My notes on the winter oolong met the same fate as the long jing, but I completely botched it anyway, so no loss; I'll just skip it. I simply can not gong fu lightly oxidized oolongs; it never ends well. Yet I keep trying.
But not this time. I used a larger pot and steeped 3 grams for 3 minutes.
Aroma: there is a sharp, vegtal scent buried in layers of honey and butter, reminds me of my father--he would mix honey with warm butter and spread it on slices of bread, and there is a pleasant pang of melancholic nostalgia.
The first thing I notice is that this time the tea does not taste like an astringent, over-steeped mess. Progress! The brew is light, light to the point that perhaps I should have used more leaf or less water. It is more similar to the wen shan bao zhong I've had than its Taiwanese counterparts such as dong ding. There is a green-gold tint to the liquor that didn't show up in the pictures. The second infusion was fuller, less nuanced, and sweeter.
The wet leaves are mostly single, whole leaves, but there are a few of the two or three leaf clusters I've always admired.
4 comments:
From its looks this tea is pretty unlikely to be a Wuyi mountain stuff -- it's not processed that way. More likely a Southern Fujian tea...
Have you tried using a gaiwan for this stuff? Might work better.
Yes, every other time I've brewed this tea or other lightly oxidized oolong I've used a gaiwan. I just never have positive results.
My apology for the bad English translation. Wuyi mountain of Fujian province is famous of producing Souchong and Shui Xian. My oolong actually is from Anxi area.
June
oooh, okay. Thanks for the clarification.
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