Bei Dou Wu Yi Oolong

I really slowed down with my Wuyi oolong consumption since moving away from San Francisco. The weather there is perfect for this style of tea. Here, further north and a 30-minute drive inland, the highs are higher and the lows lower. It’s still foggy but not as temperate. I can’t remember the last time I had yancha :/

The dry leaf had a fairly strong, smooth roast aroma with other notes of celery leaf, cannabis, cacao, caraway, cranberry. It was roasty, rich, chocolatey and herbaceous. The warmed leaf smelled like a warm flourless chocolate cake made with dark and fruity cocoa powder. In the rinsed leaf I smelled dark chocolate with a sweeter, fruitier tone like redfruits. There were also orchids along with a very pungent herbaceousness.

The greener qualities didn’t transfer over at all into taste. This is indeed a medium-dark roasted oolong, which I prefer over the lighter roasts that seem to have been trending over the past few years. Perfumey on the sip, the taste spread across the palate with sweet mineral water and a dark roastiness, oak wood, chocolate-caramel-honey, a cooling mouthfeel. My body already settled. Second steep brought a richer, mineral body with honey-chocolate-cinnamon-camphor-caramel taste and a strong returning sweetness. Menthol oozed from my chest and cooled my upper body.

As the steeps lightened, they became woodier with a gentle sweetness. At the end of the session, the aroma finally registered with sugared peanuts or something like a Payday candy bar. Eight infusions overall. This strikes me as a good evening daily drinker.

Thank you, Leafhopper :)

I bought this Wuyi oolong in Tao Tea Leaf’s 50% off sale around Christmas 2015. Since it’s a tea I enjoyed, I’ve naturally been hoarding it for the past five years. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of cannabis, oakwood, char, and nuts. The first steep has notes of char, smoke, cannabis, walnuts, almonds, cream, honey, minerals, and oakwood. The woody, nutty notes predominate. I get some baked bread in the second steep, along with tobacco and roast in the aftertaste. Perhaps due to the tea’s age, I don’t detect any flowers or stonefruit. The flavour profile remains constant through the next four steeps, becoming more drying, mineral, and roasty at the end of the session.

Despite its somewhat heavy roast, which I usually find off-putting, this is a fun and enjoyable oolong. I actually like it better than their Da Hong Pao, which I bought at the same time. I wish it had some fruit and florals, but that oakwood flavour makes it unique and oddly compelling.

Holy fuck, people. HOLY FUCK. Trudeau didn’t just win the election, he punted the Conservatives to oblivion. I was convinced that despite the Liberal uptick in the polls, Harper was going to pull one last rabbit out of his hat and still win the election. For the Liberals to not only win, but get such a commanding majority is a highly pleasant surprise.

I drank two steeps of this tea to give me caffeine for the election results. I got a nice scent of cinnamon from the first steep, and a nice fruity undertone from the second steep. Overall, a decent cuppa for the evening; the roastiness was a nice complement to the crispness of the outside air.

Currently watching Mulcair’s concession speech. Still picking my jaw off the floor. I wonder when Harper will do the dignified thing and concede as well. I guess hiring a fancy Australian campaign fixer that traffics in using racism as a divide-and-conquer tactic didn’t turn out so well, did it? :-D

I’ve been drinking lots of oolong lately. I continue to love this. Definitely creamy and nutty with a nice cannabis aftertaste. I find this really comforting and relaxing.

Good morning all, and by good morning I mean it is 10 PM, yep, sleep schedule went all pear shaped again, but I honestly don’t care overly much. It currently is where I go to sleep late in the afternoon meaning I can still do things early in the day. No matter how nocturnal I am, it will always be a tad uncanny to wake up at night, guess I am not that hardcore! It used to weird me out when I worked night shift, especially in the winter, I would go to sleep when it was dark and wake up when it was dark, it skews the sense of time ever so slightly.

Today is an Oolong day, looking at Tao Tea Leaf’s Bei Dou Oolong. This is a not quite as well known as its cousins Yancha (or Wuyi Rock Oolong) whose name translates to North Star (must resist Fist of the North Star references, must resist!) This Yancha was first created in the 1950s, grown from cuttings taken from THE original very old Da Hong Pao bushes, the very ones that an emperor thought needed a fancy red robe. The creator of this tea, Yao Ye Ming had his research lab destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (thanks, guys, I really could go into such a rant about how revolutions that destroy art, history, religious things and science infuriate me, but I shall spare you all) but he continued in secret, Bei Dou surviving, allowing us to enjoy this tea scientist’s work. The appearance is a typical Yancha, curling and dark, and the aroma sings the song of its people, rich and loaded with char. Strong notes of cocoa, char, a distinct smoke along with the char, and a nice underlying sweetness. The more I sniff while waiting for the water to heat, I also detect a bit of nuttiness, but it is more like a nutshell, the sharp aroma of black walnut shell.

I have to apologize for the lack of photos. My camera corrupted the images, on the camera they look fine but after uploading they are unable to view, I desperately need a new camera, hopefully I can get one before it dies and this becomes a very sad blog. Help! I don’t want to just use my phone! Into my yixing the leaves go for their short steep. The aroma takes on a bunch more layers now that it is a pile of soggy leaves, along side the notes of char and cocoa are delicate notes of distant flowers, wet slate, cooked stone fruit, and a finish of black walnuts (not the shell this time.) The liquid is a three way tie between stone fruit (more plum than cherry, but there is a cherry hint too) wet slate, and char. At the finish is a distant crushed orchid sweetness as well.

First steeping time, the first thing I notice is the strong mineral presence, this Yancha puts the rock in rock oolong and I love that. Seriously, it reminds me of licking rocks, a hobby I have on occasion, since they have their own distinct flavors, wet slate and quartz being among my favorites. After that initial mineral burst the taste moves to a blend of cocoa and char with a touch of sweetness, the finish is woody and has a building sweetness that reminds me a bit of jaggery.

Onward to the next steep, I feel a pleasant tingling from the last steeping, Yancha has such great Qi! The aroma is roasty toasty, notes of char and smoke with roasted black walnuts and mineral, there is also an underlying sweetness like burnt sugar at the finish. The taste this time is less char and more burnt toast, there is a definite bready note to the empyreumatic notes this time. There is also a strong mineral presence and cocoa, again the finish is like jaggery with also a touch of lingering dark chocolate. I now want to melt dark chocolate and jaggery and drink it.

Third steeping time, the aroma is mostly gentle char, toast, and mineral. A hint of underlying sweetness remains, but the aroma is not as potent as before. Whoa, where did the mineral and char go? I am left with a smooth mouth full of jaggery, dates, cooked plums, and a touch of cocoa. I think the tea became sad that I wanted melted chocolate so turned on the sweetness factor in a plea to not leave. Don’t worry tea, I won’t leave. I got one more steep before it fizzled out, usually I find Yancha ends in mineral, so I found it fascinating that this one started with mineral and ended in sweetness.

For blog and photo: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/09/tao-tea-leaf-bei-dou-oolong-tea-premium.html

(Backlog from last night…could not post…steepster was acting out… again…sigh)

This is tea of the night…

I took advantage of Tao Tea Leaf’s 50% off x-mas sale.

I had already tried some of their rock oolongs (their Da Hong Pao is excellent) but had passed on this one.

Boychik reminded me to buy some this time around, so based on her exquisite tastes, I have ordered 100g.

First tasting tonight…

Whoa! This is shockingly good.

Sweet, creamy, nutty, deliciously roasted but not sharp or bitter at all.

It renders a nice mineral mouthfeel as all Wuyi do.

It’s a bit floral, and a little fruity, stone fruits. But mostly, I get big notes of roasted almonds.

Now, I can’t silence the fact that the dry leaves smell like…um….cannabis. You were right about that dear Boychik. Not that I have ever smoked any of course (wink, wink)

Toa Tea Leaf doesn’t disappoint…high quality stuff. This bag will not last very long.

I brewed gongfu and I got several delicious steeps.

Instagram pic:

http://instagram.com/p/xqg0S0wh0F/

I tend to find dark oolongs a bit hit or miss for me, but I’m interested in exploring them more, because there are so many that are just so unique.

Opening the bag, the leaves are twisty, very dark, and smell roasted and sweet, with a surprising coconut note.

Steeped 1tsp, 90C, 3:15min.

The liquor is dark brown and smells roasted, nutty and creamy. I’m really enjoying the smell – it makes me think of hazelnut coffee with cream.

On the palate there’s a strong note of roasted nuts, some mineral, cream and sweetness. A slight tang. I wouldn’t characterize this as floral like the package suggests, but I do like it, and there’s none of that woodiness that sometimes dominates roasted oolongs for me.

This tea i picked on recent 50% sale. Awesome Marzipan organized our join order and shipped teas to everybody. That’s great idea to have join orders. I wish i got that idea earlier.
Gongfu method
5g 100ml 195F
rinse/ 20/10/10/10 etc
This tea has absolutely amazing smell, after thinking couple minutes i decided it smells like cannabis. i never smoked pot but i know the scent. its unmistakable.
when hot its very roasted, but as soon as it cools its very sweet nutty taste. some tongue tingling. i will report tomorrow if i get high from this tea

Don’t you love it when a Steepster friend makes it possible for you to try stuff you would never have (a) found locally or (b) thought to select on your own? This, from scribbles, falls into that category. The dry leaves smell roasty-toasty, it’s pleasantly heavy on the tongue, and deliciously sweet—-white grape juice and honey and maple twigs.

For me, this is what oolong should be. It’s nice and dark, but not over roasted, it’s nutty and a little metallic, but everything is nicely balance.
If I ever say – you know that classic oolong taste – this is what I’m talking about. This is awesome. I really, really like it.
Thank you so much scribbles for sending some of this my way. Always enjoy trying Tao Tea Leaf – and this is a great example of why I love them. :))