This is for the first harvest of 2012 Spring Tieguanyin. I’m attempting a bit of gong-fu style steeping here with my new pot. Infusions are about 10 seconds long, from the time the water touches the leaves to the time most of the water has been poured out (apparently oolongs are drippy… who knew?!) Water is approximately boiling, but I did the first four infusions in succession, followed by another four, so the water probably cooled over each set somewhat. 5g of leaf in my more-than-4-5-oz pot.
First infusion: I didn’t do a rinse; this probably should have been it. Light in flavour, a bit creamy and floral. Regardless, I like it, because I love these tieguanyins.
2: Liquor’s a bit darker, expecting a richer flavour…. yup. This time there’s… something different there. The same basic floral/creaminess, but there’s something almost rich and woody in there. Also, it’s a little bit vegetal. Green bean was the flavour that my mind is conjuring up, but given that I read reviews of the Laoshan greens today, it’s hard to know whether that was just already in my head or whether I actually tasted it.
3: I definitely feel like there’s a greener taste to this one. The floralness is disappearing already… I miss it. Still great though. The aftertaste lingers more on these second two infusions, no surprise.
4: Rather similar to the third. I feel like there’s something different at the end of the sip. Maybe a bit of fruitiness? I feel like I’m losing flavour though; going with 15 second infusions from now on. (Also I’m feeling rather full suddenly from sipping from four cups back and forth in succession… boo.)
5: Ok, 15 seconds ended up being 20 for each of these. It happens. Although it’s still creamy, I definitely feel like we’re moving into the woody, more vegetal phase here. Oolong aftertaste is intense here, just how I like it.
6: Similar to 5, even less floral.
7: Likewise.
8: Oh, starting to get something different here. Reminds me more of the Wuyi Mountain oolong I had last night. It’s good too, but I think I prefer earlier infusions.
At this point my tiny little teapot is completely full of opened leaves. I might see what I can do with it tomorrow but seriously, my tummy is DONE for the night! I really need to figure out what size the little pot is; I think the tea tasted a bit dilute because 5g of tea was meant for a 4-5oz. pot, and I think it’s at least 8oz.? It was good, I just could have done with more flavour. Still need to compare this to the autumn version sometime soon! But perhaps not until I have the mental ability to describe things as more than just “wow, it’s different now!” Haha.
