Official Oolong thread!
Doing a little Rou Gui comparison tonight. I went from having none in the house to having two different ones this week. Will see how they do.
Verdant vs my tea guy.
https://instagram.com/p/8EwmTIOE59/?taken-by=dex3657
I haven’t had too many Rou Gui… I did like the one I’ve tried from Mandala, although I never really got those cinnamon notes that are supposed to be found in Rou Gui. It’ll be interesting to read your conclusions, please let us know if you get lots of cinnamon :-)
I liked Mandala’s too – I did find cinnamon in it.
I’m reserving judgement for now about these two, but so far they are totally different and no cinnamon :(
ETA: I just went back and read my Mandala tasting note – seems I Western steeped for 4 minutes. I’m doing this more modified gongfu. Might have to lengthen a steep and see what happends.
OK I’ve been playing with both of these last night and this morning. Gong fu and western steeped.
The Verdant Rou Gui says medium roast on the package. IMHO it’s too heavily roasted for any of the potential cinnamon/spicy notes to come out. While I really like this tea, in my top 5 dark oolongs – I think it’s more DHP than Rou Gui.
The one from my tea guy is lighter and less roasted. There might be a little spicy in the back of this one – especially in the first western steep – about 3.5 minutes. This is a good tea but again – no cinnamon means that I don’t think it’s really a true Rou Gui.
I enjoyed drinking both of them but sad not to have found any cinnamon. :((
I’ve enjoyed all the Rou Gui oolongs I’ve had, but have never found cinnamon in any of them. Oddly enough I find cinnamon in low-oxidized oolongs quite often. If anyone knows of a truly cinnamon-y Rou Gui I’d love to know!
I went back to a Rou Gui review I did not so long ago (not here; I don’t drink much from vendors that would be common here) and it didn’t taste like cinnamon, more cocoa and the rest, wood, etc., and of course I can’t remember others without some notes. The research I did indicates the literal translation of the tea name Rou Gui is a reference to cinnamon, although who knows about what you read on the internet.
I tried the first Ban Tian Yao I’ve had recently, another Wuyi Yancha type, but not a common one. I didn’t add a review here because I bought it from a shop in the Bangkok Chinatown, which doesn’t seem to be the point, reviewing outside the typical vendor stream here, although I guess it’s not prohibited. Some primary tastes were between earthy and mineral, towards tar or ink (strange, right). But the rest of the profile was normal for the category, wood and caramel, which someone could naturally interpret differently, say as mild leather or lightly caramelized toffee.
So what does the Oolong Collective know about Ta Oolongs? Which are the best that you have tried/heard of? This post was inspired by Amanda ‘SoggyEnderman’ Wilson‘s post here: http://steepster.com/SoggyEnderman/posts/316753
Mostly, I’m on a search for the most floral unflavore/unscented oolong. Before Amanda’s post, I had never heard of this one, but the ‘small storm of florals’ description really got my attention!
id just like to say, I have now tried a lot of Oolongs, and out of the dan congs, eight immortals is the one i really really like. if anyone is on the same tip as me and knows others i should try – please let me know as the balance is pretty much perfect
I’ve not tried all the Dan Cong’s out there yet, but of the half-dozen I’ve been through the 2013 Spring “Wu Dong Shan Dan Cong” Premium from Yunnan sourcing is my favorite. Intensely floral in the early steeps, giving way to tart stonefruits and toasted nuts in the latter with an underlying sweetness. And at a price that won’t break the bank.
So I tried my first pressed oolong the other day and loved it. It was a zhangping shui xian mini cake that I got as a free sample with an Aliexpress order. Though I was initially skeptical, the flavor blew me away. Sweet, thick, and very floral. I wanted to keep drinking more but had to take a break after a few steeps because I started feeling jittery and slightly nauseous, which I take as a sign that this tea packs a big caffeine punch.
I’ve only tried a few oolongs so far, and my favorite is one is served at a local asian buffet. It’s a dark oolong that tastes like honey and plums. It’s really good, but I have no idea what kind it would be.
Got my hands on some autumn TGY a few days ago thanks to Whispering Pines and am struck by how different it is from spring TGY and green oolongs in general. It’s intensely milky, like a flavored jin xuan, and the milkiness coats your mouth and lingers for a long time. I couldn’t drink more than a few sips because I started feeling sick, which I’ve heard is not uncommon with some teas.
It doesn’t really have much dimension to it beyond the strong cream/milk notes. I’m not detecting any mineral, floral, or grassy flavors at all. Does that sound like a normal flavor profile for an autumn TGY?
BTW, I still have about 15 grams of this tea plus another unopened 30 gram pouch. If anyone is interested in a swap or sale, let me know.
That’s how Mandala’s Jin Xuan is to me, too. Not much complexity, just overbearing cream that makes me feel a bit queasy. I’m not a fan of that style either, though I’m in the minority. So far it’s the only tea I’ve found like that.
You and I had COMPLETELY different experiences with these teas. To me, the TGY is a flower bomb – Like all lovely, VERY floral and green, not creamy at all and the Golden Lily was very, very creamy. The Golden Lily is a milk oolong and I found it very milky.
I think you would benefit from trying Verdant’s Autumn TGY since it’s from the same plants as the spring. I have never had an intensely milky autumn. They usually come across as buttery, as if you had crumbled some shortbread into your tea. Mandala’s milk oolong is like buttered popcorn soaked in sweetened condensed milk to me, so I’m assuming you wouldn’t care for it. Milk oolong and TGY are different things in my mind, even autumns TGYs.
I’d have to check my available samples, but I may have enough to get you a small sampler together, and maybe we could swap for the WP TGY. Also, you may try underleafing and short steeping this one.
I have 2014 winter Pear Mountain and Shanlinxi Premium from Beautiful Taiwan Tea I would be willing to swap with
@cookies – it’s funny you mentioned Mandala because I tried a sample of their TGY recently and found it overly creamy as well. could be from the same crop as their jin xuan.
@mzpriss – i was really hoping for a flower bomb too! i tried their golden lilly side by side and it wasn’t nearly as milky as this one
@equusfell – that was my expectation for autumn TGY too based on the tasting notes. i figure either this year’s harvest was different or the tea came from another farm. would be happy to swap some samples of this and any other teas you may be interested in. i got some WP golden lilly and other oolongs recently from Verdant and Naivetea. just let me know.
@liquid proust – you got my attention with those teas :-) follow me back and i’ll PM you with the other teas i have in my cupboard
I have grown to really love rock grown oolong. Seems to be my perfect cup of tea.
Super excited to have ordered from multiple companies i’ve never sampled from so I will get to do a lot of comparing and contrasting with the tea that I am selling.
Who do you all think is the most popular Yancha vendor?
Sweet baby jesus! I’m having some Fu Shou Shan from The Jade Leaf. The tea is spectacular and is one of the most fragrant green oolong I’ve ever had. This is so flowery, pure and clean!
The Jade Leaf is a fairly unknown tea company here on Steepster. I met the owner, Emilio, on Instagram. He noticed I was fond of oolong and offered to send me samples of his teas. He used to live in California but moved to Taiwan about 10 years ago in order source his tea directly.
He specializes in high quality locally grown and traditionally crafted Taiwanese loose leaf tea. He’s also a very talented potter and sells his pieces on his website. I’m giving him a shout out not because of the free tea he sent me, but because of the quality the teas I have sampled so far. Plus the guy oozes integrity and I value that a great deal.
Check him out!
http://thejadeleaf.com
Interesting offerings on his web site, including some well done teaware. Thanks for the tip :)
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