Dong Ding Oolong-Heavy Roast

Adventageddon Day 6 – Tea 2/4

Gongfu!

I loved having the Dong Ding to drink at my desk while working; warm and cozy with delicious toasted hazelnut notes! Very slick, round feeling liquor and a lovely mix of grains and minerals. I believe this is my first time trying a tea from Beautiful Taiwan Tea, and it was a really perfect introduction to the company. I would love to hear recommendations for other teas they carry that I need to check out!

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0hzetzu5km/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1QKWyz30mY

Day 6 of the Tea Thoughts Winter Countdown box. Got a pretty bad migraine and have been stuck in bed all day. On the up side, at least I had this yesterday and wrote up my note ahead of time so I’m not going to be behind. I’m generally not a fan of dong ding because I often find that it has a mineral note that, as we’ve established, I don’t particularly enjoy. But this one doesn’t! This feels more like a tie guan yin roast, just not quite as heavy. There’s an almost floral greenness underlying the roast. Glad I gave this a chance. It’s great for a chilly winter’s day. I had this Western-style but will probably gong fu the remainder.

I usually prefer heavily oxidized teas, so sometimes Taiwanese oolongs are not to my taste, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The first few infusions as the leaves open up are a little green for my taste in a roasted oolong, marked by notes of cooked vegetables, but the later infusions bring out the fruit and nut flavors I was looking for. I would love to see how this ages, I think time would bring out that really nice ‘sour plum’ flavor while mellowing out the roast.

I used the following steeping schedule to produce 6 infusions: 10s rinse, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 1 min.

When dry, the leaves offer the scent of cream with a mild nuttiness. After awakening the leaves (10s rinse), the leaves take on the scent of roasted peanuts and charcoal while remaining reminiscent of coffee grounds.

The first infusion tasted quite vegetal; steamed spinach accented by roasted peanuts. Hints of sweetness could be detected at the finish. The liquor is a clear amber and goes down the throat with ease.

The second and third infusions introduce a mineral note — perhaps granite? There is a bit of astringency felt on the sides of the tongue and the tea takes on a smokier tone.

By the fourth and fifth infusions, the astringency has decreased and given way to notes of buttery sprouts and pomegranate. Roasted peanuts lie heavily in the back of the throat and nasal passages.

The sixth and final infusion gives off a less pronounced nuttiness; a more delicate toasted almond flavor.

I would have preferred that this tea be more dynamic in flavor. Despite being a heavy roast, there was not a large focus on charcoal as a primary note, making the tea more “drinkable.” If you are looking for a strong tasting roasted tea, I would look elsewhere. I think this tea would go well with trail mix during a hike. While not prominent, it did carry a sort of earthiness throughout all infusions.

I swear I’m the type of person who is never going to pass up a Dong Ding oolong, especially a roasted one. I have a huge soft spot for such teas, and since I pretty much love Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company’s Old Style Dong Ding Oolong, there was no way I was not going to jump at the opportunity to try this roasted version. Now that I have had a couple days to process my feelings regarding this tea, I can safely say that I did not enjoy it as much as the Old Style Dong Ding Oolong. It was a very good tea, but it lacked the liveliness of its greener counterpart.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and 5 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I found that the dry tea leaves offered aromas of butter, char, wood, and gentle spice. After the rinse, I found emerging aromas of cream and roasted peanut underscored by hints of blueberry and black raspberry. The first infusion brought out some ghostly fig and plum aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered smooth, subtle notes of butter, cream, and char that were chased by hints of roasted peanut, dark fruit, and some sort of spice. Vague vegetal touches then emerged on the finish. Subsequent infusions brought out more distinctive notes of plum, fig, black raspberry, and blueberry on the palate. The generic spice notes also began to separate into more distinct nutmeg and cinnamon impressions. New impressions of baked bread, roasted almond, wood, cattail shoots, damp grass, vanilla, minerals, and roasted vegetables also emerged on these infusions. The later infusions retained a smooth mouthfeel with mild notes of cream, minerals, vanilla, damp grass, and cattail shoots underscored by some lingering notes of wood, char, roasted nuts, and surprisingly enough, black raspberry.

An interesting and satisfying roasted oolong, but more than a bit samey in terms of texture throughout the course of the session, this was far from a bad tea. I would have liked to see more dynamism overall, with a greater separation of aromas and flavors, but again, this was still a very good tea. Perhaps what separated it most from some of the other roasted Dong Ding oolongs I have tried is that it struck me as being fruitier, almost jammy, and I really was not expecting that. This one would definitely be worth a try for those interested in Taiwanese roasted oolongs.

Popped a bag of this open a couple weeks ago to compare with the “Old Style” Dong Ding from the same vendor. While the “Old Style” might have more complexity, I appreciate the slightly increased flavor potency afforded by the baking/roasting – it’s a reasonable trade-off:

Filtered Santa Monica municipal water, to glass cha hai, to my Taiwanese purple clay tea-pot (mostly used for heavy roast oolong), back to the glass cha hai, into my porcelain cup.

Pleasant, sweet, slightly vegetal aroma post-rinse.

3 steeps at 45 seconds: Amber liquor; hay, paraffin, roast nuts, butter bean, and toasted honey in the nose and on the palate – floral/herbal notes emerge in the finish, which is surprisingly long and satisfying. The lingering sweetness reminds me of custard.

6 more steeps, gradually extending from 60 seconds out to 3 minutes: As above but the character of the aftertaste settles down to a more unified note (reminding me of fennel pollen), and the color gradually becomes both lighter and more drab. This remains drinkable for a long time, with day-old leaves giving you a few more steeps the following morning, the flavors diminished but not lost, flattened but not disordered…

Similar to the Old Style Dong Ding, but exchanging some of the subtle complexity for a bit more longevity…well balanced and gentle, but not too light.

I compared this to BTTC’s “Old Style” Dong Ding (i.e. green Dong Ding), just to see what’s up.

The roasted version is pretty good. I have to say that I don’t find it particularly active or dynamic in the mouth. The arrival and development are pretty much roasted peanut and some dry minerality. A little flat for my palate, really.

The finish and aftertaste become more dynamic. Sweetness and fruit flavors arrive and stick around for a while.

I’m no Dong Ding expert (any Dong Ding experts out there – feel free to chime in), but I did have a similar taste experience with another Dong Ding from a different company. A little flat in-mouth, a much better finish and aftertaste.

I can see the appeal of Dong Ding, as it is definitely an approachable easy drinker. If you are searching for a wallop of flavor, though, I don’t think this is your guy.
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Dry leaf – roast peanut, dried parsley/dill. In preheated vessel – roast peanut gets stronger, notes of cherry-infused dark chocolate

Smell – roast peanut, black tea blend, some slight phenolic and medicinal notes, but pleasant

Taste – Arrival/development: roast peanut, black tea blend, slight minerality. Finish/aftertaste: hints of cherry chocolate and Mexican hot chocolate (cinnamon); sweet citrus, lemongrass, some pleasant sour candy flavors.

Thick on the tongue and quite toasty, with a subtle sweetness. The aftertaste is long, and the overall flavor reminds me of houjicha, but smoother and without as much emphasis on the charcoal.