might also taste funny.)<br />
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I had not planned on writing anything in particular at this time, but the February <a href="http://white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/" target="_blank">White2Tea club </a>package was so different that I was eager to try one of the teas right away. </div>
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As someone who loves humid stored puerh and has almost always enjoyed White2Tea's puerh selections, the company's specialty, I would typically be most excited to try the early 2000's traditional stored qingbing; however, I was VERY surprised to see two packets of Long Jing, and this is what I rushed to try first. At the time of writing this I have yet to even open the qingbing sample (but I'm craving it now). </div>
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This is White2Tea's first time offering a green tea. I had some initial thoughts when I saw that the box contained Long Jing. My tastes and preferences align very well with White2Tea's puerh offerings, and when it comes to their non-puerh offerings, I generally enjoy those other teas but can see that some of them, such as the Hot and Heavy yancha or "Hot Brandy" black/white tea, which I found just OK, are not their strongest products. My initial expectation for the Long Jing was that it's probably not wonderful, but would be "pretty good." </div>
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The club newsletter was a little confusing though. The exact wording is, "Spring 2016 - This is our favorite version of the classic green tea long jing, which translates as "dragon well", from the Zhejiang province. We will be selling this version, as well as a higher end bud heavy version in spring of 2017." The news letter also says, "In 2017 Spring we will be offering a limited pre-order of this green tea, directly after production. The pre-order will be first come first serve, and pre-order only (it will not be available on the site for purchase..." I am not exactly sure how to interpret this and can't tell exactly what will be fore sale in the spring and what won't be for sale or what will be pre-order only. But the part about the alternative "higher end bud heavy version" makes it pretty clear that this version here in the club is probably a later season harvest. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMY8pDMLYuzJDcE2ruv35bWEpP03FFrV7Y6UdgUp_MrlIsvSOVKosMqQ92-3mtf3fJ6aMKUXSsBcNb0gaqnB7I6kE5FAC28HlHGl5rwI5PhGn18j1qLOan808rJvAxdS_BeT4xG1Ew60/s1600/2017_02_14_010896_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjMY8pDMLYuzJDcE2ruv35bWEpP03FFrV7Y6UdgUp_MrlIsvSOVKosMqQ92-3mtf3fJ6aMKUXSsBcNb0gaqnB7I6kE5FAC28HlHGl5rwI5PhGn18j1qLOan808rJvAxdS_BeT4xG1Ew60/s640/2017_02_14_010896_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Upon looking at the dry leaf, it is more obvious that this is not a bud heavy version and is likely from a later harvest of the season. The dry leaf shows a lot of variation in size, shape, and color. I also do not see an abundance of tea fuzz on the leaves or any fuzz balls in the package. The aroma is nice though and has a good nutty smell. </div>
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I decided to brew this in a 100ml gaiwan using about 5g and water in the 175-180F range. My first infusion was about 15 seconds. These are the parameters that White2Tea suggested, though there is enough tea in the club box to experiment with other parameters later (about 20g total). </div>
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Like the dry leaf aroma, the wet leaf aroma is also nice. The nutty characteristic is there as well as some sweetness, and it has a good green tea "salt water aroma." I'm not sure if this is a common way to describe green tea, but the salt water scent is a pleasant aroma that I find in some Chinese green teas. Probably a more appropriate term would be "umami." The aroma is not grassy or bitter. </div>
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The pale yellow liquor is lightly dotted with tea leaf trichomes (tea fuzz) and has a very soft mouthfeel during the first two infusions. The first two infusions also had a very good creaminess and nuttieness in the flavor. The "salt water" characteristic in the flavor also reminds me of "marine air" or fresh air at the beach with a hint of seaweed. This is a good thing and again is probably considered umami. </div>
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I did my third infusion slightly too long though and some bitterness overtook the creaminess and nutty sweetness. This slightly over brewed infusion became grassy and slightly astringent which also showed up in the aftertaste. </div>
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I was more careful with infusions 4 and 5 and was able to get the tea to return to a more pleasant brew. These lighter infusions had less nuttiness and creaminess but instead had a crisp citrus taste, and a nice smooth feeling replaced the previous steep's astringency. The citrus notes came through in the aftertaste for a refreshing finish. </div>
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Examination of the wet leaf confirms that the size and shape of this particular batch is quite varying and quite rough. It would be very interesting to compare this to the "bud heavy version" which I assume would involve earlier harvest and more careful picking. Although this current batch is pretty rough, I was happy that the taste was not overly grassy or burnt, especially when brewed with a light hand as it can become grassy and bitter with steep times too long. </div>
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We do not know the price of this tea yet. I enjoyed the tea, but not enough that I would want to stock up on it unless the price were to be comparable or lower than some other green tea vendors I have tried in the past, such as Teavivre. However, I am curious about the "bud heavy version" and the "pre-order" version which I assume will be bud heavy as well (maybe they are the same thing? I'm still confused by the newsletter wording). For sure though the pre-order version will be about as fresh as you can get, minus the time it will take for shipping. With green tea, freshness is important and I wonder if this 2016 long jing may have been a bit more vibrant nearly a year ago. If I do another Life in Teacup Long Jing pre-order this year, it would be nice to compare to the upcoming White2Green pre-order.</div>
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So overall this was a strange offering from White2Tea and a welcome experience. Green tea is not their specialty, but it's nice to offer a little bit of everything, and long jing is a classic tea that I enjoy from time to time. This long jing won't win any awards, but it's not bad at all. Based on my first session with it, I would be happy to share this with someone who wants to try long jing for the first time or to have some on hand to sip on in the summer, assuming it will be priced mid range as well.<br />
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Link to White2Tea: <a href="http://white2tea.com/">http://white2tea.com/</a></div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-91679129733968498382016-10-23T09:00:00.000-04:002016-10-23T11:08:53.105-04:00#21 vs #21 - Hong Yun (Taiwan Tea Crafts & Taiwan Sourcing)Despite all the nice black teas that the White2Tea club sent this year from Fujian and Yunnan China, I still think my favorite black teas are those from the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan. I have been meaning for a while to round up a bunch of samples from Taiwan Sourcing and Taiwan Tea Crafts, and thanks to some recent sales on both sites, I finally have done that.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2RTI0J_5QqCpqk_hsp2YAUfPO6XDRld5I68D7g9QCaVPNJqv6b1rpGLdYmCoMuhuZMZI3sjzzGQvvcKsy32znkowtOsL0hrqJv5la6uqu54wNhsRhEfvXa_oDn2LPwWs-paTLNDpMvQ/s1600/2016_10_23_010384_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2RTI0J_5QqCpqk_hsp2YAUfPO6XDRld5I68D7g9QCaVPNJqv6b1rpGLdYmCoMuhuZMZI3sjzzGQvvcKsy32znkowtOsL0hrqJv5la6uqu54wNhsRhEfvXa_oDn2LPwWs-paTLNDpMvQ/s640/2016_10_23_010384_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan Sourcing and Taiwan Tea Crafts sample haul.</td></tr>
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Although both of these vendors offer an interesting selection of Taiwanese black tea, there is definitely some overlap in their offerings. For example, they both offer Ruby #18, which is one of the most popular Taiwanese black teas, and they each have at least one "wild" variety of Taiwanese black tea. For this write up I am focusing on the "#21" variety that both vendors offer. <br />
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Similar to some Taiwanese black teas I have reviewed in the past, this is another one of the tea varieties developed by the Taiwanese "Tea Research and Extension Station" (TRES), and thus calling the variety "TRES #21" is an acceptable name for it. Another official name for it is "Hong Yun" or 紅韻. The best translation I can find of this is "Red Rhyme." Interestingly though, Taiwan Sourcing is calling this tea "Rhythm 21." The tea on Taiwan Tea Crafts is simply labeled "Hong Yun T-21." TRES #21 was developed in 2008 as a cross between Keemun and a Napalese assamica from Kyang. Many vendors that sell Hong Yun mention that it is a premium/rare/precious tea due to a growing cycle that makes planning the harvest more time sensitive than other varieties, and other challenges exist during processing which is critical to bringing out the best flavor that #21 can offer. <br />
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Today I am drinking side-by-side the <a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/collections/2016-spring-black-teas/products/rhythm-21-organic-taiwan-black-tea-spring-2016" target="_blank">Spring 2016 "Rhythm 21"</a> from Taiwan Sourcing (TS) (a.k.a. taiwanoolongs.com) and from Taiwan Tea Crafts (TTC) the <a href="https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/sun-moon-lake-premium-hong-yun-t-21-black-tea/" target="_blank">"Sun Moon Lake Premium Hong Yun T-21,"</a> specifically Lot 435 which is a summer (June) 2015 harvest.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlbIfdk7_FPHIpiNKBC1pSw_IfgPxTUD6H9bj_W-kfvQp1tEuiJkDKa_rtlsWv2R8QBRQrTyeTeY1lAPIrVFd28nZXJrqkF1VEj7fgkdjGkqHcLB9ljvBzQ09nm4OVSoMDnj3G6Uia0s/s1600/2016_10_22_010378_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIlbIfdk7_FPHIpiNKBC1pSw_IfgPxTUD6H9bj_W-kfvQp1tEuiJkDKa_rtlsWv2R8QBRQrTyeTeY1lAPIrVFd28nZXJrqkF1VEj7fgkdjGkqHcLB9ljvBzQ09nm4OVSoMDnj3G6Uia0s/s640/2016_10_22_010378_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan Tea Crafts #21 (left) and Taiwan Sourcing #21 (right)</td></tr>
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Both versions show a similar leaf size and shape, with the TS version being slightly lighter in color. The dry leaf of both versions smells very sweet, with the TTC reminding me of fruity red wine and the TS like that of grapefruit. <br />
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Upon hydration, the leaf aroma profile of the two teas completely flipped. Now the grapefruit note came through more on the TTC version along with a wonderful aroma of fresh baked blueberry muffins. The TS version had a darker aroma like that of molasses, blackberry cream soda, purple raisins, and raspberry chocolate chip ice cream. Needless to say, the aroma of both was very very sweet.<br />
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The taste of both of these teas remained consistent with the wet leaf aroma. Both have a very impressive natural sweetness, and the TTC version has those citrus high notes supported by a blueberry bread base and blackberry jam. The TS hong yun has plenty of fruit berry flavors, though creamier, and has less high notes; instead a hint of spices comes through such as cinnamon, and the base notes are darker, slightly earthy and toasty. Someone new to tea would probably have a hard time believing that these flavor notes and sweetness are naturally occurring and that no additional flavors have been added.<br />
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These flavor/aroma trends continue into the aftertaste. The TTC aftertaste has the notable sweet grapefruit citrus note, but it also has a good heavy "black tea" base that gives it some depth and keeps the citrus characteristic from being too prominent. It's important to note here that the "grapefruit" flavor is very sweet, not a sour grapefruit. I found the TTC #21 aftertaste so strong and lingering that I had to wait several minutes and drink some water before I felt ready to move on to the next infusion of the TS #21. With a clean palate, the TS #21 aftertaste again had less high notes and seemed more toasty. Baked berry confections such as blackberry cobbler and blueberry muffins dominate but kept in balance with a hint of port-wine.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2HAT0RfV7qPr8sEwSgRhLih2wAkiNvRZBHpv4nIH2TD5qpAK2bWkX3GuitotgGJf282bf28LSSS5Se6AIUboYcWXeJPR_wwyYoVUyrLLzmFzI52ad9cxZerrgNJGVUkmbgPJb8GOjNPY/s1600/2016_10_22_010383_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2HAT0RfV7qPr8sEwSgRhLih2wAkiNvRZBHpv4nIH2TD5qpAK2bWkX3GuitotgGJf282bf28LSSS5Se6AIUboYcWXeJPR_wwyYoVUyrLLzmFzI52ad9cxZerrgNJGVUkmbgPJb8GOjNPY/s640/2016_10_22_010383_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Taiwan Tea Crafts #21 (left) and Taiwan Sourcing #21 (right)</span></td></tr>
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Seeing the brewed leaf and liquor side-by-side shows a few differences. The TTC leaf is slightly more red than the TS leaf which has a hint of green to it. The TS product page does mention that the leaf is "85% oxidized." TTC does not try to quantitate the oxidation level, but simply says that it is "high," as you would expect for a black tea. The liquor of both teas is crystal clear, with the TTC version being what I call "deep orange" and the TS version "medium orange." As far as liquor mouthfeel, they are similar, with TTC feeling thick and very soft, and TS feeling creamy and coating.<br />
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This is another side-by-side comparison tasting where I am not going to try to declare one of these teas a winner or loser. The similarities of dessert-like berry sweetness in these teas indicate why I love certain Taiwanese black teas so much, and the differences I found in these teas indicate that even the same cultivar can produce slightly different teas depending on variations in, presumably, processing, harvest date/season, exact farm location, farming methods, etc.<br />
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One final difference between these two teas is the price. Both are sold out at the time of writing this, but I will mention it anyway. The Taiwan Tea Crafts version comes out to be 52 cents per gram up to 50g (with bulk discounts at 150g and above), and the the Taiwan Sourcing version is 30-36 cents per gram depending on the quantity up to 150g. If buying 25g, the TTC version would be $13 and the TS version would be $9. Depending on what flavor notes you prefer or if you have no preference, this price difference could be significant. Unfortunately though it is hard to know for sure if the same flavor notes will be consistent season to season, and a vendor's description can only tell us so much since much of taste perception is subjective. Both of these vendors occasionally have sales and coupon codes, but these types of teas sell out fast so if you catch them in stock, it might be a risky bet to wait for a sale to come along if you aren't lucky to catch one. Hopefully the vendors will have these in stock again in the future.<br />
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Link to Taiwan Sourcing: <a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/" target="_blank">http://taiwanoolongs.com/</a><br />
Link to Taiwan Tea Crafts: <a href="https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/" target="_blank">https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-85725794054534369902016-09-25T12:44:00.001-04:002016-09-25T17:01:59.778-04:00Yangqing Hao - 2006 Chawangshu and 2004 Tejipin sheng puerhThere have been a lot of teas I have been wanting to write about for a while. My indecision to pick one to write about has resulted in another long absence of any posts at all. Then today I had one of those teas that struck me as quite amazing and I had to write some notes. Today I had the 2006 Chawangshu raw puerh from the Taiwanese puerh boutique Yangqing Hao.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu - Wrapper picture courtesy of my friend "Blerrp" who has split this massive 500g cake with several people, which is how I got my sample.</span></td></tr>
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Like a lot of people in the west who are just now learning of Yangqing Hao, I first heard about it through TeaDB. James, and guest contributor Grill, wrote some extensive and fairly scientific <a href="https://teadb.org/yangqing-hao-report/" target="_blank">comparison notes and a report</a>* that paint a nice profile of most of the Yangqing Hao offerings which span back to 2004. I am also thankful for the efforts of a man named Emmett who <a href="http://www.yangqinghao.com/" target="_blank">coordinates group buys</a> of Yangqing Hao teas to western customers since this tea is difficult to buy outside of Taiwan or China. Emmett is not employed by Yangqing Hao nor is selling tea his full time job; he is a puerh enthusiast who recognized the high quality of Yang's teas and the limited availability of such quality teas in the western market and has been coordinating the group buys in an effort to help bring these teas to more people.<br />
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I have sampled about five different Yangqing Hao teas now and so far one consistent finding I notice is that the dry leaf aroma is very clean. Although the area of Taiwan where these teas are stored is considered hot and humid, these teas seem to have a good balance; enough heat and humidity to allow an aged taste to start to develop within 10 years and clean enough to allow some "dry" characteristics to develop such as leather, honey, and apricot aromas. Those are characteristics I love in semi-aged sheng.<br />
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The 2006 Chawangshu is from an area near Gua Feng Zhai. This area is difficult to find on Google Maps, but if you find the Yunnan province of China and zoom in to the southern most prefecture, Xishuangbanna, and then look at the eastern part to find the Yiwu area of Mengla county, Chawangshu is here very close to the Laos border.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chawangshu in southern Yunnan province of China, eastern Xishuangbann, Yiwu area.</td></tr>
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The dry leaf shows a nice dark brown appearance and loose compression which allows the leaves to be separated with minimal breakage. Upon hydration, the clean leathery aroma is still present and a layer of honey aroma emerges. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu</td></tr>
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I tasted the initial rinse of the leaves and found it to be a bit weak, so for my next infusion I added another couple seconds. Even still the tea was not very strong. I was beginning to have some doubts about this tea until the following infusion where I again added a couple more seconds and that is when it started to come out beautifully. After having consumed a lot of younger raw puerh earlier this week I was still in flash-brew mode, but the age on this tea has rounded everything out and flash brewing is not necessary for getting the best extraction. When brewed properly the liquor pours up a crystal clear vibrant orange color that almost glows in the cup.<br />
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Between mouthfeel, taste, aftertaste, and overall experience, this tea performs very well in all aspects and none of those areas are lacking or showing any significant flaws. The mouthfeel is very thick, almost syrupy. It's a tea you nearly feel the need to chew when you take a sip. It has a coating effect and leaves a pleasant layer of taste behind on the mouth and tongue. A nice level of astringency creates a good active feeling on the sides of the tongue without being drying.<br />
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The clean leathery notes from the aroma come through in the taste accompanied by a slight earthy and talc/chalk taste, in a good way. An herbal component of the flavor balances well with the sweet apricot fruitiness. In the very late steeps it starts to get an interesting leafy flavor-- not like steamed spinach or fallen autumn leaves, but fresh tree leaves. <br />
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This leaf taste is interesting because of the tea age and level of fermentation and oxidation of these leaves. The age taste dominated throughout the entire session until the end when I pushed the steeps hard which is when the fresher leaf taste appeared. This perhaps is why I like sheng around the 10 year age so much because there's still a hint of youthful leaf that adds a bit of complexity. Another interesting observation about the Chawangshu leaf is that the leaves and stems are very hearty and thick. I believe this is possibly an indication of old arbor slower growing trees. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu</td></tr>
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The leather flavors continue in the aftertaste and the tea provides a wonderful delayed hui gan. In the middle infusions the aftertaste becomes a bit menthol-like and has an nice cooling effect in the throat. This contrasts to a slightly warming feeling that I get deeper down. This is a great tea to enjoy slowly and calmly as it provides a relaxing experience. There are no sudden dropoffs with this tea and it continues to provide a very generous amount of steeps all day long. I easily ran my 1.7L kettle dry with this 5g session using an 85ml gaiwan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu</td></tr>
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To try to get a little more perspective on this tea I had a meal and then later in the day I decided to brew the 2004 Yangqing Hao Tejipin raw puerh. The material for the Tejipin is also from the Yiwu area, though it is unclear exactly where, which is not a bad thing. It's common to see a lot of teas that claim to be from one specific village or even one specific group of trees, but often a really great tea will be made from a blend of various places near an area or even among several different areas, and characteristics from each area can add various qualities to the overall brew.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangqing Hao 2004 Tejipin</td></tr>
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The 2004 Tejipin dry leaf aroma is similar to the 2006 Changawangshu, but it is slightly more earthy. Could this be due to an extra two years of age or is it a characteristic of the leaf? The wet leaf aroma again is similar to Chawangshu, but the Tejipin leaf aroma has a bit more tartness to it. <br />
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The additional tartness follows into the taste as well. Tejipin has some leather characteristics in the taste, but is a bit more earthy and slightly acidic. Wood flavors are present, but not of the cedar variety that I prefer. Despite the tartness, it does have a certain creamy characteristic to it too which keeps it balanced.<br />
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When comparing the mouthfeel of Tejipin to Chawangshu, the differences are quite apparent, but difficult to say if I prefer one over the other. The Tejipin is creamier, and the Chawangshu is thicker. The Chawangshu coats the entire mouth, but the Tejipin seems to coat more on the top of the tongue. While the Chawangshu had noticeable activity on the sides of the tongue, it lacked much activity in the back of the throat; the Tejipin has a very active feel on the back of the tongue and in the throat but nowhere else. It seems that the mouthfeel of these two teas are like two similar adjacent puzzle pieces that fit well together without much overlap, but each piece alone is large enough to show its own satisfying picture.<br />
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The energy found from drinking Tejipin is very deep reaching into the body, deeper so than the Chawangshu and has less of an upper cooling effect to balance the deeper warming nature of the tea. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmv9MyBeV4nyQvdhiViM_fx0sbVcfbXWf-vXE_QWay9RwPOJrXBiNY1zAjZiQ-XyIOSwdk04HAgy9iHX_4qOgUkEQSK9PbhNZKnTVdjaTddD6rCjpbJkJCIkNEnjgfXDZ9TODBmaL_pyg/s1600/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmv9MyBeV4nyQvdhiViM_fx0sbVcfbXWf-vXE_QWay9RwPOJrXBiNY1zAjZiQ-XyIOSwdk04HAgy9iHX_4qOgUkEQSK9PbhNZKnTVdjaTddD6rCjpbJkJCIkNEnjgfXDZ9TODBmaL_pyg/s640/04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yangqing Hao 2004 Tejipin</td></tr>
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One possibly significant difference I see between the Tejipin and the Chawangshu is the leaf characteristics. The Tejipin seems to be comprised of smaller leaves and an abundance of small buds, which seemed to be less numerous in the Chawangshu. Of course it's possible that these 5g sessions that I had today of each tea may not be representative of the entire composition of the cake, but a higher ratio of the Tejipin leaf just seems a to be taken from a bit younger parts of the tea plant, though I cannot conclude anything about the overall age of those tea trees. <br />
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After these very enjoyable sessions with these two Yangqing Hao teas today I wanted to get some notes and thoughts down and share them. Though I do admit that with teas this good I would really do them more justice if I had several more sessions with them beyond this. This write-up today is more of a first impressions summary. Although both of these are wonderful, if I were shopping for a full cake and only buying one, I would buy the 2006 Chawangshu. But so far I have found a few other Yangqing Hao offerings also very good, and I'm curious and hopeful to eventually try a few more. <br />
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*Part 2 of TeaDB's Yangqing Hao tasting report: <a href="https://teadb.org/the-cult-of-yang/" target="_blank">https://teadb.org/the-cult-of-yang/</a><br />
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Link to Emmett's group guy page which lists several of Yangqing Hao's teas: <a href="http://www.yangqinghao.com/" target="_blank">http://www.yangqinghao.com/</a><br />
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Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-24525715722634028362016-07-25T09:00:00.000-04:002017-02-15T02:49:21.064-05:00Xinyang Maojian Green Tea from Chayotea.com<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I have a green tea that Robert James Coons of <a href="http://chayotea.com/" target="_blank">Chayo Tea/Daoist Meditation</a> picked up during his most recent trip to Asia. This is Xinyang Maojian green tea from Henan province of China. Although this tea often appears on lists of “famous Chinese teas,” this is actually the first time I have heard of it, so it is unique to me. Chayo sold this tea as part of a special <a href="http://daoistmeditation.com/product/teas-of-summer-sale-mao-jian-and-great-song-dynasty-chrystanthemum/" target="_blank">"Teas of Summer"</a> sale (which is still available at the time of writing this). </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA51y0G4wUdPkdkWdQW-Nv8XL6V0HjiiVWpKA2s-K7xWWkmjcDPIi8zlCHK-1Wj5pWdkSshWAic_1QMWYmA-zEVKAmRF7W-F9XFq9RRwst7PoHKecCbXEYBl6G2GR4ryYCodya92S6obM/s1600/2016_07_14_9999_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA51y0G4wUdPkdkWdQW-Nv8XL6V0HjiiVWpKA2s-K7xWWkmjcDPIi8zlCHK-1Wj5pWdkSshWAic_1QMWYmA-zEVKAmRF7W-F9XFq9RRwst7PoHKecCbXEYBl6G2GR4ryYCodya92S6obM/s640/2016_07_14_9999_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The dry leaf is very thin wispy strands of small leaves and the dry leaf aroma is very intense and unlike any other green tea I have encountered. It almost reminds me of the freshly processed Fujian black tea from the White2Tea club a couple months ago, as I’m noticing a hint of smoke, like BBQ smoke almost, and it’s quite good. Robert said that this tea is pretty strong and that a little bit goes a long way, so I have measured out 3g to use in a 120ml gaiwan. Water temperature is 175F, and first infusion is around 30-40s.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPmOD1YDlrh3QP0KjorTL-PrFhSLY8EvzwsYC_xbTwKYnbb1Ep_V-J_oyWY4bul7vG2_Es6BJSpACPnyqzDwJtZwaSLqJcF8A0z6Wq_R4ndA3rrjrZ9dS2vmvaLqOmSVsFAfOotL8a9pk/s1600/2016_07_14_9999_1_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPmOD1YDlrh3QP0KjorTL-PrFhSLY8EvzwsYC_xbTwKYnbb1Ep_V-J_oyWY4bul7vG2_Es6BJSpACPnyqzDwJtZwaSLqJcF8A0z6Wq_R4ndA3rrjrZ9dS2vmvaLqOmSVsFAfOotL8a9pk/s640/2016_07_14_9999_1_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The wet leaf aroma is just as amazing as the dry leaf aroma and makes it obvious how fresh this tea is. The smoky note is still present, but the green tea umami characteristics also come out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The flavor is a bit more complex than the aroma. Intense green tea floral notes balance out the smokiness on top of a base of sweet creamy cashew nuts. Perhaps the most impressive feature of this tea though is the wonderful intense floral aftertaste and how long it seems to linger after each sip. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBZIh8-zpjnzDdm1sGmdNIcYhOebAL3UBt0cfmPmvCmNwmZPwgecG8AkfryTfaPmbmURPLlp5FkQNgL1DLO0cjQiCnJw0ZA_WAgOI8gibHHniCd4iVuwNylHktPl-cPE9eQgP8mLSxdo/s1600/2016_07_14_9999_6_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBZIh8-zpjnzDdm1sGmdNIcYhOebAL3UBt0cfmPmvCmNwmZPwgecG8AkfryTfaPmbmURPLlp5FkQNgL1DLO0cjQiCnJw0ZA_WAgOI8gibHHniCd4iVuwNylHktPl-cPE9eQgP8mLSxdo/s640/2016_07_14_9999_6_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t often pick up on some of the body-response properties of teas, but Robert mentioned that this is a good tea to drink in the summer, and I definitely did notice a cooling effect of this tea.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to 25g of the Xinyang Maojian green tea, the "Teas of Summer" package also included three Da Song Chrysanthemum flowers. These Chrysanthemums were grown in Kaifeng, also in Henan, China which is an area with a long history of growing Chrysanthemum flowers, especially during the Song dynasty. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaifeng#Chrysanthemums" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaifeng#Chrysanthemums</a>)</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZLfAASWpFH5tNMXTQrByMaRBiLtQwSCDRUC7_nK3iYSCxjeK5XQh5nd9Hx4v8pf2IECEtd2RFcb5kqMfFXkO0xOKr7WJgiJK-PaOud9EaKbA9XZhna3n_P0BffXmhsGyVVNfoM810v0/s1600/2016_07_22_9999_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzZLfAASWpFH5tNMXTQrByMaRBiLtQwSCDRUC7_nK3iYSCxjeK5XQh5nd9Hx4v8pf2IECEtd2RFcb5kqMfFXkO0xOKr7WJgiJK-PaOud9EaKbA9XZhna3n_P0BffXmhsGyVVNfoM810v0/s640/2016_07_22_9999_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">These flowers are quite nice looking and preserved whole and carefully packaged in individual plastic trays to protect them during transport. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I brewed the Chrysanthemum in a glass teapot so I could hold it up to the light and look through the bottom of the glass to see the beautiful flower suspended in the water.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvjUYuU_znSjbLppNw8924TM0abTH6B23LAH4OcSoi3GrBur5MYJ0tJTDdTWQlCBf3WlmhCFmgSUOG75zsjQQClC24M3kTqSSv2qhP49iV8jiA1LlZ4meJi97DCOLaC7MSAwuA3tkL6c/s1600/2016_07_22_9999_18_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvjUYuU_znSjbLppNw8924TM0abTH6B23LAH4OcSoi3GrBur5MYJ0tJTDdTWQlCBf3WlmhCFmgSUOG75zsjQQClC24M3kTqSSv2qhP49iV8jiA1LlZ4meJi97DCOLaC7MSAwuA3tkL6c/s640/2016_07_22_9999_18_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Da Song Chrysanthemum liquor is a pale yellow, similar to the Xinyang Maojin green tea liquor. The flavor is much more gentle than some other Chrysanthemums I have had before-- the taste of some types of Chrysanthemums</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sometimes reminds me of plastic, but thankfully this one did not have that characteristic. It has a slight peppery/spicy note to it, but balanced with a really nice floral sweetness.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggM0WYj1jbj-1iXs1vniWeDW4dAva4YYwQXbAMZUs_c4pz9A2zebrEHhu8BKtHItspizGmFC0ZKBqGNV4Ybm-7kJbVLU2d3elbV1XJbheaKdL_l7RIk4v8bUp9NaMfTp4mHnYMgQ_-yCg/s1600/2016_07_22_9999_25_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggM0WYj1jbj-1iXs1vniWeDW4dAva4YYwQXbAMZUs_c4pz9A2zebrEHhu8BKtHItspizGmFC0ZKBqGNV4Ybm-7kJbVLU2d3elbV1XJbheaKdL_l7RIk4v8bUp9NaMfTp4mHnYMgQ_-yCg/s640/2016_07_22_9999_25_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am very pleased with this "Teas of Summer" set that Robert brought back from Henan, China. At $12, which includes shipping, the quality to price ratio is pretty high and makes this one of my favorite spring tea purchases of this year.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Link to Chayo Tea/Daoist Meditation: <a href="http://daoistmeditation.com/shop/" target="_blank">http://daoistmeditation.com/shop/</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";">Link to "Teas of Summer" - <a href="http://daoistmeditation.com/product/teas-of-summer-sale-mao-jian-and-great-song-dynasty-chrystanthemum/" target="_blank">http://daoistmeditation.com/product/teas-of-summer-sale-mao-jian-and-great-song-dynasty-chrystanthemum/</a></span></div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-27715909267519240722016-07-19T09:00:00.000-04:002017-02-15T02:50:44.164-05:00Spring Long Jing (Dragon Well) Green Tea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today I am drinking Long Jing (Dragonwell) green tea from two different vendors. I have Teavivre’s “<a href="http://www.teavivre.com/organic-long-jing-green-tea/" target="_blank">Organic Superfine</a>” Long Jing and <a href="http://www.lifeinteacup.com/" target="_blank">Life in Teacup’s</a> “Da Fo” Long Jing. I’ll go ahead and say from the start that these two Long Jings are not in the same price tier which should be considered if comparing them. The Teavivre Oraganic Superfine version is $13.90/50g and the Life in Teacup Da Fo is $22/50g. Teavivre does offer several other versions at various price points, including one called “Organic Nonpareil Ming Qian” which is $21.90/50g which might be a better comparison since it was harvested in late March like the Da Fo. Teavivre’s highest priced Long Jing is their “Organic Nonpareil She Qian” which is $34/50g. Likewise, Life in Teacup has a premium version called “Shi Feng” priced at $56/50g.<br />
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Here are these two teas at a glance:<br />
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<tr><th></th><th>Teavivre</th><th>Life in Teacup</th></tr>
<tr><th>Name</th><td>Organic Superfine</td><td>Da Fo</td></tr>
<tr><th>Location</th><td>Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou prefecture, Lin'an County (Tianmu Mountain)</td><td>Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing prefecture, Xinchang County</td></tr>
<tr><th>Leaf Cultivar</th><td>Jiu Keng</td><td>Long Jing #43</td></tr>
<tr><th>Harvest Date</th><td>April 10, 2016</td><td>March 17, 2016</td></tr>
<tr><th>Price per 50g</th><td>$13.90</td><td>$22</td></tr>
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A look at the dry leaf shows that the Life in Teacup Da Fo Long Jing leaves have a more uniform and smaller appearance than the Organic Superfine Long Jing. The Organic Superfine leaf is a darker green. Both teas have a good amount of "fuzz" which is common with younger buds and early harvests. The aroma of the leaves is slightly different. Organic Superfine is nuttier than the Da Fo leaves which have a lighter and slightly floral aroma.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nqOICOOtrHlLedofh4NiHPiBbPsVHDqnUPoH-HYaGn15xGAb1JJqjOIOoA266Ls0MifyFqtEWU5t_2xGlG8NV5GyjwLdzaHskn2RPLQBBM5XuKASOok6W-iJwaCFozxRjaWRpe8AOH0/s1600/2016_07_10_9999_2_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-nqOICOOtrHlLedofh4NiHPiBbPsVHDqnUPoH-HYaGn15xGAb1JJqjOIOoA266Ls0MifyFqtEWU5t_2xGlG8NV5GyjwLdzaHskn2RPLQBBM5XuKASOok6W-iJwaCFozxRjaWRpe8AOH0/s640/2016_07_10_9999_2_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing (left) and Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing (right)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOOqPnsG5GzaOvDpES8h4rU8tLNMu3VMUurfU1FdycFtmWztfPtF54b_gqI8QKkidWy63RzFhN6z5WBsE3EtTWuO138y07IgMI1amC622gFrrWnC_3x3i5YPiBvNpKB9887iJN6mJUP0/s1600/2016_07_13_9999_4_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJOOqPnsG5GzaOvDpES8h4rU8tLNMu3VMUurfU1FdycFtmWztfPtF54b_gqI8QKkidWy63RzFhN6z5WBsE3EtTWuO138y07IgMI1amC622gFrrWnC_3x3i5YPiBvNpKB9887iJN6mJUP0/s640/2016_07_13_9999_4_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An abundance of green tea fuzz balls in the Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing package. Post edit: More about these can be found here: <a href="https://teatrekker.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/what-is-tea-leaf-fuzz/" target="_blank">Tea Trekker: What Is Tea Leaf Fuzz?</a></td></tr>
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After hydrating the leaves with the first infusion, the wet leaf aroma is quite different between the two. The Organic Superfine from Teavivre has a umami seawater aroma, and the Life in Teacup Da Fo has a distinct asparagus with black pepper aroma. The liquor of the Da Fo is slightly lighter in color, but both are very pale yellow.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLzfvxdqMYjILc-3zpFT8QP2m6xlSN8DuiRsOGB8EUAwNI2R_nBG0c8ML_FXkr5ymzYChzsxZ73GMK9T2sOkMXQkEyeDcyjXj6_d-PonTj2y_is-GzYJ6tlRE_TE7teK4fKWY51RUhHE/s1600/2016_07_10_9999_6_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbLzfvxdqMYjILc-3zpFT8QP2m6xlSN8DuiRsOGB8EUAwNI2R_nBG0c8ML_FXkr5ymzYChzsxZ73GMK9T2sOkMXQkEyeDcyjXj6_d-PonTj2y_is-GzYJ6tlRE_TE7teK4fKWY51RUhHE/s640/2016_07_10_9999_6_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing (top) and Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing (bottom)</td></tr>
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The flavor of these two Long Jing teas is pretty different. The Teavivre Superfine Organic starts out nutty with a good dose of umami and a nice perfumy aftertaste. It is a very strong flavor despite such a light looking liquor. By the third infusion I noticed some grassy notes as well.<br />
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The Life in Teacup Da Fo flavor was much lighter, slightly buttery, and had a hint of a green bean taste. Throughout the infusions I noticed a very interesting peppery flavor. Umami is present, but balanced with some floral notes and a good sweetness at first which gives way to stronger umami in the later (fourth) infusion.<br />
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Back-to-back, the Da Fo is a much lighter delicate flavor than then Organic Superfine and seems more balanced. The Organic Superfine seemed easy to get bitter when pushed, but the Da Fo never got bitter, only trading sweetness for more umami flavor. Where the Organic Superfine had a nice nutty flavor note, the Da Fo had an unusual black pepper flavor note which was actually more pleasant than it might sound.<br />
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The hydrated leaves again show more variance in the Organic Superfine leaf shape/size where as the Da Fo has smaller leaves that are more uniform. A lot of this difference is due to both the cultivar difference and also the earlier harvest time of the Da Fo. These difference are also likely responsible for differences in the flavor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnjDyPHeQ9sgFAWmdgzaCaE5ydRr-i_mqwKYDCJSnaVooLYT9rLXwJ3RCMS4bJqs4Kc-1sSV8fWahtBq1lPjozS2iFi-D5Q571_wFw6HKbBxBb_ZqC41XjEyGkfsHZxmnUHySYUsYgF4/s1600/2016_07_10_9999_11_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnjDyPHeQ9sgFAWmdgzaCaE5ydRr-i_mqwKYDCJSnaVooLYT9rLXwJ3RCMS4bJqs4Kc-1sSV8fWahtBq1lPjozS2iFi-D5Q571_wFw6HKbBxBb_ZqC41XjEyGkfsHZxmnUHySYUsYgF4/s640/2016_07_10_9999_11_small.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWRe9-U9qaEOt8S2ZOU9E9qgRCDk3FS4JRnEzxIwXOnyheRI_mSKDtCOGzdv4X1yCYmbIS5LjxPoGJKDxrLXPTv_r8XyyLBuhJXC9axLCXOK9638XXnbx9QFKUHh_lRVYzLR5yVFf7_E/s1600/2016_07_10_9999_12_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWRe9-U9qaEOt8S2ZOU9E9qgRCDk3FS4JRnEzxIwXOnyheRI_mSKDtCOGzdv4X1yCYmbIS5LjxPoGJKDxrLXPTv_r8XyyLBuhJXC9axLCXOK9638XXnbx9QFKUHh_lRVYzLR5yVFf7_E/s640/2016_07_10_9999_12_small.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing</td></tr>
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Both of these teas work well brewed straight in a glass "grandpa" style. Due to the strength of the Organic Superfine, it's better to error on the side of less leaf than too much or expect the first few sips to possibly be bitter. The later additions of water will show a nicer balance and the strength of these leaves help it last a long time when brewed this way. Interestingly this method did not give me the umami flavors as much, but the nutty flavors were still there. I actually bought the Teavivre Organic Superfine Long Jing for the purpose of drinking this way. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5BaT2uOumLkT0blrJygNp1zBNesWWWYq98_J0kGCIcWbehBLZGhNbYcWUgLl6aiKEywh2utQZXrAd0rtD1_TCU3sywA3forPIiCcDECvaDwWkYtWid-8vl1-1X7A2mX9hxXLiA7StcU/s1600/2016_07_13_9999_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5BaT2uOumLkT0blrJygNp1zBNesWWWYq98_J0kGCIcWbehBLZGhNbYcWUgLl6aiKEywh2utQZXrAd0rtD1_TCU3sywA3forPIiCcDECvaDwWkYtWid-8vl1-1X7A2mX9hxXLiA7StcU/s640/2016_07_13_9999_small.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing</td></tr>
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It is not my goal to say that one of these is better than the other. I find that each one has strengths and weakness, and I would be in the mood for each one at different times. The Da Fo is a much more delicate brew that can be appreciated more in a more focused session, and the Organic Superfine was capable of producing a nice bold full flavored green tea experience.<br />
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Link to Teavivre Organic Superfine Long Jing: <a href="http://www.teavivre.com/organic-long-jing-green-tea/">http://www.teavivre.com/organic-long-jing-green-tea/</a><br />
Link to Life in Teacup: <a href="http://www.lifeinteacup.com/">http://www.lifeinteacup.com/</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-80416627891981923072016-07-09T01:30:00.001-04:002016-07-09T03:16:26.669-04:00Boston Teawrights - Tea Processing in the Comfort of Your Own Home!<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://bostonteawrights.com/" target="_blank">Boston Teawrights</a> is a company that distributes freshly harvested raw <i>Camellia sinensis</i> tea leaves for do-it-yourself at-home processing. They refer to someone who crafts their own tea as a “teawright” like someone who crafts a play would be a “playwright.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This write-up is from a fall harvest that I received in November 2015 and processed at that time. I am just now finishing this write-up about it because I wanted to let my processed tea rest for a few months to make sure the taste was stable.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">My tea shipment came in an unusual foil padded envelope, and inside was a large typical looking Taiwanese tea package. Boston Teawrights do not go into detail about how they keep the tea from drastically deteriorating during shipping, but if I had to guess I would think that the bag has probably been flushed with something like nitrogen to limit oxidation of the leaves, and they suggest that you can refrigerate the unopened bag for a week or two if you cannot get to the processing right away. When you place an order, you are in a way making a pre-order, and the leaves will only ship when the farm is ready to do a harvest.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9B6pE039T44Omny3shE3vkriCn_u710o-yjHz8ABmcjIZO1X3KvBjBQJ6GoYtmN-A92AiEgJRKER6dzwHC3FB6TF8XU43NOPvz3fA0A9IZ49G7RrHfIA8J7_ZcaxJsoHoT0hKaPieOCo/s1600/2015_11_28_9741_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9B6pE039T44Omny3shE3vkriCn_u710o-yjHz8ABmcjIZO1X3KvBjBQJ6GoYtmN-A92AiEgJRKER6dzwHC3FB6TF8XU43NOPvz3fA0A9IZ49G7RrHfIA8J7_ZcaxJsoHoT0hKaPieOCo/s640/2015_11_28_9741_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upon opening the bag, the leaves inside did have some signs of slight withering and bruising, what Boston Teawrights refers to as “storage wither,” but the edges were still mostly crisp and the leaf veins were green. They had a slightly leathery texture and some were shiny while some were more of a matte surface. When I first opened the bag, the leaves had a strange plastic-like and spinach aroma, but after a few minutes they began to smell more like fresh cut grass.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKXaqgbLV7bZ_QbdIUD6KUfdB3ZAUN0fjrhc6LatAWZk9TOPNhbGE_-aSFvvkTYd-sOJjTWooNcJ0z6eXJ7Z6MtL_rT9GUu_pr5zRdcaaZpMOxCRVUC1YL_ewBPkYxAv_YFOrCTb9Vbw/s1600/2015_11_28_9745_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKXaqgbLV7bZ_QbdIUD6KUfdB3ZAUN0fjrhc6LatAWZk9TOPNhbGE_-aSFvvkTYd-sOJjTWooNcJ0z6eXJ7Z6MtL_rT9GUu_pr5zRdcaaZpMOxCRVUC1YL_ewBPkYxAv_YFOrCTb9Vbw/s640/2015_11_28_9745_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty neat to have leaves that were still on the bushes halfway around the world just a week prior.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deciding how to process the leaves can be a difficult choice. Boston Teawrights gives a few steps on their website for processing as green tea or black tea, and searching around Google did provide some more information, but I had a hard time finding any fully detailed step-by-step instructions, so some improvisation may be necessary if you want to stray from the Boston Teawrights guides. Since this was my first time trying this out, I probably should have stuck to the guides on the website, but I ended up trying a few other steps along the way, which may have been a bad idea.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I first let the leaves wilt. This is a common step for processing black tea, oolong, or white tea. (see the chart on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_processing" target="_blank">this Wiki page</a> about tea processing.) It’s hard for someone without experience to know how long the wilting process should take. Factors such as ambient temperature and humidity will have an effect on this process, though I am not sure to what extent. I decided that I wanted to try to make an oolong. I watched some videos online** of tea producers in China, and I noticed that they would often shake and toss the leaves while they were wilting, so I did this as well. Active enzymes within the leaves will cause the leaves to oxidize during this time, and the shaking and tossing of the leaves will slightly bruise the leaves which will promote faster oxidization. The leaf edges and veins start to take on a red color.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaFLoOs2hn1JBrf3QfpgZJ6Lr5Fh1pyB4VFbnxPVvspYP7mmoya7TtR1BHlnuprlGUMK4y_DzMd2y3256aaI6agY9isJ7lgaHyhDpX6DnaQmqgKlYJ3qiGXN8dEK2ZBtfnHFF2DyQqnBM/s1600/before_after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaFLoOs2hn1JBrf3QfpgZJ6Lr5Fh1pyB4VFbnxPVvspYP7mmoya7TtR1BHlnuprlGUMK4y_DzMd2y3256aaI6agY9isJ7lgaHyhDpX6DnaQmqgKlYJ3qiGXN8dEK2ZBtfnHFF2DyQqnBM/s640/before_after.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before and After wilting and some oxidization. This took place over night. The aroma became very pleasant during this time.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">After this point is where I likely messed up my batch of leaves. Boston Teawrights suggests rolling the leaves after wilting, allowing more oxidization as needed, and then they describe a process of heating the leaves in an oven at 225F for 5-10 minutes which will halt all enzymatic activity and stop oxidization, increase fragrance, etc. This heating step is often referred to as the “kill green” step. When making green tea, you would do a kill green step before any oxidation has occurred which will keep the leaves green after drying them. Instead of doing this kill green step in the oven though, I tried to replicate what I saw the Chinese tea makers do in the videos I watched. They did this step in a hot wok. I tried heating the leaves in a wok on the stove, but unfortunately I believe I got the leaves too hot and nearly burnt them. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtaOIfoXAmRNuzgLSTIIlWv0q-Jg_jBLKUjaCHXW2km_Xd25410EMnXvTLw7BslmGXcC2MgLYHwEzUSrXpiNsTxuBMLZuOEoWiJNGrpuIUDx3DAG1nRbinznVpBAT4Dg3ro2pOv-5Z8E/s1600/2015_11_29_9777_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMtaOIfoXAmRNuzgLSTIIlWv0q-Jg_jBLKUjaCHXW2km_Xd25410EMnXvTLw7BslmGXcC2MgLYHwEzUSrXpiNsTxuBMLZuOEoWiJNGrpuIUDx3DAG1nRbinznVpBAT4Dg3ro2pOv-5Z8E/s640/2015_11_29_9777_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the small batch to the left. I did not heat those in a wok like the main batch. Main batch has been twisted/rolled and ready to dry.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The final step is to dry the leaves in a barely warm oven -- 140F. They suggest that this may take 40-60 minutes or more depending on how much water content the leaves have. I believe I may have over-done this step too because my leaves ended up very light weight and brittle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the end, I’m not exactly sure what kind of tea I ended up creating. The leaves looks pretty, but don’t look like typical oolongs or black teas. If anything, the color is similar to some white teas. The dry aroma reminded me of sweet orange rind, peach, autumn leaves, but also had a burnt smell. Oops.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I brewed my leaves in a gaiwan using my typical 5g/95ml ratio. I experimented with water temperatures, and they handled boiling water fine without getting bitter. The brewed tea has an initial spicy (slightly peppery) flavor note and then a very nice honey-like sweet finish. The main flavor notes are that of autumn leaves and peaches, but also that unfortunate burnt leaf flavor which has too much weight in the flavor for me to be able to drink this tea with enjoyment. In general it is similar to a white tea, but slightly charred. Another bad thing about my tea is that the overall flavor is very light-- there is no intensity at all even with boiling water and longer brew times. The aftertatse is also very weak. I tend to regard good strong aftertaste as being a sign of a good tea, so this is not impressive at all. I believe I simply had too much heat when processing these leaves. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAU1MAaB145R_Loz_CbuB2OtY2Gs_xXU5fO90LFafI6-Vlt97dkY95_y-4pODHvTUmUGa36ERNOezKXuGc_5ARJYo5Bhy0NZn3tqo-O3panKAGU94e1zJ7ao-er1BQn1glXyMEYNzpn5k/s1600/2016_07_06_9999_15_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAU1MAaB145R_Loz_CbuB2OtY2Gs_xXU5fO90LFafI6-Vlt97dkY95_y-4pODHvTUmUGa36ERNOezKXuGc_5ARJYo5Bhy0NZn3tqo-O3panKAGU94e1zJ7ao-er1BQn1glXyMEYNzpn5k/s640/2016_07_06_9999_15_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White tea? Black tea? Oolong? Hard to tell.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Interestingly I did have a very small second batch of leaves-- these were the leaves that fell off my tray during the wilting process and I did not do any additional wok frying or rolling of these leaves. I just scooped them up and placed them in the warm oven to dry. This second batch was only about 3g of leaf and I decided to brew it all in a gaiwain in one session. This small batch, though similar in flavor profile to the first batch, tastes much cleaner since it did not get burned, and the aftertaste is a bit stronger. It reminds me of a white tea even more than the first batch.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small side-batch that didn't get burnt. Ended up similar to a white tea.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Overall this was a really fun experience and I’m glad I had the chance to do this even if my tea did not turn out wonderful. I have talked with several people who have also processed their own tea from Boston Teawrights, two people who had the same batch as me last November, and they managed to get much better results making green tea, white tea, black tea, and even oolong. I will definitely consider trying this again some time, and I'll be sure to get some tips from my friends next time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Link to Boston Teawrights: <a href="http://bostonteawrights.com/" target="_blank">http://bostonteawrights.com/</a></span><br />
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** One fun channel on YouTube to see tea processing is that of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/teadrunknewyork/videos" target="_blank">Tea Drunk from NYC</a>. Also, you can find some nice videos of yancha processing made by <a href="https://vimeo.com/essenceoftea" target="_blank">Essence of Tea</a>. </div>
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Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-59045137925105513312016-04-24T03:24:00.000-04:002016-04-24T03:27:37.487-04:00Yunnan Sourcing - 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong - (Tea From Friends)One type of oolong that I have very little experience with are the Dan Cong oolongs, aka Phoenix oolongs from China's Guangdong province. I have been saying for a while that I would like to try more Dan Cong, and my good tea friends sent me this <a href="http://yunnansourcing.com/en/dan-cong-oolongs/2930-2014-spring-wu-dong-shan-dan-cong-premium-oolong-tea-.html" target="_blank">2014 Wu Dong Shan dan cong</a>, which is sold by Yunnan Sourcing. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc0LtI4ZfKi3aIaWbWVuA02QPcY-oKRWoZwFs5CyDoPeROHmQIzsy-h5HmGU34gh-epHoGRCOyuz3HVgmETHwyq2rkkDxqQVwZchP5sd_pPUXYoYLTjW_7HGD8-1pwTH2JE58EmFgC7o/s1600/2016_04_23_9999_11_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidc0LtI4ZfKi3aIaWbWVuA02QPcY-oKRWoZwFs5CyDoPeROHmQIzsy-h5HmGU34gh-epHoGRCOyuz3HVgmETHwyq2rkkDxqQVwZchP5sd_pPUXYoYLTjW_7HGD8-1pwTH2JE58EmFgC7o/s640/2016_04_23_9999_11_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong</td></tr>
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The more I shop around for Dan Cong oolongs, the more I notice that they can have a range of oxidization and roast levels. Although I don't have much to compare it to, this one has some fairly dark leaves, but still a bit of green showing, so I'm assuming that it falls in the middle of the spectrum. It looks similar to Wuyi yancha, but the aroma is a bit more floral and has some grape notes. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong and Noir Dragon cup</span></td></tr>
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The weather was perfect today so I decided to have this session outside. I had about 7g of this tea in my gift box and decided to put all of it in my 120ml gaiwan. I'm also using my new <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoirDragon" target="_blank">Noir Dragon</a> cup I bought last month after falling in love with this new textured glaze technique they have been using.<br />
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I have heard that Dan Cong oolong can be a tricky tea to brew correctly. Apparently it can take on a very bitter taste if not brewed carefully. I have experienced this with one other Dan Cong before and the bitterness was almost a very offensive metallic taste that lingers in the mouth long enough to ruin the entire session. I can see why someone might get frustrated with Dan Cong oolong if they are consistently getting that flavor out of it. After doing a little bit of research and asking around, I found a few different techniques and tips. I ended up going with water near boiling, which seems a bit counter-intuitive when trying to avoid bitterness, but I kept the duration of the first several infusions to flash-brew speed--water in and tea out without any stopping or waiting. I also discarded the first <i>two</i> infusions (i.e. I did two rinses) as suggested by a friend on Reddit. Someone also suggested pouring the water into the gaiwan off to the side of the gaiwan and letting it rise up around the leaves rather than pouring directly on top of the leaves. I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not, but I decided to follow that tip as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong in Noir Dragon cup.</span></td></tr>
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The brewing technique research paid off-- the tea came out perfect! It has a crystal clear golden orange liquor with nice thickness and fruity/floral aroma. The wet leaf actually smells a lot like a young sheng puerh, but a bit sweeter. The wet leaf also shows that this tea is actually much lighter oxidized than you might expect from the dry leaf, but the golden orange liquor shows that it's definitely not a "green" style oolong which might produce a more yellow liquor. I have heard that some of the higher oxidized/roasted Dan Congs can produce a color that is almost purple, though I have not experienced that yet.<br />
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Although Yunnan Sourcing sells this Dan Cong under the name "Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong," it may also be considered a "Mi Lan Xiang" Dan Cong, which means "Honey and Orchid Fragrance." That description is very accurate for the flavor of this tea. The overall flavor profile is very floral and it has a honey sweetness. Interestingly though, I also find that it has a slight sweet smokiness similar to some young sheng, and it also has a very refreshing fruity flavor. Drinking this tea outside on a beautiful spring day was an excellent idea. <br />
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I hesitated to mention this, but something about the natural sweetness of this tea and the fruity/floral characteristics combine to create a really interesting flavor that reminds me a lot of grape flavored Kool-Aid. That may be a stretch of the imagination for some, but grape Kool-Aid instantly entered my mind when I tasted this tea. That confirms even further that drinking this tea outside on a nice spring day is a great way to enjoy this tea, and I am very glad I had this experience. I would like to continue to get to know this type of oolong, and I would not be surprised if Dan Cong oolongs end up being one of my favorite types of oolong at some point in the future, but they might have a hard time surpassing the warm dark fruit characteristics that I love in a good Wuyi yancha. Perhaps I will drink Yancha in the fall and winter, and Dan Cong in the spring and summer.<br />
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Link to Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong on Yunnan Sourcing: <a href="http://yunnansourcing.com/en/dan-cong-oolongs/2930-2014-spring-wu-dong-shan-dan-cong-premium-oolong-tea-.html" target="_blank">http://yunnansourcing.com/en/dan-cong-oolongs/2930-2014-spring-wu-dong-shan-dan-cong-premium-oolong-tea-.html</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-17337415029666978622016-03-19T02:08:00.003-04:002016-03-19T02:12:38.371-04:00White2Tea Club - DHP vs Rougui - (Dec 2015 package)Winter is a great time of the year to enjoy the warm flavors of a roasted oolong such as Wuyi Yancha. White2Tea knows this and wisely included two different samples of Yancha in their December <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/" target="_blank">tea club</a> package; the Rougui and the Dahongpao. (Note: this is not the more expensive special aged DHP they recently sold, but is more of a standard offering.) Since I've had a strange winter this year and didn't drink these when they first arrived, I got to enjoy these nice roasted teas out on the patio in March. <br />
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The great thing about the way they packaged these samples it that they were not labeled. One of the packets was a dark brown smooth plastic material and the other packet was light brown papery material. Of course the club newsletter revealed the identity, but the fun thing to do here is brew these side-by-side and do a blind comparison before looking up which one is which.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good setup for a blind comparison. </td></tr>
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I put the tea from the papery packet in my satin-finish spring tea garden gaiwan, and the tea from the smooth packet went into my butterfly gaiwan. Despite one looking bigger than the other, both gaiwans hold about 85ml or so, and I used 5g of leaf in each.<br />
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To make this review less confusing, I'll go ahead and reveal which tea is which. The dark brown package in the butterfly gaiwan is the Dahongpao, and the garden gaiwan has the Rougui.<br />
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The Rougui leaf is a little bit smaller than the Dahongpao, and the dry leaf aroma is more chocolaty compared to the slightly more fruity aroma of the DHP dry leaf. Interestingly though, the aroma is the opposite once the leaves are wet. The Rougui wet leaf blossoms into an extremely sweet fruity aroma similar to black plums and cherry, where as the DHP wet leaf is not as sweet and almost has an over-ripe fruit aroma, pineapple, with a hint of some kind of melted plastic-like characteristic. This may be due to the charcoal roast.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No sense in keeping you in suspense. Dahongpao on the left, Rougui on the right.</td></tr>
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Both yanchas brew up a similar looking deep orange liquor. The DHP liquor might be slightly more cloudy, but both have a good aroma. Again, the Rougui aroma seems sweeter than the DHP. <br />
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Upon tasting, it is clear that these two teas are quite different. During my last <a href="http://www.microshrimp.com/2015/08/white2tea-tea-club-august-2015-da-hong.html" target="_blank">W2T yancha comparison</a>, I had an aged DHP and a freshly roasted DHP to help learn how the roast flavors can dissipate or evolve over time. From that exercise I learned that the fresh roast flavor can be quite harsh, but I also found it to be very fruity, and it reminded me of guava. None of the two yanchas here have such a young roast profile; however, the Rougui does seem to be closer to that end of the spectrum than the DHP.<br />
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The Rougui seems very thick and coating in the mouth, but otherwise the mouthfeel is not the strong point of this tea. This tea has a sweet flavor profile of dark cherries which later intensifies into guava, and the aftertaste is just as fruity and seems to show up slightly delayed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rougui has nice deep orange clear liquor.</td></tr>
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The Dahongpao has a much different mouthfeel. It has slight astringency and a certain sour characteristic which causes some puckering of the sides of the tongue. The taste is much more acidic compared to the Rougui, and not as sweet. The flavor is significantly more mellow and seems to have a higher degree of complexity, though I found it difficult to explain why. The later infusions have a slight cotton candy-like flavor, but it is not sickening sweet. The aftertaste has the apple taste that I love in a good roasted tea.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dahongpao liquor is similar to the Rougui. The leaves seem slightly bigger though.</td></tr>
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In comparison I cannot really say that one of these teas is <i>better</i> than the other. The Rougui will appeal more to someone wanting a very sweet and fruity yancha that may come across as a bit harsh to some, though I did find that the later infusions did round out quite a bit and became more balanced. The strength of the Rougui is aroma and sweetness. The Dahongpao will be more appealing to someone looking for a more mellow flavor. The Dahongpao's wet leaf aroma may not be as pleasant, but the strengths are in the interesting mouthfeel, nice well balanced aftertaste, and a sense of more complexity. It's great though that both of these teas do have some depth to them and aren't just full of an overpowering generic "charcoal" taste.<br />
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I cannot say that I have enough experience to know if the acidic flavor and slight sourness in the mouthfeel of the Dahongpao is the result of something good or bad or if it's just a natural characteristic of this tea. I have heard that some oolongs can develop sour notes as they age and absorb moisture, which is why re-roasting from time to time may be done, but I do not know if that is the case here or not. I personally found myself favoring the Dahongpao over the Rougui. I liked both teas, but I found the Dahongpao to be more interesting and more relaxing to drink. <br />
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I was pleasantly surprised when I finally looked up which tea was which. The one I seemed to favor, the Dahongpao, sells for $15.50 for 50g and the Rougui sells for $22.50 for 50g. At those prices though, both are a good deal. (The DHP is actually sold out at the time of writing this, but hopefully White2Tea will get a new batch soon, and hopefully that batch will be good too.)<br />
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Link to the Ruogui: <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/rougui-oolong-tea/" target="_blank">http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/rougui-oolong-tea/</a><br />
Link to the Dahongpao: <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/dahongpao/" target="_blank">http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/dahongpao/</a><br />
Link to the White2Tea monthly tea club: <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/" target="_blank">http://www.white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-87022563387824470652016-03-13T01:11:00.000-05:002016-03-13T03:17:08.475-04:00Thank you tea friends!Unless we have chatted on IRC or on Reddit, a lot of my readers may not be aware that I had a surgery in January and was at home recovering throughout January and the entire month of February. Everything went very well with the surgery, and I am now back to normal life!<br />
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The first two weeks or so after surgery I didn't really do much of anything. I surely didn't drink much tea. I did not have any dietary restrictions, I just didn't really have the energy or strength to bother with it. The third and fourth week I started to feel a lot better and began brewing some tea again. Due to the arrangement of my tea table, it was more comfortable to use my kettle and gaiwan with my left hand even though I'm right handed. I got pretty good at it after a while! It felt great to have something as comforting as tea back again. And in the fifth and sixth weeks I started to feel pretty close to normal.</div>
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During this time after surgery I received some amazing gifts, tea gifts, from my tea friends on Reddit's /r/tea and from the IRC Freenode ##tea chat channel. They have wonderful taste in tea, and a lot of these are teas I've been wanting to try, and some of them are completely new styles for me. </div>
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These teas really have helped make the surgery recovery much easier and about as fun as it could possibly be. Since I still have many of these teas left, I hope to occasionally review some here, and I'll post them under the label "Tea From Friends."</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A friend in IRC was cleaning out his tea storage and decided this hoard was too good to throw away.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fellow tea blogger <a href="http://theoolongdrunk.com/" target="_blank">The Oolong Drunk</a> wasn't a big fan of the flavor profile of this Dehong Ye Sheng Cha raw puerh and was tempted to throw it away, but I wanted to give it a try first. He sent some Mandala shou mini tuos along with it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gotta love some oriental booty!</td></tr>
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Thank you!!!</div>
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Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-77667375176524964262016-02-08T02:32:00.000-05:002016-02-08T02:40:03.736-05:00Taiwan Sourcing - Da Yu Ling Spring 2015Wise tea drinkers who wish to experience the best taste, aroma, and energy that a tea has to offer know that it's best to slow down and take your time. You should concentrate on brewing the tea correctly; you don't want to rush and understeep your tea, or get distracted and oversteep your tea. A focused mind and attention dedicated to the brewing will allow you to extract the best qualities from the leaves. In Chinese this is referred to as "gongfu cha" or the practice of making tea with great skill. (And I'm not talking about a tea "ceremony" which is sometimes associated with gongfu cha, but just the act of brewing tea the best that you can with a patient focused intent.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong</span></td></tr>
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Taking your time is also a good idea when trying to gain experience with tea. New tea drinkers, which would include me since I'm still learning all the different types of tea and quality spectrum, get very excited about trying good tea; experiencing one good tea makes us eager to find the next good one to compare it to. This is a good way to gain experience quickly, but we must remember to slow down and take time to get to know each category of tea well. This is the type of experience that must be acquired with patience to expose oneself to many complexities and characteristics within the same type of tea over time. I doubt everyone would be able to agree on how much time it may take to gain a good understanding of any one type of tea, but it is obvious that the time cannot be quick. Perhaps there actually is no finish line since we can continue to drink new teas throughout life.<br />
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But things get complicated when it comes to high mountain (gaoshan) oolong from Taiwan's Da Yu Ling area. Some of the most famous quality gaoshan oolongs have come from the highest peak of Li Mountain, known as Da Yu Ling, and demand (and thus price) for these teas is quite high. It would make sense for someone on a tea journey to get to know more accessible gaoshan oolongs first before finally reaching for something like Da Yu Ling. The issue though is that there are fewer Da Yu Ling tea farms now than just a couple years ago since the Taiwanese government has reclaimed some of this high mountain land to protect the peak from the negative side effects of farming, such as erosion and landslides. Other farm area may be used for different agricultural products too, not always teas. I do not know the future of tea from this area-- perhaps some tea will still be grown at Da Yu Ling for years to come, or perhaps not, but it is clear that the "famous" Da Yu Ling teas from the highest farms are already gone. Those of us who have not had them, we may have waited too long. But is it too late to have any good tea from Da Yu Ling at all?<br />
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Thankfully the Taiwan Sourcing team (taiwanoolongs.com) have trekked the winding narrow roads of Li Shan to reach Da Yu Ling and returned with what they believe is still a perfect Da Yu Ling oolong. I have decided to delay no longer. Now is my time to try Da Yu Ling.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong</td></tr>
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(Taiwan Sourcing wrote a 3 part blog entry about their trip to Da Yu Ling. Some great photos there. Linked here is part I. Click "next post" at the end to get to part II, then part III. <a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/blogs/news/30661121-the-true-face-of-da-yu-ling-part-i-the-night-ride" target="_blank">http://taiwanoolongs.com/blogs/ ...</a>)<br />
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Although I have shopped with Yunnan Sourcing several times, this is my first order with their new sister company Taiwan Sourcing (taiwanoolongs.com). I ordered four different Spring 2015 oolongs, including this <a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/collections/2015-spring-oolong-teas/products/da-yu-ling-high-mountain-jade-oolong-tea-spring-2015" target="_blank">Da Yu Ling Jade</a>. I was happy to see that the oolong I ordered came vacuum sealed, which I believe is very helpful at locking in the freshness that makes this type of oolong so good. Although I've read that some oolong has aging potential, these "jade-style" oolongs may not be the best choice for aging and are probably best consumed as fresh as possible. This tea was harvested in Spring 2015, but the vacuum seal has allowed it to stay very vibrantly green and aromatic.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong</span></td></tr>
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In the past I have always brewed jade style oolong with water around 185 degrees (Fahrenheit). I've heard though that high quality oolongs, even ones that are on the green end of the oxidization spectrum, will be able to handle boiling water just fine. So far I have tried a couple different approaches, and as of right now I have settled on 200 degree water for this tea. When brewed with water right under a boil it was certainly good and never became bitter, but the slightly lower temperature seemed to bring out a little more sweetness which I liked.<br />
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With this type of tea it is not really necessary to do a rinse. I always expect the first 30 second infusion of a rolled oolong to be a bit weak because the leaves are still re-hydrating and unrolling, but I usually go ahead and drink this infusion instead of tossing it out like a rinse. With the Da Yu Ling though I was amazed that even this weak first infusion was just as strong and flavorful as the <b>best</b> infusion of some lower quality jade oolongs I've had. What a great start and an indication that this tea really is as good as I hoped it would be.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong</span></td></tr>
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The aroma coming from the wet leaf and even the liquor was very strong and rich. All the great gaoshan aromas were there-- buttery honey and fruity notes (this time being peach/apricot), and the Da Yu Ling also had a deep cooked greens vegetal aroma balanced with a gingerbread or brown sugar sweetness.<br />
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I was surprised to find that the mouthfeel was actually somewhat active. Not as much as a good sheng puerh, but this tea definitely awakens the tongue, and the vibrant yellow liquor has a thick broth-like consistency.<br />
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The taste is bursting with tea perfume flavor. I used the typical amount of leaf that I normally would for this type of tea (5g in 80ml), but the flavor overall is much more intense than I've had from others. The tea has the buttery honey flavors that I like in goashan, but it also has a rich vegetal taste. Taiwan Sourcing notes that this is the result of high altitude slow growth and processing. This is definitely one of those teas that can truly be described as being like a soup.<br />
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The aftertaste blossoms in the mouth immediately after swallowing and is very unique. It has tea perfume and guava characteristics, but as those initial flavors fade, I also get a sense of fresh spring air and I am immediately reminded of the photos from <a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/blogs/news/34928065-the-true-face-of-da-yu-ling-part-iii-the-da-yu-ling" target="_blank">part III</a> of Taiwan Sourcing's Da Yu Ling blog entry where they are laying in the grass drinking oolong. This fresh air is not the absence of taste though, but it is instead as if the tea has a cleansing effect. This effect is so strong that I get a really interesting sensation that my mouth has been cleaned and refreshed, as if drinking a cold glass of pure spring water outside on a pleasant spring day. Perhaps this is the qi of Da Yu Ling.<br />
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By the time I decide that I have reached the end of this tea I feel a sensation of fullness as if I have finished eating a meal. I can tell that this is a good quality tea because the flavor is so consistent and potent over many infusions. It does not suddenly drop off or turn bad, or perhaps it is turning out so good because I am taking my time to brew it as well as I can.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM05B-kibNFRkwrpJI3zW_Snr9HFvNigA_HawReE4XJVYfmjfzgt2rd4JG8TvPWv8Dy54ea9O6HBu6zKM4VlfzI4ZI2p7cfiw66FkbgN-XWHej7IG9mPy0dqTigU5DlCc-D_QH9JtZ7bE/s1600/2016_01_16_9999_14_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM05B-kibNFRkwrpJI3zW_Snr9HFvNigA_HawReE4XJVYfmjfzgt2rd4JG8TvPWv8Dy54ea9O6HBu6zKM4VlfzI4ZI2p7cfiw66FkbgN-XWHej7IG9mPy0dqTigU5DlCc-D_QH9JtZ7bE/s640/2016_01_16_9999_14_small.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong</span></td></tr>
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I am glad that I decided to go ahead and try Da Yu Ling oolong while I had the opportunity to find one from a trusted tea seller. Although I have reached this wonderful peak, I know I am not finished yet with discovering and learning about Taiwanese gaoshan. I am going to continue my tea journey by seeing what else Taiwan can offer, and I feel like Taiwan Sourcing is doing a great job at this as well. Looking through their list of other teas, I see that they are also exploring some mountains and regions that I am not familiar with, such as Lala Shan, Wu She, and Fu Shou Shan. I look forward to trying all these other regions next, but for now I am going to slow down, relax and patiently enjoy the rest of my Da Yu Ling.<br />
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<a href="http://taiwanoolongs.com/collections/2015-spring-oolong-teas/products/da-yu-ling-high-mountain-jade-oolong-tea-spring-2015" target="_blank">Link to Taiwan Sourcing's 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling.</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-60410336382958786152015-12-09T23:16:00.000-05:002015-12-10T20:24:56.080-05:00NoirDragon - Asian Inspired Teaware on EtsyFor most of my tea reviews I use a white teacup, or sometimes clear glass. If I'm drinking tea alone I use one of my cups that are the same volume as my brewing vessels so I can just pour my brews directly into the cup without using a cha hai. A white teacup is perfect for showing the color of the tea liquor, and if you don't use a strainer and get some small leaf pieces in the cup you can easily judge the clarity of the liquor.<br />
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However, none of these white cups are my favorite teacup. My favorite teacup doesn't end up in photos very often because it's one I use when I'm simply drinking tea for myself, for pure enjoyment. So I decided that my favorite cup itself deserves to be in the spotlight today. <br />
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This cup came from an American artist who sells teaware on his Etsy store "<a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoirDragon" target="_blank">NoirDragon</a>." One interesting thing about NoirDragon is that his path to producing beautiful ceramic teaware is completely rooted in his passion for tea. His passion for tea naturally lead him to appreciate and collect teaware, and then eventually he decided to learn more about the art of pottery so that he could create his own teaware. And now he is sharing his creations with fellow tea lovers. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSEIrKOz8W-_RLsqUp-anIWRQJS6EOZBlmxw_mKdoU39nGuOoMvcPYjVu0s4kL778sJd98qWzqkdf58aXxu-euesgTjRu7_GlMGOia_J9Yb6SSMa6YAC0G25KIfKloxu7dp5cMlyEstOY/s1600/2015_11_25_9724_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSEIrKOz8W-_RLsqUp-anIWRQJS6EOZBlmxw_mKdoU39nGuOoMvcPYjVu0s4kL778sJd98qWzqkdf58aXxu-euesgTjRu7_GlMGOia_J9Yb6SSMa6YAC0G25KIfKloxu7dp5cMlyEstOY/s640/2015_11_25_9724_small.jpg" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">NoirDragon has used a beautiful stoneware clay for this cup and left a band of unglazed clay at the outer bottom edge to show off both the color and texture of this clay.</span></td></tr>
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The quality of my NoirDragon cup shows very precise craftsmanship and attention to detail. I can turn this cup over and set it on a flat surface and the rim is perfectly even and the base is perfectly level. I discovered this by chance while trying to photograph the bottom of the cup and was very impressed with the geometric perfection.<br />
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I'm really happy with the glaze/color of this cup. The inside has a slight blue hue to it, and the outside has a bit more green. I used to say that I don't have a favorite color because all colors can be great depending on context, but despite that, I do admit that I tend to gravitate toward green, and I absolutely love the color of this cup.<br />
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At first I assumed that the speckled pattern on this cup was due to the glaze used, but when I asked the artist about it, NoirDragon told me that the speckles are actually due to manganese granules in the clay itself that produce this beautiful pattern through the glaze when fired in the kiln. If white glaze is applied to this clay, it will show up as little brown speckles on the white glaze which also has an interesting effect.<br />
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This has easily become my favorite cup for more than just the appearance and craftsmanship as it functions very well for my typical personal tea brewing sessions. True, it doesn't have a white interior so it doesn't show off the tea liquor, but adding a glass cha hai would take care of that if needed. I really love this cup though because it is the perfect volume for holding the contents of an 80ml gaiwan. The 80ml gaiwan is the brewing vessel I use about 85% of the time I brew tea, and I can pour directly into this cup and it fills it to the top. The clay is thick enough to keep my hands from getting too hot, and once preheated, that thickness holds in heat well to keep the tea warm as I sip. The size, shape, and weight of the cup feels perfect and natural in the hand. Drinking from this cup allows me to have a better connection with the tea and I'm able to enjoy the tea without being distracted by an uncomfortable or awkward cup. <br />
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NoirDragon's creations are continually evolving, and I really look forward to seeing what he comes up with next. Through recent conversations I have learned that he often tries out new glazes and clays. He has some pieces that have a crackle glaze, and a few that have a really interesting highly textured "crawl glaze" that look like they were crafted directly from parched earth. I have also heard that he is experimenting with brewing vessel designs such as shiboridashis and possibly gaiwans, and I think he may even be trying out some tea pet designs!<br />
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So you may not see this cup make an appearance too often in my tea reviews, but if you stop by when I'm having an enjoyable tea session with my favorite teas, there's a real good chance that I'll be sipping from my favorite teacup.<br />
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Link to NoirDragon on Etsy: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoirDragon" target="_blank">https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoirDragon</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-55993169739480259462015-12-06T22:39:00.001-05:002015-12-07T20:26:19.937-05:00White2Tea - 2015 Pin (Raw Puerh)When White2Tea first shared a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/9UvOh4uvfE/" target="_blank">teaser image</a> of the mao cha they were using for an upcoming sheng cake, I was quite confused by the apparent nei fei in the image. The nei fei (a small inner label pressed into a puerh cake) had a reddish blob that appeared to be a pair of lips. But knowing that this is White2Tea, which never fails to amaze me with their unique style and creativity, I decided that this was probably not an optical illusion, and it was best to just accepted the high probability that I actually was seeing a mouth and hope the meaning of that would be clear later on.<br />
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I later learned that this new cake is named Pin, and the outer wrapper has not one but three colored blobs that are, without a doubt now, mouths. I'm sure anyone with a good understanding of Chinese probably got a chuckle out of this, but the rest of us need some explanation from TwoDog.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh 200g cake</span></td></tr>
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According to TwoDog, the Chinese word for "mouth" is "kou" and represented by the chinese radical 口. If you have three of these radicals in a triangle configuration, you get 品, the word "pin." The word "pin" is Chinese for "to savor" and he further explains that it could be applied to a drink, such as tea, to mean, "drinking with intent." Further he explains that the phrase "pin cha" (品茶) "literally means 'to taste tea.'" This wrapper has even deeper meaning than that though. The triangle theme is also represented in the red/pink background which is actually a triangle when the wrapper is unfolded. The three mouths or three points/sides/angles of the triangle represent the tea material used to make Pin, which is a blend of Lincang material from 2013, 2014, and 2015.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Aww, the nei fei got flipped over during pressing.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6bbpG7vWUL7t1Tb8QLuprPZkt8wcSiyfgS2umGtXZXr39j4pvmF8g7uaBAHetsFEmbb6KNat8tXBsDFsASII4ec2D8BLOIVmx5Mp7jvKjo0sGqYKgnHTsppYJ7djO7BtO03Lw8yVU2s/s1600/2015_11_13_9624_small-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi6bbpG7vWUL7t1Tb8QLuprPZkt8wcSiyfgS2umGtXZXr39j4pvmF8g7uaBAHetsFEmbb6KNat8tXBsDFsASII4ec2D8BLOIVmx5Mp7jvKjo0sGqYKgnHTsppYJ7djO7BtO03Lw8yVU2s/s640/2015_11_13_9624_small-2.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Blended Lincang material from 2013, 2014, and 2015. </span></td></tr>
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The 200g cake as a whole shows a beautiful mosaic of colors. This is partially due to the fuzzy white buds mixed with the fuller leaves, but is also likely a result of the blended material of different ages. The older material was stored by TwoDog in Menghai to mellow out a bit in contrast to the young 2015 material. The compression is a good "medium" -- not so loose that it can be pulled apart by hand, but loose enough that a tea pick can separate it without doing too much damage.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh</span></td></tr>
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I wasn't entirely sure the best way to brew this tea and I'm still experimenting, but so far I have been using water around 200 degrees F which I sometimes use for younger raw puerh. Of course this one also has components from 2014 and 2013, so going with water right off a boil might not be too risky. I have stuck with my usual 5g per 80ml gaiwan for now and started my first few infusions around three to five seconds or so.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White2Tea - 2015 Pin sheng puerh</td></tr>
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Maybe it’s because I just got over a mild cold and can breathe better today than any day this past week, but the wet leaf aroma of this tea is very strong, and although it does have a “young raw puerh” aroma, it seems much deeper than some, likely due to the older material also used. Imagine autumn leaves coated in dark honey-- that may sound strange, but an aroma like that in a tea is amazing.<br />
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The honey colored clear liquor is very viscous and has a thick mouthfeel-- it is one of those teas that you almost feel the need to chew while drinking it. The sides of the tongue feel some mild astringency at first, and then a couple minutes later the entire mouth feels a subtle tingly sensation. It's suiting that a tea with three mouths on the wrapper would have such an active mouthfeel.</div>
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The overall taste of Pin is very well balanced. It has a general herb-like flavor similar to oregano accompanied by grassy and hay notes, and early on it also has a hint of clean smoke which seems to fade in the middle and late infusions. After the first three or so infusions the flavors become even more balanced and stay very consistent with each subsequent infusion. These middle infusions bring out a pleasant sweetness that contrasts well with the young sheng bitter bite. This is again one of those teas where I lost count of how many infusions I got out of it, but my 1.7L electric kettle was giving me a "Low H2O" warning before I was finished. Well balanced flavors and many consistent infusions seems to be a great indicator of high quality material.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Beautiful deep olive green leaf color. I broke this selection from a tighter part of the cake but was still able to leave many leaves mostly intact.</span></td></tr>
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Beyond the taste is a wonderful aftertaste which further indicates the high quality of material used to make Pin. The aftertaste first retains the hint of smoke and herbal characteristics found earlier, but then blossoms into a nice tea perfume hui gan that lingers in the mouth for several minutes. I should also mention that the cha qi from this tea was quite noticeable when I drank it. This is certainly a great tea to drink with intent and savor, and I'm very curious to see how this one will taste many years down the road. </div>
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Pin was released in November to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the White2Tea monthly tea club, but is also for sale in the White2Tea 2015 raw puerh lineup; sample sizes also available. More details can be found here: <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2015-pin/" target="_blank">http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2015-pin/</a></div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-39110445786957737742015-11-01T21:47:00.000-05:002015-11-03T23:19:51.438-05:00Taiwan Tea Crafts - Red Jade Black I recently did a tea trade with fellow tea drinker and received a generous 25g packet of Red Jade black tea sold by <a href="https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/" target="_blank">Taiwan Tea Crafts</a>. My friend also sent a 25g packet of Taiwan Tea Craft's GABA oolong, but I am trying the Red Jade first. I have never actually ordered any teas from this vendor, but am thankful for the opportunity to give a couple of their teas a try.<br />
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This particular packet of Red Jade that I have is lot #346 and is the 2014 version of the current 2015 <a href="https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/red-jade-black-tea/" target="_blank">Sun Moon Lake Red Jade</a>, which is a TRES #18 style black tea. As I briefly mentioned in my Formosa Assam entry in August, Taiwan's Tea Research Extension Station (TRES) in the Sun Moon Lake/Yuchi area of Nantou County has done extensive research to develop various <i>Camellia sinensis</i> tea hybrids, and TRES #18 is one of the most popular Taiwanese black teas. The 2014 and the 2015 versions of this tea are from the the same farmer/producer, and the foil package contained an oxygen scavenger packet which has likely helped keep this tea extremely fresh.<br />
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This offering from Taiwan Tea Crafts is a near perfect Taiwanese black tea. The dry leaf is very fragrant with a nice fruity aroma and the leaves are very long and mostly whole. The wet leaf has a yummy fruity sweet candy-like aroma which also comes across in the flavor. Like my other favorite Taiwanese black tea, this one has lots of berry flavors and a nice creaminess to it. The sweet berry flavors are held up by a solid foundation that I simply call "black tea" flavor-- it's the part of the flavor that gives the tea some boldness. The mouthfeel is also very bold, thick, yet soft, and a hint of astringency. Like many good teas, Red Jade provides a strong pleasant aftertaste similar to the main taste, and the leave have wonderful resteepability. I used 5g in a 120ml gaiwan and almost ran my 1.7L kettle dry while brewing this tea today. I imagine the leaves could have gone even further.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fUUt7gVT1n8hMGPfC9O6VcVa-hYi_ciielFmiAp-BaQJItBTbsRXtxgoNV0PhBOrU5MtlGR41lkXYnTk84MbQfGSzc06s6l_qCgkpDs742X7YAiiqU2sQFmlYbQGeczs_2vhwj10ksE/s1600/2015_11_01_9587_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fUUt7gVT1n8hMGPfC9O6VcVa-hYi_ciielFmiAp-BaQJItBTbsRXtxgoNV0PhBOrU5MtlGR41lkXYnTk84MbQfGSzc06s6l_qCgkpDs742X7YAiiqU2sQFmlYbQGeczs_2vhwj10ksE/s640/2015_11_01_9587_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Again, I have not tried any other teas from Taiwan Tea Crafts yet, but Red Jade was an excellent introduction for me. (I will try the GABA oolong soon.) If the quality of Red Jade is representative of their other teas, then I look forward to shopping with them quite a bit in the future to try more of their large selection of oolong and black teas!Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-71424369902589475422015-10-20T23:37:00.000-04:002015-11-03T23:19:59.307-05:00Tea From Vietnam (.com)On September 2nd, <a href="http://teafromvietnam.com/" target="_blank">Tea From Vietnam</a> had a Vietnamese Independence Day sale and offered their tea 20% off and a reduced free shipping threshold. I decided to take advantage this great sale and I picked up three of their oolong teas: Golden Lily (Jin Xuan), Ta, and Gui Fei. I also received a sample of their "Red Lily" which is a black tea made from Jin Xuan leaf. <br />
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While thinking of my new Vietnamese teas, I had a craving for some pho and thought this would make a perfect pairing. <br />
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Unfortunately though, I made my pho much too spicy which completely ruined my palate. I cannot possibly enjoy tea right now so instead I will use this time to read <a href="http://teafromvietnam.com/blog/" target="_blank">Tea From Vietnam's blog</a> and learn a little bit more about them.<br />
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Tien Vu launched Tea From Vietnam earlier this year and is proud to offer tea produced by his family in the northern province of Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. Mr. Vu respects the history, reputation, and ideal terroir associated with Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese teas and does not try to claim that his teas will outdo the best of those traditional teas but instead promotes his teas as examples of some of the finest tea that Vietnam can offer to a tea lover wanting to experience tea from other regions. Although Taiwanese style teas have been grown in Vietnam only in recent years, Mr Vu has provided an in depth review of the <a href="http://teafromvietnam.com/the-history-of-vietnamese-tea/" target="_blank">history of tea from the Vietnamese perspective</a> which shows how deep the tea roots really are in Vietnam and the importance of the Thai Nguyen province for high quality tea production.<br />
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Of the teas I have in my order, the Golden Lily and the Ta oolongs both fall in the "jade" (low roast/low oxidization) oolong category. The Golden Lily, as expected, is made from the Jin Xuan cultivar of leaf which was introduced to Vietnam from Taiwan a couple decades ago. The Ta oolong though is a cultivar that is unique to Vietnam and is why I wanted to give it a try.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKOlBBFv4VFFgOVgxkXg620WCPt2SI65K_TMeFTcZqp_AIpBaVtRcZ1zWkjojRQ2IBM2Lp4t6zinZSvdhKqjvcyRU9IL0Pp-0rXsUQXrt0GNcGWNEv2lSRVV_sA7EIAkMfDU4omF5LG3o/s1600/2015_09_30_8740_small-2.jpg"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKOlBBFv4VFFgOVgxkXg620WCPt2SI65K_TMeFTcZqp_AIpBaVtRcZ1zWkjojRQ2IBM2Lp4t6zinZSvdhKqjvcyRU9IL0Pp-0rXsUQXrt0GNcGWNEv2lSRVV_sA7EIAkMfDU4omF5LG3o/s320/2015_09_30_8740_small-2.jpg" width="320" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lJ11pg0pAGYpUvkJLKTA6jabhtyi1AVNI3giur-_L64r8NC3lF8RwOuuQ7t1eqNSz42jL7AbPYfoFjBxfYeeWBEHmy7zKiP2XJwfSjTUlBRYl1Ng7BKFAft6xPuzndHnpEiu9ngSlVk/s1600/2015_10_03_8747_small.jpg"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lJ11pg0pAGYpUvkJLKTA6jabhtyi1AVNI3giur-_L64r8NC3lF8RwOuuQ7t1eqNSz42jL7AbPYfoFjBxfYeeWBEHmy7zKiP2XJwfSjTUlBRYl1Ng7BKFAft6xPuzndHnpEiu9ngSlVk/s320/2015_10_03_8747_small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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These two teas may seem pretty similar at fist. The oxidation level is about the same and they both brew up a nice looking very clear light yellow liquor. Both teas have the distinct "gao shan" aroma that you would expect from this style of oolong, and since these teas were grown at or slightly higher than 1,000m elevation, they may qualify as "high mountain" oolongs if defining that term by elevation alone. The aroma does present slightly differently for each of these teas though. Both teas smell of sweet honey and buttery toffee, but the Golden Lily is more vegetal and reminds me of tomatoes where as the Ta leaves are more floral with a slight nutty/cashew aroma.</div>
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The mouthfeel of the Golden Lily is surprisingly active with some pleasant atringency, though not much body, and the Ta oolong is very smooth and coats the mouth.</div>
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Golden Lily, also known as Jin Xuan is sometimes marketed as "milk oolong" due to a natural milk-like flavor that it can sometimes have. The Vietnamese Jin Xuan definitely has a very creamy taste. I even let my 5 year old daughter have a sip and she herself said that it tasted a bit "like milk and something else." The "something else" in my opinion is the vegetal almost green tea-like flavors resulting from the low oxidization. The green tea-like flavor also has a nutty characteristic to it like you might find in Dragonwell or some other green teas. Although the vegetal flavor does dominate at first, there is a good floral aspect as well and later steeps reveal a pleasant lychee flavor. (To avoid confusion, I should mention that this "milky" flavor is definitely a natural flavor in the tea and should not be confused with artificially flavored milk oolongs sold elsewhere. TeaFromVietnam doesn't even mention this alternate name of Jin Xuan, but it's just a flavor note I picked up on.)</div>
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The Golden Lily aftertaste is slightly peppery early on, but then later becomes more floral. Of the few times I have brewed this tea now, I find that it does best with slightly more leaf than I originally thought I would need. Not much more, but an extra one half to one gram seemed to really help this tea deliver a fuller flavor and not taper off as quickly. As the tea does taper off though, long infusions can produce a good vegetal tea soup that still provides an interesting floral aftertaste.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tea From Vietnam - Golden Lily oolong - Great looking leaves!<br />
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The flavor of the Ta oolong is also very creamy, but it does not have the same dominating vegetal nature as the Golden Lily and instead has a nice citrus (orange, grapefruit) flavor with lemongrass and a nice floral perfume taste in the back of the throat. Subsequent infusions reveal more light honey sweetness that combines with the creaminess to create a sugar cookie-like taste. The enjoyable aftertaste is floral and lingering. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Tea From Vietnam - Ta oolong - Also great looking leaves!</td></tr>
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Another difference between Golden Lily and Ta is the price. Golden Lily is $5.90 for 50g and Ta is $11.90 for 50g. Part of the price difference is likely due to supply-- Jin Xuan cultivar is grown more commonly than Ta and is a high yield cultivar which can make it more affordable. Of course personal preference will dictate if these are good deals, but I think the prices are good. Although I am not personally a huge fan of the milky vegetal flavor of Golden Lily, I enjoy the tea enough that I think it's definitely worth $5.90 for 50g and I would be happy to buy this tea again as a daily drinker jade oolong. I also think that the higher price for the Ta oolong is a good deal too because I prefer the flavor profile of the Ta much more-- it's a well balanced tea with good gao shan flavor and complexity. </div>
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In contrast to the low oxidized Golden Lily, I also received a small sample of the Red Lily which is a black tea made from Jin Xuan leaf. Red Lily is fully oxidized and has a medium bake/roast. Close examination of the leaf though does show some greenness.</div>
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Due to the rolled nature of this tea and large leaf size, it seems to do better with more leaf than I typically use for black tea-- a good leaf to water ratio would be similar to what I use for oolongs, roughly 5g per 80ml, though I would like to experiment more to see if any other parameters would have an effect on this tea. The first time I brewed it I did not use enough leaf so I used more leaf the second time which helped.</div>
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The Red Lily brews up a beautiful clear orange liquor and the leaves unroll fairly quickly and give off an aroma of dark raisins, black cherries, dark chocolate and a hint of strawberry. The first infusion had a darker version of that milky "jin xuan" taste which I did not enjoy, but the tea became much more enjoyable in the second and third infusions where it transformed into a nice peach cobbler with ice cream flavor, dark cherry, and cotton candy. Later it reminded me of apple cider spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc), dried orange peel, and figs with a similar aftertaste having a brown sugar sweetness. Occasionally though I would get a slight milky reminder that this is Jin Xuan which is not something I'm used to in black teas and that made it difficult for me to really enjoy this one as much as I did the oolongs. At $6.90 per 50g though, it may be worth a try for something unique as it is the only black tea available right now from Tea From Vietnam, but I would like to see them offer some others in the future-- perhaps a Vietnamese version of an Assam would be really interesting. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tea From Vietnam - Red Lily - Really nice looking leave, some greenness to them despite being a black tea.</td></tr>
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My final tea from Vietnam is the Gui Fei oolong. This type of oolong is low roast but moderately oxidized and is similar to Oriental Beauty in that leafhopper insects are allowed to nibble on the leaves prior to harvest which causes the leaves to produce additional flavor compounds that add an extra layer of complexity and sweetness to the tea.<br />
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The Gui Fei ended up being my favorite tea that I tried from Vietnam. The wet leaf is very fragrant of dark honey, nutmeg, raisin, a hint of chocolate, and the muscat grape that is common in Darjeelings and also leafhopper oolongs. The liquor is an orange dark honey color and the mouthfeel is very soft yet has enough pleasant astringency to keep it interesting. <br />
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The initial flavor reminds me of gingerbread and molasses with a rose floral note. The middle infusions are where it begins to taste like an autumn flush Darjeeling and muscat grape and it has a nice caramel sweetness. The later steeps bring out some citrus flavors like lemon and lime. The flavor alone is really enjoyable, but the aftertaste is what makes this tea my favorite. Over the gingerbread base is a very intense floral aftertaste like red roses. Overall this is a very pleasant tea to sip slowly and enjoy without haste. This tea sells for $11.90 per 50g which I think is an excellent deal. (They also offer their teas in larger quantities for less per gram too.)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tea From Vietnam - Gui Fei oolong - Also very high quality looking leaves - mostly "two leaf one bud" configuration</td></tr>
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In addition to these four teas, Tea From Vietnam also has a couple more oolongs and a few green teas. I did not order any green teas this time, but I have a fellow tea friend who did order some of the greens and found them quite enjoyable. I look forward to trying those in my next order! At the time of writing this, they provide free shipping on orders over $30, but orders under $30 ship for a flat rate of only $4.90, so these teas are very accessible to anyone in the world. </div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-8289545670238567402015-09-18T13:07:00.000-04:002015-11-03T23:20:13.152-05:00A Perfect Day with Whispering Sunshine (2015) from Crimson Lotus TeaI'm not too picky when it comes to describing nice weather. I want comfortable temperatures, no storms, and comfortable levels of humidity. I do get picky though when describing the weather on a <i>perfect</i> day, which includes temperatures in the low 70's or upper 60's, low humidity, a gentle breeze, and generally blue skies but with just enough clouds to keep it interesting and give some intermittent shade. These are stereotypical spring or fall days in my opinion. In Kentucky we truly do experience all four seasons, though I often wish spring and fall would last longer than they do; if we do happen to get a perfect day, then I want to make sure I fully enjoy it.<br />
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We recently had one of these perfect days, and the timing could not be any better because my <a href="http://crimsonlotustea.com/" target="_blank">Crimson Lotus Tea</a> order has just arrived with their 2015 teas. On this perfect day I knew exactly what tea I wanted to brew. Though based on nothing more than a non-scientific gut feeling (since I had not tried any of these new teas yet), I knew that the perfect tea for this perfect day would be <a href="http://crimsonlotustea.com/collections/spring-2015-collection/products/spring-2015-bai-ying-shan-whispering-sunshine-sheng-raw-puerh-from-crimson-lotus-tea" target="_blank">Whispering Sunshine</a>.<br />
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Crimson Lotus sourced the material for Whispering Sunshine in person earlier this year and pressed it in China before returning home to Seattle. They report that the leaves were harvested by hand in Bai Ying Shan (Lincang) and hand processed into mao cha by tea producers in the He Tao village. Crimson Lotus chose the name for this tea because of Bai Ying Shan's high elevation which exceeds 2000 meters; so high that the "tea trees were close enough to hear the gentle voice of the Sun."<br />
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On this perfect day I found a long extension cord (despite discouragement from the kettle manufacturer) so I could set up a nice gongfu session outside on the patio. The birch tree in the yard provided some cool shade yet the gentle breeze moved through the branches just enough to allow a few rays of warm sunshine to float down to the ground and dance across the tea table. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to admire this tea.<br />
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The compression of this sheng puerh cake appears pretty light from the outside, but upon further picking it seems to be more dense than first though. This may be a good balance of being loose enough to pick apart without doing too much damage yet tight enough to help lock in some of the fresh aroma, though after an initial rinse it still may be helpful to tease apart some of the tighter leaf clusters to help with more consistent brewing.<br />
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I have brewed this more than once by the time of editing this writing, and I found that using water around 200F/93C degrees results in almost no bitterness, though near boiling will give it a bite that some people prefer. I also found that if you want low bitterness yet strong body, adding an extra gram or two of leaf than usual in addition to using 200F water works out great.<br />
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Whispering Sunshine brews up a yellow liquor that is slightly cloudy due to leaf fuzz, and if the light catches it just right it can give off a pleasant warm golden glow. The mouthfeel is soft yet thick enough to coat the mouth with lots of flavor.<br />
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Although the initial taste has a hint of smoke from the wood-fire processing, the tea overall is extremely clean and fresh tasting. The amount of leaf used will make a difference, but Whispering Sunshine has a very light and delicate flavor. It has some vegetal characteristics, however not that of bitter leafy vegetables but that of green beans fresh from the garden and sweet peas. This is beginning to sound like the flavor profile of a green tea, and the first thing I thought of when drinking Whispering Sunshine was that it reminds me of fresh Huang Shan Mao Feng green tea, with a floral aftertaste and honey sweetness similar to a high mountain oolong and a hui gan you would expect from a high quality puerh. As the tea cools it reveals a subtle petroleum taste like that of a Riesling white wine, and at one point the freshness and cleanliness of this tea simply made me think of clean linens hanging on a line outside to dry in the afternoon sun. <br />
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There are some puerhs that are hard to judge (at least for me) when they are this young because they could be fairly bitter and strong and are hopefully going to improve after years of age, and then there are others which are extremely good right away and may be best consumed now rather than later. To me, Whispering Sunshine has a perfect "drink me now" flavor, and I imagine that I will probably end up drinking through the entire 200g cake before having a chance to see how it will do over time.<br />
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Is this the perfect tea for a perfect day? I believe the tea alone has the ideal flavor profile for a perfect spring or fall day, so yes, it must be, but all the additional information that Crimson Lotus has shared about this tea is really what solidifies the distinction. If you have been following Crimson Lotus through their various social media accounts, you know that they gave weekly if not daily updates about their travels throughout China earlier this year. I may never get a chance to visit Lincang, but I am very thankful that Crimson Lotus shared photos and stories while they stayed in places such as the the He Tao village. The more we can learn about the tea that we drink, the better we can understand the cha qi held within its leaves.<br />
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When I sit on my patio and drink Whispering Sunshine on a perfect day I feel the calm Kentucky breeze on my face, but when I close my eyes I imagine myself standing on the steep northern slopes of the Bai Ying mountain. The rustling leaves I hear may be my birch tree behind me or my maple trees that were planted about 20 years ago when my house was built, but maybe I'm hearing the leaves of ancient tea trees that have been growing in a remote forest long before I or anyone I know was alive. Is cha qi simply the energy we get from caffeine and theanine, or is it the energy represented as experiences that ancient trees have accumulated over centuries of growth while watching the world change around them? Perhaps a part of cha qi is simply an acknowledgement that energy has been transferred to us through the consumption of the tea; an energy that was transferred to the leaves themselves through chloroform, photosynthesis, and rays of whispering sunshine.<br />
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Link to Crimson Lotus Tea: <a href="http://crimsonlotustea.com/" target="_blank">http://crimsonlotustea.com</a><br />
Link to <a href="http://crimsonlotustea.com/collections/spring-2015-collection/products/spring-2015-bai-ying-shan-whispering-sunshine-sheng-raw-puerh-from-crimson-lotus-tea" target="_blank">Whispering Sunshine.</a>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-15718846154710640222015-09-06T03:26:00.000-04:002015-09-06T03:31:22.737-04:00What-Cha - Fujian Anxi 2008 Heavy Roasted Tie Guan Yin in Bitter Melon(note: This is a re-hosting of my review of this tea which I wrote in July 2015 on Reddit /r/tea)<br />
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I’ll be honest here. I bought this tea simply for the weirdness factor. OK, that may not be entirely true because I do really like roasted oolongs, but this is the first time I have seen anything like this, and when I first saw it on What-Cha, I immediately said, “I want that thing.” I even bought 100g of it because Alistair of What-Cha says, “We will endeavour to send out a whole bitter melon on orders of 100g or more.*” For some reason I felt that if I only ordered 50g I would only be getting half of the strangeness of this tea, and I didn’t want to feel cheated, and forget ordering just a 10g sample-- I imagine that would just be small handful of oolong balls and a few slivers of melon rind-- that’s hardly weird at all. I wanted to experience the full WTF (weird tea factor).</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(*This was recently changed to, "All orders of 125g will be guaranteed to receive a whole bitter melon." as the 100g option has now been replaced with a 125g option. I speculate that this is due to the many complex factors regarding the bitter melon market that I do not comprehend.)</span></div>
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So here it is. 100g (including the 5g in my gaiwan) of heavy roasted Tie Guan Yin stuffed into a Bitter Melon.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can't stop staring into the intricate patterns and colors of the melon rind. It's like an extraterrestrial landscape.</td></tr>
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Although I did buy this because of how it looks, I was hopeful that my love for roasted oolongs would actually make this a useful purchase. It’s true, at first I was scared to even brew this tea; I have no idea what a bitter melon is, how it tastes, or if tea or anything else is routinely stored inside of one for practical reasons, but the tea itself looks like normal high roast TGY, though a bit squashed together, and it has a nice fruity smell like Fig Newton cookies, so that’s definitely a good sign!</div>
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Alistair said that it is recommended to break off some of the melon and brew it with the tea. For a moment I tried to pretend that I didn’t see that, but then I reminded myself that I want to experience this unique tea to the fullest so I made sure to toss a few melon chunks into my gaiwan. It’s much thinner and fragile than I imagined it would be; thin as an egg shell, but not quite that brittle, more like the bark of a sycamore tree.</div>
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The liquor looks like normal high roast TGY… nice light brown/orange color, and surprisingly very clear. A nice fruity smell with no unusual aromas... Maybe this isn’t scary after all...</div>
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I took a deep breath and then a sip. IT’S GOOD!</div>
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It has the flavors that I really like in a roasted TGY: cherry, charcoal, and hint a chocolate. This one is actually even better than the last roasted TGY I drank a week or two ago-- I’m also getting some raisin and tangerine flavors, and a very dominant flavor of figs. (The website mentioned plums… I haven't had any plums in a while-- Do figs and plums taste similar?)</div>
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Like a good oolong, this can be resteeped many times, and the fig flavor stays dominant throughout, with a nice fruity sweet fig aftertaste.</div>
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So my gamble of buying 100g of this tea definitely seems worth it-- not only did I get the entire full weird looking melon, but I also got 100g of tasty roasted oolong. And the price is actually very good. Although it’s weird, unique, and good tasting, it’s also very affordable-- the 100g package was less than $15. I noticed that recently the 100g option has been replaced with a 125g option for just over $16, but you can also order this tea in 50g or 10g packages. </div>
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This item to me is representative of why I really like shopping at What-cha. They seem to offer a wide variety of less common teas from a wide variety of sources, and the prices are very good. Even if I’m shopping for something somewhat normal, I try to look around their selection for at least one unique item to throw in my cart just because it’s not an opportunity you have everywhere. Don't be afraid to try something weird!</div>
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<a href="http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/china-fujian-anxi-2008-heavy-roasted-tie-guan-yin-oolong-tea-in-bitter-melon/" target="_blank">http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/china-fujian-anxi-2008-heavy-roasted-tie-guan-yin-oolong-tea-in-bitter-melon/</a></div>
Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-58516085292219188552015-08-29T02:52:00.001-04:002015-08-29T03:40:09.229-04:00White2Tea Tea Club - August 2015 (Da Hong Pao oolong)I am one of the newest members of the <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/" target="_blank">White2Tea monthly tea club</a>. My first month was July which I'll likely post about later, but today I had two of the three teas featured in the August package which highlighted some Wuyi oolongs.<br />
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Although White2Tea's primary focus is in puerh, they do have some select Chinese black teas and oolongs. The tea club package for August hints that they are in the process of adding new oolongs to the selection, one of which will be an aged Da Hong Pao. <br />
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To give some perspective on what some age can do to a Dahongpao, the package included a sample of freshly roasted Dahongpao for comparison to the aged DHP. So it made sense for me to drink them on the same day.<br />
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These teas are reportedly made by the same farmer on the same land, but the aged one is about 8 years old. At first glance there are not too many visual differences, though the aged one may be slightly more brown. The aroma though does reveal more roast scent in the fresh version where as the aged one has a bit of leather smell instead. Both teas have a dominant chocolate smell in the dry leaf.<br />
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Both teas brew a nice clear reddish brown liquor with similar looking wet leaves, but the similarities stop there. The brewed fresh DHP smells of fresh cherries and strawberries and is very candy-like. The gaiwan lid actually smells <i>exactly</i> like cotton candy. The brewed aged DHP has a darker aroma of black cherries and raisin with a hint of fig.<br />
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The mouthfeel of the fresh DHP is very thick but otherwise not very active, while the aged DHP has a very soft body and a mouthfeel that is active with pleasant astringency and tartness on the back and sides of the tongue.<br />
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The enclosed description newsletter with this month's teas mentioned that the fresh DPH will have "thrashing youth" and "harsh and sharp" roast flavor compared to the aged one which should be "mellow" because the "fire flavors have subsided." After tasting these teas I can easily agree that the aged DHP is much more mellow than the fresh.<br />
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The fresh version is initially very sweet and fruity, though almost unnaturally so-- like strawberry candy as opposed to real strawberries. The roast flavor does seem harsh and almost gives the tea a plastic taste, but the fruit flavors keep it enjoyable. The aged one still has a dominant presence of fruit in the initial brew, but the fruits seem more natural and darker, like black plums, black cherry, and autumn apples. The aged DHP is definitely very mellow compared to the Fresh and has a hint of that "dry leather" taste that I find in some aged teas. With the roast flavor being less prominent, the aged tea takes on an obvious mineral/earthy clay flavor under the fruit notes.<br />
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The aftertaste of both teas is pleasant and follows the main taste. The fresh DHP has a lingering strawberry jam aftertaste and the aged one has a nice apple cider aftertaste with an apple peel flavor in the back of the throat-- I'm not sure what it is about apple peel aftertastes, but all my favorite roasted oolongs have this. Both teas have a floral component to the aftertaste which begins to show up after a few infusions.<br />
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As the teas evolve over further infusions the aged one seems to remind me more and more of a slightly aged sheng puerh as some orange peel and coriander flavors start to come through. Much to my surprise the fresh one began to transform with very strong and dominating presence of guava! It still remained candy-like though, and had nearly an identical taste as a guava candy that I am very familiar with. My favorite Chinese restaurant has a large bowl of them on the checkout counter, and I used to sneak extras into my takeout bag until very recently when I found out that I can buy them in bulk at my local Asian supermarket. These would be a great way to extend the aftertaste of this tea if you wish.<br />
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Overall it is almost difficult for me to say which of these teas I liked better. As of right now the Fresh Dahongpao is not a tea that White2Tea is planning to have for sale (at least in its young state) and was simply included as a comparison tea for the aged version. The club newsletter actually mentioned that it would "likely not be a crowd favorite, though some may love it." I do agree that the "freshness" of this recently roasted tea does come across as "harsh" and "sharp" and the flavors seem almost unnatural, but the flavors are definitely interesting and the tea seems a bit unlike other teas I have had which makes it something I would enjoy drinking from time to time. I drank it today on a mild summer day which was nice, where as the aged DHP would be cozy on a cool autumn day. The apple peel taste of the aged tea is a key flavor I love in roasted oolongs and easily makes this one I would consider buying more of. As of right now I do not know the price since the website has not been updated yet and that would be an important deciding factor. I also think that the aged one would do better with even more leaf. I had my gaiwan about 1/3 full but would definitely like to try this tea again with at least 1/2 full.<br />
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The third Wuyi tea included in this month's package is called "Clover Patch Oolong," which is reportedly very different from the DHP despite coming from the same farmer. I will brew that one soon!<br />
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Keep an eye on the <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/product-category/oolong-tea/" target="_blank">White2Tea oolong page </a>where we'll hopefully see some new teas added soon. I still need to try more of the ones that are already there as I've only had the OBSX so far, and it's REALLY good.Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-47421247149815719052015-08-23T23:00:00.001-04:002015-08-24T21:21:09.315-04:00Beautiful Taiwan Tea Co. - Formossa Assam (Farmer Lee's Black Tea from Sun-Moon Lake)Many tea lovers can relate to or have at least heard about someone's eye opening experience of trying good quality loose leaf tea for the first time. It's very exciting to have a new tea that is so dramatically different or better than what you've had before that it changes what you thought you knew about tea.<br />
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I probably haven't given Assam black tea a fair chance and gave up on them too quickly years ago after having a few underwhelming experiences with some. I remember them being very <b>bold</b> and trading complexity in favor of in-your-face strength. (Though some of that may have been my brewing methods which were not as controlled then as I try to be now.) In general though I associate Assam black tea with Breakfast blends, and I typically tend to gravitate toward more fruity and lighter tasting teas. I have avoided Assam for a while now.<br />
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If you missed it, a few months ago Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company (based out of Indiana, USA) had a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a sourcing trip to Taiwan and other parts of Asia. They have already been sourcing tea from Taiwan for a few years and they try to negotiate with the farmers directly as much as possible when buying tea. The Kickstarter project funds would allow them to expand their travels and selection, and they offered various quantities and types of tea to anyone who backed the project. I had already tried some of their high mountain oolongs a couple months before and am very happy with the quality. Based on the amount of tea they were promising and their past experience with sourcing good tea, it was an easy decision to back their project.<br />
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Beautiful Taiwan Tea had a successful Kickstarter project and after their travels I had two boxes with almost 10 total ounces of fresh oolong, green, puerh, white, and black teas.<br />
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Among Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company's offerings is <i>Farmer Lee's Black Tea from Sun Moon Lake</i>. On the website they list this tea as "Formosa Assam." Although Assam tea is traditionally from Assam, India, the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan is well known for their versions of Assam too and have been growing it there since importing the plant from India in the mid 1920's. Even today the Tea Research and Extension Station near Sun Moon Lake still actively studies new hybrid varieties of Assam tea.<sup>1</sup><br />
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How does Farmer Lee's Formosa Assam compare to my memory of bold and overpowering Assam from years ago?<br />
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Upon opening the bag I am first amazed by the aroma coming from the dry leaves. Is this really black tea?! At first I thought I may have opened a bag of oolong or maybe Darjeeling. I mention Darjeeling because in addition to blackberry and blueberry this tea also has a nice muscat grape and raisin aroma that you can find in Darjeelings. One of my favorite Darjeelings also has a similar blueberry aroma.<br />
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It's clear from the dry leaves that this tea was carefully produced and handled to avoid breaking the leaves too much. They are twisted/horizontally rolled to maintain the length of the leaf. The unpleasant Assam I had years ago looked like small broken pieces and had a generic "black tea" aroma without any memorable characteristics. <br />
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I have brewed this tea both western style and gongfu style, and this is a black tea that definitely does well gongfu style. Using 3g in an 80ml gaiwan with near boiling water for 30s to start works well, but even with varying those parameters a little I have never managed to get any bitterness or unpleasant astringency from this tea. <br />
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The deep reddish orange liquor has a thick mouthfeel and sweet aroma, and the wet leaves maintain the fruity aroma which seemed to deepen into black cherry and chocolate. Before even taking a sip I knew that this tea was in a completely different class than the Assams of my past.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1SeOhOFsdnLlbot8zt3xhmMzALWZHQaaHYbflAAE-VpCCd6Iyjugib-0AFSgYTMTkOURwT7yZS1R9hkBoZoV4zaR1B7OXkqUUIP22aRL229SXfMT6ibQ3Q35_wZEVg3AHvn_V7nf_j0/s1600/2015_08_23_8516_b_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1SeOhOFsdnLlbot8zt3xhmMzALWZHQaaHYbflAAE-VpCCd6Iyjugib-0AFSgYTMTkOURwT7yZS1R9hkBoZoV4zaR1B7OXkqUUIP22aRL229SXfMT6ibQ3Q35_wZEVg3AHvn_V7nf_j0/s640/2015_08_23_8516_b_small.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tasting this Assam for the first time was my exciting Assam eye-opening moment. This Assam is NOT bold and in-your-face strong, yet it does provide a full flavor and full body. This Assam does not have a flat generic flavor that lacks complexity but has a variety of interesting flavors that work very well together. The flavor maintains some of the blueberry from the leaf aroma, and the grape notes come through as a sweet red wine flavor. The taste has some of the malty creaminess that you might want from a black tea, yet is extremely well balanced with the fruit flavors and sweetness. I never add cream or sugar to my tea, but this Assam has a natural creaminess and dark honey/molasses sweetness already, and I urge anyone to who usually does additions to give this one a try without any extras first.<br />
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Unlike the Breakfast blends that I usually think of when I think of Assam, I think this Formasa Assam would be perfect as a dessert tea. The berry flavors, creaminess, and sweetness combined is really not much different from eating a nice slice of cheesecake with blueberry topping. And interestingly, every time I finish a session with this Formosa Assam the sweet fruity aftertaste lingers for at least 10-15 minutes, and I feel a satisfactory fullness and warmth in my belly that I might get from eating the actual cheesecake, minus the calories!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_LWQqFQ2pRZSu0qw6hBaM7wg-4AhARBFPMGQiSz1BRXAkcpyhEDo9wVnhSq_AGXX7x5K9gjPQYI8MPNcJmstw0KL2odO4WPZukMayWIvMa6W-OdQgSMVkYHWxZfy_od-vrfH8CTv3Ew/s1600/2015_05_23_6718_b_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_LWQqFQ2pRZSu0qw6hBaM7wg-4AhARBFPMGQiSz1BRXAkcpyhEDo9wVnhSq_AGXX7x5K9gjPQYI8MPNcJmstw0KL2odO4WPZukMayWIvMa6W-OdQgSMVkYHWxZfy_od-vrfH8CTv3Ew/s400/2015_05_23_6718_b_small.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have measured leaves from this tea as long as 9+cm!</td></tr>
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Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company's Formosa Assam from Farmer Lee in Sun-Moon Lake has definitely changed the way I think of Assam black tea. In fairness to Assam teas in general, I believe my experiences in the past may have been a combination of low quality tea and poor brewing parameters, but Farmer Lee has definitely set the bar high now and I'm definitely going to give more Assam teas a try to see if any can come close to how much I have enjoyed this one.<br />
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<a href="http://beautifultaiwantea.com/collections/dark-teas-black-tea-taiwan/products/formosa-assam" target="_blank">Link to Beautiful Taiwan Tea Formosa Assam.</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup>1</sup>(Sun Moon Lake reference: <a href="http://www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/English/TouristGuideEng/ShoppingEng/Local.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.sunmoonlake.gov.tw/English/TouristGuideEng/ShoppingEng/Local.htm</a>)</span>Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-47418319134407592122015-08-18T21:01:00.000-04:002015-08-18T21:01:18.998-04:002005 Manzhuan Raw Puerh - Xiangming Factory<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2005 Manzhuan Raw Puerh - Xiangming Factory</td></tr>
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(note: This is a re-hosting of my review of this tea which I wrote in March 2015 on Reddit /r/tea)<br />
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I picked up this aged raw pu-erh from <a href="http://www.white2tea.com/" target="_blank">White 2 Tea </a>(unfortunately it is out of stock now). This was pretty much a blind buy, but I had heard good things about this one from <a href="http://teadb.org/" target="_blank">TeaDB.org</a> and decided to get it. I’m not able to read the information on the wrapper, but White2Tea says:<br />
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Manzhuan mountain is near Xiangming, located west of Yiwu. The label reads “Manzhuan Early Spring” and was pressed at Xiangming Longxing factory, near Xikong, in April of 2005.</blockquote>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">2005 Manzhuan Raw Puer - Xiangming Factory</span></td></tr>
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The 357g cake appears to have good quality leaves that are not tightly compressed which makes it fairly easy to break up without doing too much damage. I was originally not going to say anything about the aroma of the dry leaves, but one interesting note that came to mind from them is a hint of watermelon. Not a strong artificial watermelon, but the nice subtle watermelon aroma that I get when I’m eating actual watermelon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Setup: I ended up using about 7g per roughly 120ml and that worked great.</span></span></td></tr>
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My first infusion was about 10 seconds with water right off a boil and subsequent infusions were around 15-45 seconds then longer as it tapered off. It seems like it would be very difficult to over steep this tea. I felt that I could be very relaxed in the time between pouring the water in the pot and pouring the tea into the cup and always get a proper tasting brew.<br />
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The liquor is a nice light to medium orange color and very clear. The wet leaves and tea have a really nice sweet aroma of butterscotch and apricot with distant floral notes and only very slight clay-like earthy notes, which may have been enhanced by the clay pot itself.<br />
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The mouthfeel of this tea is very viscous. At first I did not detect any astringency at all, but then began to notice a hint of it-- it’s the type of astringency that is actually welcomed and seems to awaken the taste buds a bit without being dominant.<br />
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The taste of the first one or two infusions is reminiscent of freshly fallen autumn leaves, and I imagine that drinking this at that time of year would greatly enhance the flavor. A slight hint of smoke is present, but I hesitated to mention it because this is not a smoky tea at all. The third and fourth steeps started to show the most floral aspects of this tea. The floral notes that were distant in the aroma come through strong in the taste here-- not as the tea hits the tongue though, but it seems to mature as a nice dominant aftertaste that lingers in the mouth for several minutes between sips. This tea is also very sweet and reminds me of honey and apricot. I lost count of how many infusions I did, but the same leaves provided me with tea all day long today, and the very late infusions had a hint of citrus fruits and orange zest. <br />
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One thing that impressed me is how mellow this tea is right from the start. I find that some puerh are very bold and intense early on even with extremely quick infusions, and it’s not until the 4th or 5th steeping that they start to deliver a more balanced flavor profile. This tea though seems to deliver a nice balanced flavor right away, and it stays that way throughout the subsequent steepings. You may interpret this to mean that the tea doesn’t provide a huge range of complexity, but I personally think this is a nice property to have when considering a tea that I would want to drink often, even on a daily basis.<br />
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Overall this tea is extremely smooth and mellow and does not have anything that comes off as harsh, extreme, or unusual; perhaps it is the 10 years of age that has allowed this tea to be so mellow. (When I drink aged teas I wish could go back in time and taste them when they were young to compare!)<br />
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I also want to point out what this tea is NOT. Compared to some other puerh, this tea is not real earthy, it does not not conjure images of tobacco and barns, it is not real medicinal or have a strong camphor taste (only very slight), and it does not have an "antique" flavor or tree bark flavor-- I do enjoy all those flavors in puerh, but sometimes it is nice to have one on the opposite end of the spectrum with its strong floral and fruity notes. That sweeter flavor profile combined with the ease at which it is to brew this tea would make this a perfect introductory puerh or a puerh for someone to try who has tried other puerh before and didn’t like it.<br />
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(Although this tea is currently sold out, I have since found some teas that are similar to this and I will post about that at a future date.)Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965132127755076448.post-31840251591393540052015-08-16T21:33:00.000-04:002015-08-16T21:42:44.106-04:00Introduction and Tea Memories<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">2003 Xiaguan "Xiao Fa Tuo" shou puerh</span></td></tr>
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I am starting this tea blog mostly as a way to organize and share my notes, photos, and thoughts about various teas I enjoy (or even the ones I do not enjoy). I have been drinking tea on and off for as long as I can remember, but it was not until late 2014/early 2015 that I began to drink it on a more serious level and challenge myself to try many different kinds of teas and really get to know the flavor profiles of each one and perfect my brewing methods with each one. I hope to post a mix of short tea reviews/tasting notes among some lengthier writings, and also whatever else tea-related I find myself interested in over time. <br />
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The tea that really motivated me to take the plunge into the world of tea is nothing more than a 2003 Xiaguan "Xiao Fa Tuo" shou puerh. Someone with a lot of experience in puerh might consider this a "daily drinker" -- a good tea, but nothing to get too excited about. To someone new to Chinese teas though, a name like that can be a bit intimidating. Not to mention the appearance of the tea itself. A nest-shape of tightly compressed brown worm-like leaves that smell like something which should be left outside, not brought into the kitchen where we prepare and eat food.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">2003 Xiaguan "Xiao Fa Tuo" shou puerh - 100g tuo</span></td></tr>
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But to me this round green box contains more than just tea-- it has the ability to conjure memories of the past and generate new ones. <br />
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Having grown up in central Kentucky, the aroma of this shou puerh brings memories of home. It has a distinct earthy aroma that I describe as a "horse farm," which might sound bad, but it's actually a good thing to those who live in the <i>horse capital of the world</i>. Truth is, I find riding horses quite terrifying though I have done it a few times, but my family has a tradition of going to the track a couple times a year to watch horses race. Sometimes though I find that we spend less time at the side of the track and more time in the paddock enjoying the horses in a calmer setting.<br />
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Another similar aroma I find in this Xiaguan shou is that of a tobacco drying barn. As a kid in Boy Scouts years ago we would often go camping on various farms, and one in particular that I remember had a black tobacco drying barn at the edge of the main field. During rainy weather we would hold our meetings inside the barn surrounded by the big leathery brown leaves hanging from the rafters. Tobacco farming in Kentucky has been declining for years and I rarely see the crop growing anywhere now days, but the Xiaguan shou aroma makes it feel like I am back in that barn right now learning to tie knots, read topographical maps, and carve wooden sculptures with a pocket knife.<br />
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When I first brewed the Xiao Fa Tuo, I wasn't too surprised to find that it has a taste consistent with the aroma-- it had the horse farm and tobacco barn flavors in addition to some smoke and clay flavors. The mouthfeel is quite interesting-- it's thick, yet it feels very soft/smooth too; almost as if the volume of tea weighs less than the same volume of water would if physics did not have laws.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">2003 Xiaguan "Xiao Fa Tuo" shou puerh</span></td></tr>
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Tasting such an earthy tea for the first time was a strange experience though. I definitely liked the tea, but I wasn't sure if I loved it. It was certainly different from all other teas I have had in the past. I had heard though that puerh can change a lot over subsequent steepings so I kept steeping it to see what would happen. Around the 5th or 6th steep I noticed that the flavor mellowed out quite a bit to reveal flavor characteristics of leather and wood. This tea went from good to amazing!<br />
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The later steeps brought back more memories. The wood flavor notes reminded me of an incense that my old college roommate and I used to burn. He acquired this incense in a large jar from his older brother and it had no packaging, labels, or wrapper. We actually had no idea what scent it was supposed to be. We just knew it as the velvety reddish-purple sticks among the assorted rainbow in the jar. But the woody note in this tea is the same. Perhaps it is cedar? Not freshly cut cedar though, but that of an old cedar tree that has long since fallen to the ground where the forest has had some time to try to reclaim its nutrients; a microbial process happening over time like the microbial process that created this tea.<br />
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In addition to this tea bringing back memories from long ago, this tea also has new memories attached to it that are now locked within the green box. When I see this tea I think of the night I bought this tea in December 2011. I had gone in to the tea shop while my wife and I were waiting for our turn to ride a horse-drawn carriage around a block of our town. It was the third time we had ridden in one; the second was at our wedding, and the first was on the night of our first date. Also that night we visited my good friend's parents who had both been battling cancer. That was the last night I saw either of them before they passed away months later. The days following the purchase of this tea I also came down with strep-throat and felt horrible-- That week of strep throat with high fever and swings of chills still sits within the top two or three moments of the worst I have felt in recent memory.<br />
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Every time I saw the green box for a while I kept thinking about how awful it felt having strep throat, which caused me to delay drinking this tea for over 3 years after buying it. It was like Beethoven's 9th in <i>A Clockwork Orange</i>. So I pushed the puerh to the back of the cabinet to let the memories fade a bit, like a strong shou puerh wo dui aroma. <br />
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I'm glad I decided to pull this tea back out and finally give it a try. It has helped opened up the world of tea for me and has since lead me to discover and try many more teas. As I explore them one by one and continue to learn more about tea, I enjoy creating new tea memories as well as revisiting the old ones.Microshrimphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18365426447754200076noreply@blogger.com0