#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.

Taiwan Sourcing and Taiwan Tea Crafts sample haul.

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.

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.

Today I am drinking side-by-side the Spring 2016 "Rhythm 21" from Taiwan Sourcing (TS) (a.k.a. taiwanoolongs.com) and from Taiwan Tea Crafts (TTC) the "Sun Moon Lake Premium Hong Yun T-21," specifically Lot 435 which is a summer (June) 2015 harvest.

Taiwan Tea Crafts #21 (left) and Taiwan Sourcing #21 (right)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Taiwan Tea Crafts #21 (left) and Taiwan Sourcing #21 (right)

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.

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.

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.


Link to Taiwan Sourcing:  http://taiwanoolongs.com/
Link to Taiwan Tea Crafts: https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com

Yangqing Hao - 2006 Chawangshu and 2004 Tejipin sheng puerh

There 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.

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.

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 comparison notes and a report* 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 coordinates group buys 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.

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.

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.

Chawangshu in southern Yunnan province of China, eastern Xishuangbann, Yiwu area.

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.

Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu

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.

Yangqing Hao 2006 Chawangshu

---

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.

Yangqing Hao 2004 Tejipin

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yangqing Hao 2004 Tejipin

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.

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.


*Part 2 of TeaDB's Yangqing Hao tasting report: https://teadb.org/the-cult-of-yang/

Link to Emmett's group guy page which lists several of Yangqing Hao's teas: http://www.yangqinghao.com/

Xinyang Maojian Green Tea from Chayotea.com

Today I have a green tea that Robert James Coons of Chayo Tea/Daoist Meditation 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 "Teas of Summer" sale (which is still available at the time of writing this).

Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea

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.

Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea

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.

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.  

Chayo Tea - Spring 2016 Xinyang Maojian green tea

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.

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. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaifeng#Chrysanthemums)

Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.

These flowers are quite nice looking and preserved whole and carefully packaged in individual plastic trays to protect them during transport. 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.

Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.

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 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.

Da Song Chrysanthemum from Kaifeng, Henan, China.

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.

Link to Chayo Tea/Daoist Meditation: http://daoistmeditation.com/shop/
Link to "Teas of Summer" - http://daoistmeditation.com/product/teas-of-summer-sale-mao-jian-and-great-song-dynasty-chrystanthemum/

Spring Long Jing (Dragon Well) Green Tea

Today I am drinking Long Jing (Dragonwell) green tea from two different vendors. I have Teavivre’s “Organic Superfine” Long Jing and Life in Teacup’s “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.

Here are these two teas at a glance:

	Teavivre	Life in Teacup
Name	Organic Superfine	Da Fo
Location	Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou prefecture, Lin'an County (Tianmu Mountain)	Zhejiang Province, Shaoxing prefecture, Xinchang County
Leaf Cultivar	Jiu Keng	Long Jing #43
Harvest Date	April 10, 2016	March 17, 2016
Price per 50g	$13.90	$22

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.

Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing (left) and Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing (right)

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: Tea Trekker: What Is Tea Leaf Fuzz?

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.

Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing (top) and Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing (bottom)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing

Life in Teacup 2016 Da Fo Long Jing

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.

Teavivre 2016 Organic Superfine Long Jing

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.


Link to Teavivre Organic Superfine Long Jing: http://www.teavivre.com/organic-long-jing-green-tea/
Link to Life in Teacup: http://www.lifeinteacup.com/

Boston Teawrights - Tea Processing in the Comfort of Your Own Home!

Boston Teawrights is a company that distributes freshly harvested raw Camellia sinensis 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.” 

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.

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.

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.

Pretty neat to have leaves that were still on the bushes halfway around the world just a week prior.

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.

I first let the leaves wilt.  This is a common step for processing black tea, oolong, or white tea. (see the chart on this Wiki page 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.

Before and After wilting and some oxidization.  This took place over night.  The aroma became very pleasant during this time.

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.

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.

 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.

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.

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. 

White tea?  Black tea?  Oolong?  Hard to tell.

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.

Small side-batch that didn't get burnt.  Ended up similar to a white tea.

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!

Link to Boston Teawrights: http://bostonteawrights.com/

** One fun channel on YouTube to see tea processing is that of Tea Drunk from NYC.  Also, you can find some nice videos of yancha processing made by Essence of Tea. 

Yunnan 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 2014 Wu Dong Shan dan cong, which is sold by Yunnan Sourcing.

Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong

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.

Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong and Noir Dragon cup

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 Noir Dragon cup I bought last month after falling in love with this new textured glaze technique they have been using.

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 two 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.

Yunnan Sourcing 2014 Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong Oolong in Noir Dragon cup.

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.

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.

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.


Link to Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong on Yunnan Sourcing: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/dan-cong-oolongs/2930-2014-spring-wu-dong-shan-dan-cong-premium-oolong-tea-.html

White2Tea 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 tea club 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.

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.

Good setup for a blind comparison.  

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.

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.

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.

No sense in keeping you in suspense.  Dahongpao on the left, Rougui on the right.

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.

Upon tasting, it is clear that these two teas are quite different.  During my last W2T yancha comparison, 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.

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.

Rougui has nice deep orange clear liquor.

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.

Dahongpao liquor is similar to the Rougui.  The leaves seem slightly bigger though.

In comparison I cannot really say that one of these teas is better 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.

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.

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.)

Link to the Ruogui: http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/rougui-oolong-tea/
Link to the Dahongpao: http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/dahongpao/
Link to the White2Tea monthly tea club: http://www.white2tea.com/white2tea-monthly-tea-club-subscription-club/

Thank 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!

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.

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.  

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."

A friend in IRC was cleaning out his tea storage and decided this hoard was too good to throw away.

Fellow tea blogger The Oolong Drunk 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.

Gotta love some oriental booty!

Thank you!!!

Taiwan Sourcing - Da Yu Ling Spring 2015

Wise 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.)

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

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.

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?

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.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

(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.  http://taiwanoolongs.com/blogs/ ...)

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 Da Yu Ling Jade.  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.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

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.

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 best 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.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

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.

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.

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.

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 part III 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.

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.

Taiwan Sourcing - 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling High Mountain Jade Oolong

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.


Link to Taiwan Sourcing's 2015 Spring Da Yu Ling.