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.