Shortbread.
That’s what I tasted on the first two steeps. Delicious, warm, buttery, with fruity notes and that distinct cookie flavor, shortbread.
I should mention that I’m now on steep five of this.
I know that I’m really digging an oolong if I get this far with it. Even though I know that oolongs are generally meant to unfold over steeps, if it’s really not gelling with me after steep two, I have a lot of trouble forging ahead [and often don’t]. Clearly, that’s not a problem with this one.
Auggy [thanks Auggy for this, by the way] and LENA F. mentioned tropical, candied, Juicy Fruit-ish flavors from this, and I didn’t really get that strongly until at or around steep three. The buttery component had become significantly weaker during the second steep, though I could still taste the shortbread, but by steep three it became notably more tropical in character. It shed its tartan and bagpipe and threw on a hat made of fruit and a coconut bikini.
Here in steep five, it’s light and fruity. I’m probably going to stop at this cup because it’s become significantly weaker for me. Similar to when you drop some fruit into water and let it sit for a while. It’s still enjoyable at this point, but in another cup I suspect the flavor will have dissipated beyond the point of notability.
This isn’t as complex as other oolongs I’ve had, and it is very, very different from other formosa oolongs that I’ve tried, but I imagine that I’ll want to have it around for, at the very least, those first three steeps.
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This sounds like awesomeness in a cup. :) I’m terrified of multiple steepings, but I’m going to give it a shot tomorrow with my Gunpowder from Adagio! Oolongs, greens, whites, and pu-erh can use multiple steepings, correct?
Your summaries are awesomesauce, by the way. I just pictured a burly Scottish man in a kilt wearing a coconut bra. WIN.
If it weren’t so late, I’d make me some. So much love for this.
@teaplz: A lot of blacks can get another steep or two out of them. Flavored teas seem to lose the most out of a second steep, but I’ll do most Keemun or Yunnan teas 3 times. I think I did the Assam I had twice and it turned out nice, too. So pretty much everything can take multiple steeps. The big question is how much you like what they give you in them. :)
@teaplz Aww, don’t be scurred! I’m going to say that it really depends on the tea. For me, multiple steepings tend to go better with oolongs and pu-erhs. In fact, they almost always result in the cup evolving and are well-worth it to explore. [Some oolongs can have a much more vegetal taste on the first go round than on subsequent ones.] Some Japanese greens are meant to undergo a lot of steeps at different time intervals to unlock the flavors.
Pretty much anything else has the capability of taking more than one steep, but in my experience it’s wholly dependent on the quality of the tea. Some flavored blacks, for example, can become rather tasteless even on steep two because they use a low quality tea and the flavoring comes out in the first steep. The best way to learn from tea to tea is to experiment!
@Auggy We are of one mind.
Oh no! I threw out my Yunnan Jig leaves today. D: Do you just gradually increase the time of the steep? And should you keep the water temperature the same for subsequent steeps?
I guess I always figured that blacks would get more astringent/bitter on a second steep. Guess I’m wrong, then!
I’m pretty much borderline terrified when I make ANY cup of tea. I just keep thinking “Oh no oh no oh no this is going to go WRONG what if my water temperature isn’t exact and my timing exact what if there’s too much leaf or too little leaf oh gawd.” That’s pretty much the mini panic attack every time I make tea. With bagged tea I’m pretty insane as well.
@teaplz Tea is pretty forgiving, but you’d best believe that we’ve ALL ruined plenty of cups along the way. One of the best feelings I get is when I revisit a tea, tweak some things, and all of a sudden it’s like I’m drinking something completely different.
For the most part I usually keep time and temperature the same. If I notice that something is starting to taste weak, I might let it sit for a while longer to see if it brings more flavor out, but more often than not the tea is just sputtering out. One of the best things about Steepster is that I can go back and look at old logs to see what I did and try something new the next time round.
Letting go of “The Fear” is very difficult, but I think/hope that once you’ve played around with things a bit more it will begin to lose its hold on you. We tend to dissect things and get so specific on here that I can definitely see it sounding intimidating, but seriously, brewing a cup of tea isn’t rocket science. So long as the tea is ultimately enjoyable to you, you’ve won anyway!
Awww, don’t panic! There are very few teas that you will ruin by fudging a little on the time, the leaf or the temp. (Japanese greens tend to be the most picky in my experience). And just because you CAN resteep does mean you have to. I almost never resteep my morning tea because I just don’t have time.
I think the general rule is to increase both steep time and water temp, however I’m lazy and rarely change the water temp. I sort of guesstimate the next steep time depending on the tea type and how the first cup was, but typically end up with something like 3:00, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 9:30, 13:00, 17:00, 22:00… But that’s my own personal set up that I find works best for me (and usually with oolongs – blacks never seem to last THAT long). Again, that’s just me. You probably might want to increase your steep times more since you seem to prefer bolder tastes.
If you play around with it enough, you’ll be able to start getting a feel for how things will react best for you.
“The Fear?”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c
I think the panic comes from really cheap bagged teas. And that PG Tips really scarred me. I kept thinking to myself, HOW DID YOU GET SO BITTER IN TWO MINUTES?! And Earl Grey! Earl Grey perpetually seems to screw me. It’s like it doesn’t want to be made correctly, for some reason. :(
I do really like bolder tasting blacks. But I do like mild tea as well! I don’t think I’ve had a good one yet, though. Even though I like my tea somewhat strong, here’s a little secret: I loathe coffee. I actually can’t stand the taste of it. Aren’t I weird. But I like expresso (with no milk added in) better. Which means I can stand to sip it a little without wanting to gag.
Maybe if you do a little dance with some cute butlers, you would be more relaxed prior to tea brewing. Hehe.
Oh, I should have shared earlier… I made my hubby PG Tips this morning in honor of you. :D
This sounds like awesomeness in a cup. :) I’m terrified of multiple steepings, but I’m going to give it a shot tomorrow with my Gunpowder from Adagio! Oolongs, greens, whites, and pu-erh can use multiple steepings, correct?
Your summaries are awesomesauce, by the way. I just pictured a burly Scottish man in a kilt wearing a coconut bra. WIN.
If it weren’t so late, I’d make me some. So much love for this.
@teaplz: A lot of blacks can get another steep or two out of them. Flavored teas seem to lose the most out of a second steep, but I’ll do most Keemun or Yunnan teas 3 times. I think I did the Assam I had twice and it turned out nice, too. So pretty much everything can take multiple steeps. The big question is how much you like what they give you in them. :)
@teaplz Aww, don’t be scurred! I’m going to say that it really depends on the tea. For me, multiple steepings tend to go better with oolongs and pu-erhs. In fact, they almost always result in the cup evolving and are well-worth it to explore. [Some oolongs can have a much more vegetal taste on the first go round than on subsequent ones.] Some Japanese greens are meant to undergo a lot of steeps at different time intervals to unlock the flavors.
Pretty much anything else has the capability of taking more than one steep, but in my experience it’s wholly dependent on the quality of the tea. Some flavored blacks, for example, can become rather tasteless even on steep two because they use a low quality tea and the flavoring comes out in the first steep. The best way to learn from tea to tea is to experiment!
@Auggy We are of one mind.
Oh no! I threw out my Yunnan Jig leaves today. D: Do you just gradually increase the time of the steep? And should you keep the water temperature the same for subsequent steeps?
I guess I always figured that blacks would get more astringent/bitter on a second steep. Guess I’m wrong, then!
I’m pretty much borderline terrified when I make ANY cup of tea. I just keep thinking “Oh no oh no oh no this is going to go WRONG what if my water temperature isn’t exact and my timing exact what if there’s too much leaf or too little leaf oh gawd.” That’s pretty much the mini panic attack every time I make tea. With bagged tea I’m pretty insane as well.
@teaplz Tea is pretty forgiving, but you’d best believe that we’ve ALL ruined plenty of cups along the way. One of the best feelings I get is when I revisit a tea, tweak some things, and all of a sudden it’s like I’m drinking something completely different.
For the most part I usually keep time and temperature the same. If I notice that something is starting to taste weak, I might let it sit for a while longer to see if it brings more flavor out, but more often than not the tea is just sputtering out. One of the best things about Steepster is that I can go back and look at old logs to see what I did and try something new the next time round.
Letting go of “The Fear” is very difficult, but I think/hope that once you’ve played around with things a bit more it will begin to lose its hold on you. We tend to dissect things and get so specific on here that I can definitely see it sounding intimidating, but seriously, brewing a cup of tea isn’t rocket science. So long as the tea is ultimately enjoyable to you, you’ve won anyway!
Awww, don’t panic! There are very few teas that you will ruin by fudging a little on the time, the leaf or the temp. (Japanese greens tend to be the most picky in my experience). And just because you CAN resteep does mean you have to. I almost never resteep my morning tea because I just don’t have time.
I think the general rule is to increase both steep time and water temp, however I’m lazy and rarely change the water temp. I sort of guesstimate the next steep time depending on the tea type and how the first cup was, but typically end up with something like 3:00, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00, 9:30, 13:00, 17:00, 22:00… But that’s my own personal set up that I find works best for me (and usually with oolongs – blacks never seem to last THAT long). Again, that’s just me. You probably might want to increase your steep times more since you seem to prefer bolder tastes.
If you play around with it enough, you’ll be able to start getting a feel for how things will react best for you.
“The Fear?”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c
I think the panic comes from really cheap bagged teas. And that PG Tips really scarred me. I kept thinking to myself, HOW DID YOU GET SO BITTER IN TWO MINUTES?! And Earl Grey! Earl Grey perpetually seems to screw me. It’s like it doesn’t want to be made correctly, for some reason. :(
I do really like bolder tasting blacks. But I do like mild tea as well! I don’t think I’ve had a good one yet, though. Even though I like my tea somewhat strong, here’s a little secret: I loathe coffee. I actually can’t stand the taste of it. Aren’t I weird. But I like expresso (with no milk added in) better. Which means I can stand to sip it a little without wanting to gag.
Maybe if you do a little dance with some cute butlers, you would be more relaxed prior to tea brewing. Hehe.
Oh, I should have shared earlier… I made my hubby PG Tips this morning in honor of you. :D