Sipdown no. 186. A sample.
I had a different experience of this than some other notes reflect, but I steeped in the gaiwan for short infusions starting at 15 seconds and adding increments of five seconds for a total of five infusions.
I also used water a bit hotter than I usually do for oolongs, mostly because something happened to the outlet where my zojirushi was plugged in and I had to reboil the water. I didn’t have the patience to wait for the water to cool, so I used it as it was on its way down from boiling.
The result was that my experience of this was more like a green oolong than a roasted one, but it was at the same time a bit unusual for a green. The aroma had a sort of a milky floral scent at first but mellowed over subsequent steeps into something that smelled fresh and nutty — but not roasted nutty. More like green (unroasted) almonds. By the third steep, the floral notes were quite lovely. I thought of lilacs, though I’m not sure that’s actually what I smelled, and by the fourth and fifth steeps, I got a whiff of fresh, raw, sweet, warm root vegetable, carrot maybe. A little less pronounced in the fifth steep. Perhaps more like turnip or parsnip. The wet leaf smelled like sweet potatoes to me.
Really tasty and wonderful, but I wonder whether cooler water would have yielded the same flavors. Oh well, I am not likely to find out soon as I’m on lock down. All I can say is this was excellent tonight.
Flavors: Almond, Carrot, Floral, Green, Milk, Sweet Potatoes
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That sounds really neat. My kettle only holds at 208F or 140F, so when I do multiple steeps they’re always at 208. What temperatures does yours do?
I can get the zojirushi to 212 (boiling) but it doesn’t stay there. It goes down to 208, then 195, 175 and 140. For boiling I usually just use a kettle on the stove, or the highest Breville setting. For stuff that requires finer gradations I tend to use the Breville, but for oolongs I usually just use the zo at 195.
I should say, my off-brand zojirushi, not kettle. :) That’s pretty cool though. More temperatures is definitely an argument for getting a new one at some point.
That sounds really neat. My kettle only holds at 208F or 140F, so when I do multiple steeps they’re always at 208. What temperatures does yours do?
I can get the zojirushi to 212 (boiling) but it doesn’t stay there. It goes down to 208, then 195, 175 and 140. For boiling I usually just use a kettle on the stove, or the highest Breville setting. For stuff that requires finer gradations I tend to use the Breville, but for oolongs I usually just use the zo at 195.
I should say, my off-brand zojirushi, not kettle. :) That’s pretty cool though. More temperatures is definitely an argument for getting a new one at some point.