Aged Oolong Tea

Well, to be honest this one did not start off very well with me at all, at first I was really disappointed I thought this was going to be the worst tea I’ve had just by the scent of the leaves dry, Smelling them dry all I could think was “chemicals?” I wasn’t sure what I was smelling, after first steep and leaves were wet I realized that the “chemical” scent I thought I was getting was more like “camphor” instead much like some scents and flavors that I get from puerhs. Ok then my first cup the first taste of this was “horrible” I really hate to use such a word as “horrible” but thats all I could think, very camphorlike and I quickly noticed the “scorched/burned” taste of this tea, I tasted like this tea was “overbaked/roasted” (I brewed it at 185F so I wouldn’t scorch it myself) so it was just the initial taste of this tea that was “burned”, I also noticed a very smokey flavor to this tea not quite like a lapsang but more like a smokey “gunpowder” (I think some one else said that too in a review here). After about 4 steeps( BTW at this point there are pretty much flash steeps, very short) this Tea finally starts to mellow out and take on more roasty, toasty flavors rather than just burned flavors with some nutty tones, still smokeyness and only the after taste is slight “scorched” tasting.(Lance suggested putting some sweetener in it so I put some sugar crystals from butiki tea in there, it was not bad at all gave it a nice sweet flavor and brought out nutty tones but at this point it still didn’t help that little burned flavor, but it was nice). At about 6 steeps this tea turns very nice wonderfully flavorful smokey with some roasty nutty notes getting naturally sweet NO MORE BURNED flavors(after 5 steeps lol) Super good!
Steep 9 I pour on my water and it still turns dark right away, its not going to give up anytime soon, Different, this time no nuttyness, more smokiness and very nice, almost how you would imagine a really nice Oolong and Smoked Lapsang blend, perfection. The aroma of the wet leaves is still very “camphor” like.
Steep 10 ok perhaps I steeped it a tad long this time( a very short almost flash steep was needed but i was looking at the computer lol) the smokiness is heavier and the slight burned flavor is back but not so bad tastes almost like a Smoked Lapsang now lol nuttiness is back now tho and it is quite pleasant, smell like Oolong in the cup but Lapsang in the gaiwan .
Steep 11 Omg! same deal as steep 9 steeps up dark right away still I like this teas endurance, same basic flavors as steep 9 smokey and nice but with some nuttiness again and natural sweetness coming thru again, honestly kinda PUERHish in some ways.
Steep 12 is just a dark as before with the same type flavors notes but very smokey, i’m going to skip ahead a few steeps now, ok Steep 15 and it has gone very mellow and earthy even, still smokey and slightly nutty it is starting to remind me of a nice well aged naturally fermented Puerh, This has turned out to be quite a complex tea, I like it.
Steep 17 again the last 2 steeps were still pretty consistent with the few steeps before them, Smokey, Nutty, slightly sweet naturally, I’m going to stop talking notes now and steep till 20 times then I’ll write about the 20th steep Thats where I decide to stop even if the tea is still going lol.
Ok Steep 20 was one of the best just take all I said before and add it up and balance it all out perfectly and that was the 20th cup, I hate to give up on this one but 20 cups of one type tea is just a bit much for me today but I enjoyed it a lot.
At first I thought that this tea may have been over roasted, then I thought maybe not, then after the whole thing is over I have to say that I DO think it may have been a little over roasted because after 20 steeps all day and the leaves were still rolled tight and strangest of att they were still hard and "crunchy:, I took one in my fingers and crushed it like it was still dry AFTER 20 steeps lol(you can see it in the photo crumbled in my hand), I don’t know what to think, VERY GOOD TEA!!!

This was copy paste from my blog, the photos I tak about can be seen here :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/aged-oolong-1990-by-teafromtaiwancom.html

Okay, I just spent 2 hours tracking 5 different steeps of this tea and then Firefox crashed and it all went poof. Yeah, I need to write tasting notes in a different program and just paste into Steepster because. Not. Cool. Sigh. Okay, this might be for the best since having to remember what happened will mean that this is shorter than the original. Not short, mind you. Just shorter.

I have no idea what I’m doing with this tea but I’ll do my best to muddle through. Since I have the time and inclination, I’m going to use the whole almost 8g sample and brew it up in my gaiwan. It fills about 1/4th of the gaiwan so this is either the correct amount or not quite enough. Whatever. Muddling.

The leaves look like dark, slightly large Gunpowder. Or very tiny raisins. The dry leaves smell dusty and a little dirty. Like my back porch right before spring cleaning. Gave it a 10s rinse and OMG, not cool. The wet leaves smell like burnt coffee. Badly burnt. Yuck.

First Steep: 35s at 185°. The leaves smell horrible. Thankfully, the tea smells like a blend of non-burnt coffee and pu-erh hay smell. The taste? Wow. Weird. Very weird. It tastes like how I drink restaurant coffee – very sweet and creamy. Specifically, I’d say about 3 sugars and 2 creamers. Crazy. I’m getting a little hint of caramel syrup in the aftertaste.
Second Steep: 40s at 195°. The burnt coffee smell of the leaves is so strong that it is almost a physical blow when I raise the lid to the gaiwan. There is a little more coffee flavor than pu-erh flavor. Now it tastes like coffee with perhaps two sugars and only one creamer but it’s a flavored creamer.
Third Steep: 45s at 190°. The leaves are opening up some and now they look like small angry beetles that will attack me. Now the taste is pretty much two sugars and half of a flavored creamer.
Fourth Steep: 50s at 185°. Really wish the leaves didn’t smell like burnt coffee. This steep tastes almost exactly like the one before but now the creamer is unflavored.
Fifth Steep: 60s at 195°. The leaves are not even half way open and this steep tastes almost exactly like the second steep. This is the tea that will never die.

Whew. All caught up. Now new stuff but honestly? I have no idea how long this tea will last so we’re going keep the same level of detail as the recap above because I have no desire to find out if Steepster has a character limit on logs.

Sixth Steep: 70s at 195°. Starting to transition into something more pu-erh hay-like with a coffee under note.
Seventh and Eight Steeps: 80s and 90s respectively, at 195°. The leaves are opened enough to look like mangled cricket legs… from decently large crickets. (How do I know this? My cats like to pull the back legs off of crickets and then eat the crickets (or so I assume as we ever only find the legs)). Currently the flavor is somewhere between coffee-flavored pu-erh and steeps one and two. This. Tea. Will. Never. Die.
Ninth Steep: 1:40 at 195°. Nope, not dead. The aftertaste if full on sweet pu-erh aftertaste now though.
Tenth Steep: 2min at 195°. Okay, this might be hinting that in 3 or 5 or so steeps, the flavor will start to fade but right now? This tastes like pretty much like all the other steeps I’ve had of this. I’ve had around 40 ounces of this tea. I’m going to be smelling like coffee for days, sweating it out my pores. This tea wins, I wave the white flag.

So now the big question: how does this tea rate?

I have no idea.

Is it high quality? Yes, so a 4/5 stars there which puts it at anywhere over 70. I mean come on. Ten steeps? Seriously? And it’s smooth and sweet and flavorful. Very good quality (in my less-than-pu-erh-knowledgeable opinion).

Would I repurchase this tea (which would give it a rank over 80)? I have no idea. First or second steep I would have said sure, probably. It’s weird but I like it. Not really my norm but enjoyable and something I could dip into every now and again. But after ten steeps (and more left in the leaves), I kind of feel that there is no way I can fully appreciate a tea like this, a tea that lasts this long. So maybe it should be filed under “Good Tea but Too Serious For Me”. (I’d totally make a file folder for that). But at the same time, it is tasty. And I wouldn’t have to do ten steeps each time I had it (and I doubt it would last that long done Western style). So I’ll have to make that answer a strong maybe and I’ll rate it accordingly.

I think I might go soak a leaf or two for a few hours just to see if they are truly capable of fully expanding.

And if you care, a few pictures on my blog here: http://bit.ly/a0iwHM

Now I’m craving Oolong and I have a song playing over and over in my mind (White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane) whilst I’m sat here wire wrapping Quartz crystal points. This was the first Oolong I grabbed from my cupboard.

I can’t recall having much aged Oolong before but it sounds rich and deep which I’m finding delightful. In 1990 when this tea was made I would have been no more than 2 years old… wow!

As I open the vacuum sealed packet I am greeted by small dark brown almost black small tea pieces that have a strong and deep fragrance. I’m finding it difficult to answer what it smells of but it’s very familiar … soy sauce maybe?

Steeping 3 times in my gongfu for 1 minute, 2 minutes then 3 minutes.

Steep 1 – Burnt orange in colour with a smell that reminds me of cigar smoke. The taste is smoky and rich but also earthy and astringent. Sort of like Lapsang Souchong mixed with Pu Erh but on a weaker basis. Roasted chestnuts is a fairly good description.

Steep 2 – Brownish red now in colour but with that same cigar smoke scent. My husband smokes a cigar at birthdays and Christmas so I am quite used to the smell but it’s surprising how similar they are. It sort of tastes like cigar now too which is how it smells. I still like roast chestnuts though as the comparison but now it’s almost like burnt chestnuts. If Lapsang Souchong is the smokiest tea then this must be second.

Steep 3 – Again it’s burnt orange in colour with the same scent. Other than cigar or chestnut I’m finding it really difficult to describe. Muddy perhaps? Smoky and muddy? There is a little sweetness which helps to keep it on the rich yet light side. It’s also a little dry and nutty.

I think this may be one of the strangest teas let alone Oolongs that I have ever tried but I’m really getting a taste for it now. I may have to order some more of this :) Thinking about it I should have kept it for my birthday… I want some Pu Erh that is from my birth year too but money is low at the moment :( Maybe next year?

Dry Smell: Smells like roasted nut’s. A little smokey but not too offensive.

Wet Smell: Very smokey kind of like BBQ pork or something.

So…. Not a fan. I guess I really just do not like smokey teas. It’s not bad if that is your thing but this is not for me. I am glad that Tea From Taiwan sent this to me though with several other lovely samples.

I was really excited to try this tea, since I’d never tried an aged oolong. Also, it’s pretty weird to drink something that’s older than I am. I guess you could say I have a bit of a “thing” about old/vintage things. There’s a kind of power/stateliness to things that have been tucked away for years, that have been held and used by people years ago.
Not that this tea is THAT old, but for a tea it certainly is. :)

Dry leaves: The dry leaves have a bold, musky aroma of roasted chestnut, hickory, and musk. The leaves are small, dark, and silky and looking; rolled into small, tight pellets with a chocolaty brown color.

Brewing: When I poured water over the leaves for the rinse, they released a strong aroma liked meat being cooked on a wood-fired smoker. This tea needs to be steeped longer than most oolongs until it turns a nice red-brown color. When wet, the leaves a dark black and slick looking. They unfurl just slightly and truly look like “black dragons.”

1st steep: The tea has an strong but smooth and elegant smokiness not quite like normal smoked teas like gunpowder/lapsang. It tastes of oak, camphor and cinnamon with an underlying coconut note. The taste is rich, stately, and slightly reminiscent of whiskey.

2nd steep: The second steep has much less smoke, but is otherwise similar to the first. This tea is very buttery. There’s no detectable amount of bitterness or astringency.

3rd steep: The third steep has a savory flavor like slow roasted meat. There are strong notes of oak, with a new piney and milk chocolate flavors. The mouthfeel is smooth and heavy like coconut oil. This steep is slightly sweet.

4th steep: The forth steep remains similar to the previous, but reveals a deep, pu’erh-like sweetness.

5th+ steeps: Later steeps remained similar and gain more and more buttery smoothness. Around the eight steep, I need to increase the brew time all the way to about two minutes, but the tea remains strong. It begins to fade around eleven.

Reminds me of: The first time I played my violin, which belonged to my great great great grandfather. Like the tea, it was something completely new to me (I had no idea how to play it), but I could feel the beauty and power of the instrument. Its exciting to hold something completely foreign to you, yet so old and beautiful.

hmm, I was very excited to try this because I am a fan of the darker aged oolong teas. I’m amused by the other notes here, what fun to read and what an in-depth probing analysis!

Ok, I actually think this tea is fabulous. It really does smell like a mix of coffee and puerh when you brew the leaves but this does not bother me at all. I brewed this in an infuser mug for 90 seconds (guesstimate) with 180 F water.

I am picking up a lot of interesting flavors here. Cinnamon is the first thing that comes to mind. Also, a little mushroomy in the aroma like you would expect from a pu-er. I am getting stone fruit like plums in the finish and yes, chestnuts.

Second steep: the flavor here is really opening up, it is rich and full with a bit of sharp tang. Reminiscent of a puerh and a big red robe. If you like those styles of tea you might want to check it out. Roasty cinnamony spicey goodness. Okay, this may be an acquired taste, it is definitely an unusual flavor but I dig it.

Wow, I guess Auggy and I are the only ones brave enough to try this scarey looking tea. :) I think the dry leaves smells kind of fishy, soy saucey. Not bad—rather savory smelling. I pulled out the Yixing, because after reading Auggy’s notes, I was actually worried I might kill myself if I steeped this for 4-5 minutes western style. I went with about 8 ounces water and the whole package (7 grams?) at 195F for 45 seconds. The brew was not bad…kind of like some funky Pu-erh with a toasty, salty, fishy kind of finish. I rather liked it and will steep another for longer this time. The wet leaves smell exactly like belt leather…did this one for well over a minute, but since I just received my Silk Road Teas order from the UPS guy, I’d turned the Zojirushi down to 175….so steeped at 190. Much darker steep this time! Less fishy and much more leathery salty taste. It isn’t bad, in fact, I’d recommend a sample of this just for the weirdness factor. That and it seems to be giving me a good caffeine buzz too, somehow. I am going to be brave and try another steep at 4 minutes with a little more water. Hmm..I think this one tastes the best, however, my water is getting colder as I get ready to have Chinese greens so I’ll have to end it here. Not your father’s oolong and not something I’d buy again, but all-in-all, not a horrible experience considering it was 20 years old. :) The juvenile in me likes how my son pronounced this…Wang Tan Pee.

Smokey. Just like liquid smoke. I did a 10 second ore steep followed by a one minute steep. Whew! Not my kin of tea! I might try brewing it again, on a day where I Can do multiple steeps and have the patience to see if this gets better. Has a slight nutty coffee smell.
Might give this sample away to a friend.

I loved this tea! I just discovered the world of aged oolongs, and this is the first one i’ve tried. I brewed it gong-fu style in a yixing pot with excellent results thru many steepings. It is definitely different from a pu-erh, though. It has more of a camphor quality about it and less earthiness than a pu-erh. The tea is reminiscent of a fine aged whisky. Its mellow character comes thru in each infusion. A very good introduction to aged oolong!