Dong Ding Winter Peak Oolong Tea

So… buttery…. :)

I tend to go for roasted Dong Ding’s more than green. I had completely forgotten that I had this tea in my cabinet. It does not disappoint. It’s so light, buttery, creamy, and floral. The mouth-feel is just ridiculous. The mouth-feel alone is worth drinking this tea. I feel like I’m cheating on something. Can something be scandalously buttery? Is that a term I can use? Haha! Well, the mouth-feel is scandalously buttery in the best way.

Edit: Looking at my last tasting note for this… This tea has definitely gotten better now that it has settled a bit more. :)

As a part of my resolve to branch out and explore oolong tea, I made a purchase from Yezi for this lovely Dong Ding. (I also ordered their Pouchong as well and made a pot of it at the same time to compare to this—-review coming soon). This tea was absolutely wonderful—made my taste buds dance! I steeped this in my little glass teapot for 4 minutes, and the color of the liquor was a beautiful gold, the aroma sweet and buttery. The taste was phenomenal: sweet, slightly floral (orchid?) slightly buttery—and overall it was lively, lingering, and lovely! It was very faintly reminiscent of the milk oolong I have from Gong Fu Tea, only less creamy/buttery and with the added floral notes. Aaaahhhh truly a delight in every sense!
I steeped the leaves again, this time for 5 minutes, and could definitely taste more of floral aspects. It was also creamy, a little more vegetal, and dry on the tongue, but not at all unpleasant.
This is a definite LOVE. I will have to order this again. It is such a pleasing and complex tea, so fresh and tasty, you can just tell it is of very exceptional quality. This is truly happiness in a cup!

Free sample of 5gm, I used a 130 gaiwan and water temperature a little lower than recommended and also steeped initially for shorter times. Dry leaf aroma is that typical green oolong scent but its somewhat muted in this leaf. The aroma of the wet leaf is more pronounced and again typical. The first steep brought a perfect picture of me eating puffed rice as a kid. I added 5 seconds to each steep and the third was the best of the bunch. Now the puffed rice had the sugar on it and the was more body to this light tea. The also was a hint of pine nut that I remembered from a dragonwell I tasted previously. An average tea good for those who like an unassertive tea.

I think it’s been a while since I’ve had a Taiwanese oolong. I’d almost forgotten how delicate they were! Gongfu style brewing with a mason jar, strainer, and mug, since I’m too lazy to pull out my yixing (which I’ve sort of been using for black teas, anyway).

Very light and smooth, with almost no astringency. Has a slightly creamy or buttery mouthfeel. Sort of like velvet? I should probably brush up on my texture descriptors. Sweet, a tiny bit vegetal, also with a slight floral hint. Sort of reminds me of a mix of tieguanyin and jin xuan oolongs, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a tieguanyin so I can’t be certain.

Gosh, I need to get back to drinking more oolongs! But I should probably deal with my exploding tea trunk, first…

(Sample sipdown!)

Very interesting tea. Writing this drinking the second steeping, which is very similar to the first. The aroma of both is excellent, with a very smooth, wet, warm, organic character, and sets very high expectations for the tea. The flavor is something I’m not sure I’ve experienced before. It’s got an incredibly silky, almost oily mouthfeel, and with no bitterness it delivers a complex flavor profile that’s initially subtle, but develops through several layers that I’m not quite sure how to describe. It’s very slightly vegetal, but in such a tamed way that it’s almost like drinking steamed cauliflower. This is a totally new tea experience for me. Not sure if I’ll buy, but I’ll remember it.

Sipdown (kind of; I’m sending off the last cup). A really delicious oolong despite being a little… aged. Thanks to Yezi Tea for the sample!

Brewed with a glass gongfu tea pot . Steeping times: 45, 30, 45, 60, 90.

The dry leaf initially smells buttery and flowery, and when my nose becomes used to the aroma, sweet barn hay (maybe because the sample is almost a year old….). The wet leaf has classic dong ding aroma notes: roasted, much more floral, and chlorophyll-filled.

The liquor is slightly green gold, pale, clear. Full-body. Creamy texture. The first infusion is sweet and floral, an embodiment of mid-spring with a calming effect. Roasted vegetables are dominant in the second, and in the third – the peak of the session – they tone down, and a sugarcane sweetness appears, along with a honeysuckle note. Strawberry aftertaste. After a two and half hour break, I resumed the session. The fourth infusion is light and floral, and the fifth is roughly the same, although a little tangy.

I didn’t want to ingest anymore caffeine for the day, so I cold-brewed the rest for fourteen hours. Not…recommended. The leaf didn’t yield much. Not complex at all.

This dong ding didn’t give me a wow factor, but it was still lovely to drink, especially on a not-too-warm, sunny spring Sunday.

Well, this confounded my expectations. I have never had an unroasted Dong Ding, so this is a new experience to me.

The first steeping was light with hints of sweet soft floral. By the second the infusion color is a light yellow-green with a very generous buttery flavor and mouthfeel and a finish of floral and sweet vegetal flavors. A few infusions in I’m reminded a bit of a Tie Guanyin. There are the nice hearty leafy qualities with just hints of floral and spice. In later steepings the tea is more mellow and buttery with just dull sweetness, but it is good for many infusions. I’m on 6 and and though there is a bit of a mineral flavor emerging, it is still overall good to drink. By infusion 8 the bitter/mineral quality seemed to back off again and the cup is mostly sweet, if not a bit weak. I’m doing a 9th infusion before I stop (can you tell yet that I’m brewing Gongfu style?). Wow! On the 9th infusion the flavor changed completely and now it tastes like artichoke! Surprising! There’s a little lingering sweetness, and as it cools I’m getting more of the clove/camphor notes from before. Okay, maybe one more won’t hurt. 10’s a good stopping point. Oh yeah, now that I’m trying it, it’s quite interesting. Really different from where this tea started out. Still buttery with some nice artichoke and cream notes.

While I must confess I find myself more drawn to the roasted type of Dong Ding, this unroasted version is unique and fun to enjoy. It really gives you a peek at what nuances in the tea leaves develop into the qualities you’d find in a roasted Dong Ding when it is roasted.

Origin: Logu, Nantou Co.; Taiwan
dong ding (Dong Ding) = mountainous oolong producing area of Nantou county, Taiwan, literally Frozen Summit (冻顶 or 凍頂)
Dry Leaf: Buttery, daffodil-scented yellowish-green tightly rolled pellets on stems.
Method: 4oz Porcelain Gong Fu pot 5grams tea 3oz water 200F No rinse
45 seconds first steeping then 55 seconds for the second steeping
Wet Leaf: Mostly 2 leaves on a stem. Honey and daffodil-scented. Leaves dark forest green now.
Liquor: Light spring green color, scent of the daffodil and honey.
Flavor: First infusion – Buttery flavor and mouthfeel. Not too floral in flavor, it is more on the nose—which is perfect.
Second infusion brought a touch of balancing bitter (but not harsh) and the liquor is a darker spring green color. Very good floral Oolong.

This had a very green aroma and flavor, and while I liked it, I didn’t pick up on any special scents or tastes. It just tasted like a slightly sweet greenish tea.

Absolutely drinkable, but there are several teas from a yezi that I like better, so I’ll be sticking with those.

Edit 5/19/14 – I made this grandpa style at work last week and I thought it was especially well suited to this method. The tea tasted mild and pleasant, but never became bitter. I got 3-4 steepings out of about 3/4 tsp. of tea in a 10 oz. mug. I’m adjusting my rating because I was very happy with the result.