Gu Yun 2008 Taiwanese High Mt. Aged Tea Loose Leaves

Wow. This tea makes me feel like I’m drinking toasted marshmallows next to a warm fire pit in the middle of the woods. It’s slightly smoky and charred flavor is more pronounced than most roasted teas I’ve tasted likely due to the repeated roasting and storage it has gone through. Perfect tea for a cold rainy or snowy day.

Yay! The Great Steepster Freeze of 2020 is finally over! I’m glad all my notes were actually saved and I don’t need to repost them.

I haven’t tried too many aged teas, so this is a learning experience. Thanks to Fong Mong for the sample. I didn’t know how to steep this tea, so I used my old parameters of all 7 g, 120 ml, 200F, and rounds of 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus a few long steeps.

The dry aroma is of old wood, char, and roast. The first steep has notes of oak, sandalwood, chicory, minerals, and roast. The roast and minerals get stronger in steep two, and a honey element emerges. The flavours keep getting more intense as the session continues, and there’s definitely a bit of decayed wood in there, too. Generally, this is a smooth, woody tea with a sophisticated profile. The smoke and roast are more noticeable in later rounds, but this tea doesn’t evolve too much over the session.

While it’s not something I’d typically drink, I enjoyed this aged oolong for its exotic woodiness and smoothness. As khboyd said in a review, it reminds me of a Wuyi oolong. I’m sure it would have been even better in the fall or winter. I can’t wait for this unusually hot summer to end, not least because drinking hot tea in this heat is kind of annoying.

This tea is fascinating. An aged oolong, it was harvested in 2008, and was repeatedly roasted and stored. The aroma of the dry leaf is mostly of wood, charcoal, and minerals. I prepared this tea in a gaiwan, using approximately 2g of leaf for this tasting, and beginning with 30ml of water at around 90 degrees Celsius. I rinsed the leaves before infusing. I should note that a Yixing teapot is recommended for this type of tea, however, I don’t own one yet, so gaiwan it is.

For the first infusion, I let it sit for 20 seconds, and then added 10 seconds with each infusion. This oolong really reminds me of rock tea. I also notice the leaves don’t open quite as much as other oolong, but the flavour certainly does come out. The liquor s dark reddish brown, and it’s astringent, most noticed at the back of the mouth and throat. Flavour wise, this tea tastes robustly woody and smokey, a bit of charcoal and minerals with an interesting honey-like note in the aftertaste. The aftertaste is substantial and lingering.

I continued for 10 infusions, noticing that the flavours are quite consistent over time. The wood and smoke notes do mellow and by the final few infusions I tasted more minerals. This was an intriguing taste experience!