I ordered a sample of this from TeaVivre during their 3rd Anniversary Sale, just because I was curious. I’ve been experimenting a little bit with oxidized and roasted oolongs lately, mostly due to my love of GTT’s Eastern Beauty. I haven’t really loved them so far, I find that they mostly taste like autumn leaves to me with a little bit of something else mixed in. But still, the curiosity has its way! These leaves are very large and brittle, and quite twisty. They’re very dark in color, and they’re closer to being grey than brown. Dry scent is autumn leaves with hay and some vegetal notes. I did a 2 minute steep at 200 degrees.
Brewed, it still smells quite leafy. There’s definitely a bit of bread there as well, along with some honey sweetness and lovely fruit notes. Hmm… I’m beginning to think these teas may not be for me. This one also tastes like dry autumn leaves, which I guess is because of the roasting done to it. There’s a little bit of bread or grain, along with an earthy wood flavor. I get a tad bit of fruit and some creaminess near the end and in the aftertaste, but I wish these were more present throughout the sip.
I find that this genre of teas tends to bore me a bit, if that makes sense? I’ll probably try this tea gong fu style as well, but I found that it tasted rather the same with the dancong I tried that way. I’ll still try it though, just to give it a chance!
Any recommendations on the best way to brew dancong and da hong pao teas would be lovely. :D
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Bread, Dried Fruit, Earth, Grain, Roasted, Wood
Preparation
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ooooo yes this is such an autumn tea. I like dark oolongs gongfu style because they seem more complex. Maybe it’s even more so with yixing? I’ve only used a ceramic gaiwan. Dunno if that’s helpful…
5g 100ml gaiwan 195F
Rinse/pause/short steeps 10-15sec
See if you like it, increase or decrease steeps, but not 2min for sure;)
I agree with boychik on this one. I just use slightly higher temp. though
ooooo yes this is such an autumn tea. I like dark oolongs gongfu style because they seem more complex. Maybe it’s even more so with yixing? I’ve only used a ceramic gaiwan. Dunno if that’s helpful…
5g 100ml gaiwan 195F
Rinse/pause/short steeps 10-15sec
See if you like it, increase or decrease steeps, but not 2min for sure;)
I agree with boychik on this one. I just use slightly higher temp. though