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.
Flavors: Char, Decayed Wood, Honey, Mineral, Oak, Roasted, Smoke, Smooth, Wood
Preparation
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Eh! Drinking hot tea in August IS annoying! I was desperate this morning so I was forced to drink a hot cuppa, which was not the torture I thought it would be.
We’ve had some days that were over 30C here in Ontario, but I tend not to cold brew because it requires more leaf and I don’t get as many resteeps. I guess I’d rather save money than have cold tea. I do, however, sometimes cold brew old teas I want to get rid of.
I generally will brew a big pot of hot tea at night as I am doing the dinner dishes, pour it into a jug and chill it overnight. That way I can get a few hot brews out of the leaves without having to cold brew-which I also think is a waste and does not taste as good as hot brew that’s chilled. It’s been consistently over 32.22C here (90s Fahrenheit) on the U.S. East coast with 98% humidity. We had tornadoes yesterday-and even they did not cool it off. I made sure to brew up tea after dinner so I can have a big, cold glass tomorrow at breakfast.
Yikes, that’s hot! I’ve also made hot tea and then put it in the fridge. I’m not sure if it makes more tea than cold steeping; I might have to do a comparison. I actually haven’t made a big Western pot of tea in quite a while. I usually do gongfu sessions or steep it in a mug using a Finum infuser.
I am a tea barbarian. That is one reason why I don’t review. When I first tried pu erh, I would put a chunk in 2 cups of water in a Pyrex measuring cup then put that in the microwave for 2 minutes. I brew Western 95% of the time. To me, tea just tastes like tea. I so love these lyrical tasting notes folks write and wish I could get all that from my tea. So I get it vicariously here instead.
Eh! Drinking hot tea in August IS annoying! I was desperate this morning so I was forced to drink a hot cuppa, which was not the torture I thought it would be.
We’ve had some days that were over 30C here in Ontario, but I tend not to cold brew because it requires more leaf and I don’t get as many resteeps. I guess I’d rather save money than have cold tea. I do, however, sometimes cold brew old teas I want to get rid of.
I generally will brew a big pot of hot tea at night as I am doing the dinner dishes, pour it into a jug and chill it overnight. That way I can get a few hot brews out of the leaves without having to cold brew-which I also think is a waste and does not taste as good as hot brew that’s chilled. It’s been consistently over 32.22C here (90s Fahrenheit) on the U.S. East coast with 98% humidity. We had tornadoes yesterday-and even they did not cool it off. I made sure to brew up tea after dinner so I can have a big, cold glass tomorrow at breakfast.
Yikes, that’s hot! I’ve also made hot tea and then put it in the fridge. I’m not sure if it makes more tea than cold steeping; I might have to do a comparison. I actually haven’t made a big Western pot of tea in quite a while. I usually do gongfu sessions or steep it in a mug using a Finum infuser.
I am a tea barbarian. That is one reason why I don’t review. When I first tried pu erh, I would put a chunk in 2 cups of water in a Pyrex measuring cup then put that in the microwave for 2 minutes. I brew Western 95% of the time. To me, tea just tastes like tea. I so love these lyrical tasting notes folks write and wish I could get all that from my tea. So I get it vicariously here instead.