Ali Shan

Accidental sipdown! (Sipdown no. 11 of the year 2014.)

When I last drank this, I had decided to make it in a pot the next time so I could get a full cup out of it. As I was pouring the leaves into my little pot (to fill it up to about a third, as I’ve read is what oolongs like), I suddenly ran out of pour. I.e., I had to pour all that was left of the sample into the pot to fill it to about a third, resulting in an accidental sipdown! I think I may have used a bit too much leaf, but it’s too late to change it now. ;-)

This time I also steeped significantly longer for the first steep, 2 minutes, because it’s more par for the course when going western style. Not an improvement, though. With shorter steeps, this had a really lovely roasty-buttery flavor. With the longer one it seems a little overcooked, lacking flavor in the middle of the sip with a bitter edge in the aftertaste.

I went much shorter for the second steep, about 45 seconds. Much better. The floral notes came out on this steep, particularly in the aroma. The bitterness I got on the first steep all but disappeared, and the aftertaste was pleasantly sweet. But somehow it still wasn’t as lovely as I recall it being the first time I sampled this. It could be that I’ve tea’d myself out for the day. I don’t blame the tea as I recall my first experience with it fondly.

Third steep, somewhere between 30 and 45 seconds. Much milder, and closer to my original memory of it and enough to give me my oolong fix. It could possibly go for additional steeps, but I’m good with three.

After a 10.5 hour drive, I needed a little tea to decompress. I shared with the husband and his father but didn’t know what size the cups were or the teapot was so I really just sort of guesstimated everything about this tea experience and did it a little more Western-style than I normally do. It was all guess-work so it wasn’t the best cup of this I’ve ever had but it was pretty darn good and enjoyable. Got 3 nice steeps out of it and it hit the spot.

You ever have so many teas that you want to try that you do not remember them by name? Yea, me too. Anyway, this one was a sample from Ricky, thank you (!) and I have to say that I will DEFINITELY be purchasing this with my next Adagio order.

The leaves are tightly curled oolong, they are dark green but brew a pale slightly golden liquor. The aroma of the leaves is plain, simple, not complicated, almost a faint green tea smell. An interesting note is that I usually pour hot near-boiling water into a smaller teapot that I carry with me around the house, immediately after pouring water into the infusion basket and over the tea, a sweet, almost minty aroma was released. Now ecstatic, I let the tea infuse for four minutes (no additives). Unfortunately, by the end of my brew, that minty sweet aroma was gone and replaced with a mellow vegetal note.

The flavor is surprising, it is gentle, a bit vegetal, a little buttery, with a tiny hint of sweetness at the very end and the cool mouth-feel of a minty tea. Delicious.

Second infusion, two minutes, no additives. I did not get the minty smell again, but it was more pronounced in the tea itself. Still buttery, light, vegetal with slightly more mint. Overall, very enjoyable tea.

Oolong – take me away!!!!!

Man, my rating system is a real mess now.

I really, really love the way this tea smells after it brews. It’s such a rich smell. I couldn’t stop sniffing my cup after the first brewing.

On the first brew, I didn’t really feel like the taste was particularly floral. Buttery plantlife, mellow, rich greenery…that was the taste to me. Deliciously so, and smooth to drink, but still very much a ‘green and growing things’ taste. The second steeping has surprised me…I found the smell far more floral. It hit me unexpectedly, out of the blue, and I thought…oh! That’s what they were talking about! Strangely enough, the taste of this second cup manages to combine that slightly floral taste with an even more pronounced ‘this was a plant’ taste — grassy and brighter, this time — though I wonder if that’s a result of not steeping it quite long enough to give it a fuller body, as I was wary of oversteeping.

These pretty, richly-hued bundles of leaves really make me glad that I decided to buy an infuser cup with a ton of room for them to expand…and it’s glass, so I get a free show, too. Fun.

Hey, remember me?

Yeah, I’ve been gone a while…
Busy with stuff:
Moving back home, being a new uncle, trying to write enough so I don’t look like a COMPLETE drain while I take a semester off college, taking care of an aged dog, reconnecting with people, seeing an old friend for the first time, co-owning a hookah…
Oh, and my laptop is broken. Need to send it in. Been like that for a while… (on my father’s computer)

So, now I’ve pissed away a lot of money (much of it to a good cause), and I’m connecting with the kid pretty well. “The Kid” being my nephew, not a child of my own. And I’m thinking about some literary career options – wish me luck.

Onto tea!
(a little more life blabbing, though)
When I got home, and finally sat down for tea in my tea room, the first thing I said to myself was,
“It’s too cluttered.”
My sister is moving back home with the kid, and tomorrow (or, rather, today) she’s moving her furniture back home, into the garage. When that’s all taken care of, I’m going to see how much space is left for me to move any extra tables from my tearoom out… blah! The clutteredness (amongst other things, obviously) is keeping me from spending too much time with tea…

So today (getting to the tea tasting, I promise)
I was in Puripan, and they’ve had all their tea sets on sale since the holidays. Finally decided to buy one. So, with the 40% discount, and a $40 gift card, an $80 set ended up costing $12 from my pocket. Woo!

So, the tea:
Very pleasant. Marvelous. I used my new set for the first time, and made sure to clean it thoroughly with hot water when I washed the leaves, because the chick at the store gave me the set that was on display. Brewing went very well – I got three solid infusions, and luckily my tea brewing skills haven’t atrophied from disuse. I could have pushed more, I’m sure, but I found myself very content at that time, and seeing as the set, tray and woonsan I was using were all Korean made, and three is a lucky number in Korea (or so I’ve been told by the store’s Korean manager), I decided to let things work out that way.
Good tea, good tea. Glad I bought it, in the long run – Great when I want a nice, elegant tea moment, and I’m not trying to impress anyone, and I don’t need an amazing, expensive tea.

So, if you’ve bothered to read this far, I’ll treat you to a description on the tea set as well!
Very simple set: three cups, a pot, and a decanter. The pot and decanter are both solid cylinders, the latter having no handle – it’s basically just a tall bowl with a lip for pouring. The handle on the pot is a long, smooth round thing, that comes out from a 90 degree angle from the spout, as you find on many Korean and some Japanese infusers. It’s a thick clay material, brown – almost ugly. I prefer the term rough.
I had the choice between this set, and an identical one in a smooth, turqouis ceramic one, with all those tiny cracks that are supposed to absorb the tint of the tea over time. The one I bought it much more dull, and not so smooth… ya know? I bought it because, well, I don’t have anything in my collection like it – everything else is so fine.
Drinking with it… almost felt a bit gritty. Something I’ll get used to with time, I’m sure.

Overall, a good purchase, a good tea time, and hopefully I’ll be writing on here more frequently.

This is a nice florally and buttery tasting oolong but it simply doesn’t hold a candle to my formosa silk oolong by Te’House of Tea. I’ll rerate the second steep if it is better than the first as is the case with my other oolongs.

well, been a really busy morning today and this is my first time to sit and chill-ax. Ah the comfort of a good cozy chair…well I had this tea yesterday and I just can’t seem to get enough of its playful leaves and buttery fruit like taste. One of my fave oolongs I think but I don’t know everything I’ve tried is just sooooo good! This steep (the first ) I let brew a little longer than yesterday and I put a little more tea in the infuser- wham bam thank u maam!! I’m ready for my 2nd steep now…

I don’t drink as much oolong as I would like, because I feel as if I really ought to savor it. And usually I don’t have a lot of time for savoring. This tea is amazing. It has wonderful tropical & floral notes. I even oversteeped it (ha not unusual) but it is fabulous. A little strong, maybe, but very good. And I love how my teapot looks like a kelp forest when I’m brewing it. From prior experience I will say that steeps 2 and 3 will be the best… assuming I don’t forget about it and leave it for 30 minutes. Ahem.

Taken Plain.
Flavorful for a lightly fermented Oolong.
The interesting thing about this tea is the mix of buttery and floral tones. Usually I think of those two kinds of flavors fighting for dominance but in this blend they compliment each other nicely.
That’s why I keep coming back to this Oolong. Great Flavor and balance while remaining light.