Thursday, December 19, 2013

Taiwan Tea Crafts : Winter 2013 Da Yu Ling

Today I will be discussing another tea from Taiwan Tea Crafts.  It is another gaoshan oolong, this time from the Da Yu Ling mountain range.  Geographically speaking, Da Yu Ling is within the Li Shan mountain range of Taiwan, however its peaks reach even greater altitude than the rest of the range.  They are the highest peaks in the country and the teas from the region often command the highest prices when it comes to gaoshan.





The leaves have the typical high mountain oolong look to them, tightly rolled and lightly oxidized.  The smell of the dry leaves is very sweet and creamy, with a more muted floral aspect when compared to the Li Shan Cui Fong.  Again, this tea is extremely fresh, harvested just in October of this year.

The wet leaves smell sweet and floral, however they also hide a slight toasty smell.  The toastiness reminds me of cookies for whatever reason.

My first two sessions with this tea were using the same weight of tea that I typically use for my gaiwan.  The early infusions are light and slightly vegetal, with a good throaty aftertaste that brings a delicate sweetness as I exhale.  The fragrance of this tea is a little more reserved, taking longer to open up.  The tea is not what I would call sweet, at least not in the very bright, high, fresh way that the LSCF tea was.  The liquid itself is actually slightly astringent, however its aftertaste is sweet and fragrant. 

Somewhere around the fourth or fifth infusion, the aftertaste changed dramatically.  It became much more fragrant, sweeter, and had an edge to it which reminded me of tropical fruits. 

My third session with this tea, I used less tea than I had in the earlier sessions.  I was hoping to try to bring out some of the creaminess that I was smelling in the dry leaves.  What happened, however, was that the tea itself became much sweeter.  The fragrance was improved, too.  The tropical fruit notes of which I spoke were also enhanced.  The aftertaste had many layers of flavor, quite special.

I have pushed this tea in excess of 10 infusions, and never did it hint at any sort of bitterness.  The taste becomes lighter as the infusions drag on, however I could still taste the character of the tea.



To compare this tea to the LSCF directly, I would say that this tea is probably of higher quality.  Its aftertaste is situated in a different part of the mouth.  This tea has a very throaty aftertaste, something which I spoke about in my previous post.  The LSCF's aftertaste sits more in the top of the mouth.  The LSCF tea is extremely fragrant, almost to the point where it is like drinking perfume.  It completely penetrates the nasal cavities, whereas the DYL has a more reserved floral profile that is certainly there in the aftertaste, however it is never as penetrating as the LSCF.  The LSCF is also sweeter in a sort of sugary way.  Its sweetness fills the mouth when the liquid is still present, whereas the DYL's sweetness hides briefly before displaying itself in the aftertaste.

Overall, the DYL I would call a more reserved tea.  It is, for that reason, more complex and what I would call of higher quality.  It is hard for me to rank them against each other in terms of which is 'better' to me.  I think I would enjoy drinking each one under different circumstances. 

There is one more gaoshan from TTC which I have to try, perhaps I shall be able to rank them against each other after that. 


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Taiwan Tea Crafts : Winter 2013 Li Shan Cui Fong

We are firmly within the holiday season here in the States, and while I have been drinking plenty of tea lately, I have been more focused on other things than keeping up my journal of tasting notes.  This tea is the first in a while which I have thought more seriously about.


Today's tea comes from a tea company located in Taiwan; Taiwan Tea Crafts.   Taiwan is famous for its tea, most notably its bao zhong and high mountain (gao shan) oolongs.  This tea is of the latter category.

Generally speaking, a tea is classified as high mountain if it is grown at an elevation of at least 1000 meters.  High mountain oolongs exist towards the greener side of the oolong 'scale' and are revered for their orchid aroma and sweet, throaty aftertaste.  As you can see from the image above, the tea is rolled into tight balls which unfurl quickly and display a dramatic increase in volume.






This tea, grown on Li Shan (Pear Mountain), displays a very low level of oxidation, as evidenced by the slight discoloration of the edges of the leaves themselves.  Taiwan Tea Crafts notes the harvest date of each tea they sell so that a prospective customer can be aware of the freshness.  This tea was picked in November of this year, and is certainly the freshest high mountain tea I have had the pleasure of drinking.

The wet leaves have a thick, sweet, creamy floral scent to them.  During the first few infusions, the floral aroma is so strong that the leaves smell more like perfume than tea.  Early infusions display more muted floral notes, leaning more towards a gentle vegetal sweetness that lingers on the tongue and in the top half of the mouth.  As the infusions progress and the leaves open, the tea becomes increasingly floral, peaking around the fourth infusion or so.  At this stage, the aroma is extremely penetrating, completely filling the mouth and nasal cavities with scent.

The aroma dies quickly after the fifth infusion, and the tea becomes more gently perfumed liquid until about the eighth infusion, at which point I discarded the leaves.  At no point during the infusions did the liquid become astringent or bitter.

My tea friend and colleague, who hails from Taiwan, explained to me that the two things that people look for in a high mountain tea are the floral fragrance and aftertaste which lingers in the throat.  This tea has the first aspect in spades, however the aftertaste of this tea is felt more in the top half of the mouth and in the nasal cavities, rather than the throat.

We tasted this tea along side an unopened bag of 2012 high mountain tea to compare the similarities.  The 2012 tea had a more muted fragrance, however its aftertaste was apparent in the throat, a lasting sweetness that could be felt every time I exhaled.  I can assume that fragrance, and perhaps a degree of sweetness,  are the first things to leave a tea as it begins to age.  This 2013 Li Shan was certainly the sweeter and more fragrant of the two, however the main difference could be found in the placement and length of the aftertaste.

I, for one, am extremely pleased with this tea.  I do not mind that the aftertaste has different placement in the mouth.  What I am most impressed with is the freshness of the tea, which can be so easily felt in the sweetness and the powerful aroma that the drinker experiences.

I inadvertently had a session of this tea which was brewed with a smaller quantity of leaves than I intended.  What happened was interesting.  A creaminess in the tea which was not present in other sessions was revealed.  The taste itself was more milky, and interestingly enough, the floral aspects were more muted.  It is perhaps possible that the creaminess existed in the other sessions as well, but was just overpowered by the high floral fragrance.  It was an interesting result, and I think that I will try varying the amount of tea in the future as I work my way through some other samples.