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Second yixin teapot and king 913 oolong tea

I bought a new red yixin teapot and King 913 Oolong tea to brew in it. When I bought the tea I did not know it had ginseng and would not have purchased if I did. This frustated me because the english ingredients were hidden in a sea of chinese which I discovered and read while taking the bus home. The frustration was short lived when I opened it, smelled it, and brewed it at home.

The tea leaves had a pleasant sweet aroma and made a very good brew, good enough to overlook the fact that it had ginseng which I am not very fond of when unblended. I added water (180 deg f) and brewed for 4 minutes, the tea leaves expanded quite a bit. It's flavour is hard for me to describe maybe bright, grassy, a tad earthy (I don't know) with a sweet after taste that lingers for a few minutes. A new taste experience, but a very pleasant one.

One of the problems I seem to face when I buy chinese tea is the language barrier, most of the tea boxes have very little or no english instructions on them. Is there any way I can get english literature that explains what each tea is like and how their packaging looks. The Ten-Ren store and website has some info but I don't belive it covers all or even most of the many varieties of tea they stock.

I also bought a package of Pu-Erh Mini Tou Cha compressed tea from them for three dollars and some change. That was brewed in my Pu-Erh yixin pot. I thought it had a more rich earthy flavour than my aged Pu-Erh tea (non-compressed) and I probably will be buying more soon. So far that is only about 3 different chinese teas I have tried all exotic and quite good but my I would like to take more trial and error out of this by finding out what is what in the world of chinese teas and perhaps other teas. Is there any place I can go in New York City where they offer samplers of a large variety of brewed teas? To prevent me from buying teas that I may not like. I have avoided this so far by only by chance.

Also does this tea have a typicical oolong flavour, or am I going to have to devote this pot to this kind of oolong only?

Reply to
Opother
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snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Opother) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m20.aol.com:

For me, part of the fun of tea is exploring to see what I like. Of course, there will be some misses along with the hits, and you want to minimize the number. However, your taste is your own and not the same as anyone else's. Even if you follow the recommendations of the most experience people with tastes similar to your own, you will miss out on some teas that you like and try a number that are not to your liking.

I started my tea explorations with blacks and only later moved on to greens. I am still overwhelmed by the variety of greens, but one day SpecialTeas tossed in a free sampler of Ting Tung Jade Ooolong into an order. My experience was similar to yours. The sweet aftertaste was very striking. Every cup from that sample was like that. Unfortunately, subsequent orders of that very same tea (number 618 in their catalog) have never quite matched that first sample. Since then I have bene exploring oolongs. There is a huge variation. Some are very green (unoxidized). Others are quite noticably oxidized. It seems strange that teas that are so different could be classed in the same category, but they are! I find that I tend to like the less oxidized oolongs from Taiwan, and that many (but not all) of the more oxidized oolongs are too toasty for my taste. Then again, many people like toasty oolongs. I don't own any yixing teapots (no room!), so I have no experience with them on which to base advice. OTOH, if the flavors are very different, perhaps you'd want to use different pots.

I don't get into NYC very much these days, so can't suggest a store or tea room for you to do sampling. OTOH, you can order small samples very inexpensively from SpecialTeas.com. They have a very nice selection of oolongs. The samples are enough for several cups of tea. The cost may be only a dollar for an inexpensive tea or two or three dollars for something pricier. (The Ting Tung Jade Ooolong sample costs $3.) You'd probably pay a dollar or two for a cup of tea if you bought it in a shop or tea room, so this is a reasonable alternative.

Apropos pu-ehr, I have always had a liking for it and just last week ordered a pu-ehr sampler ($22, eight different varieties) from Holy Mountain. It came the day before yesterday. Now that the chill winds of October are blowing, I expect to open some of those samples over the next few days. What fun. FWIW, in the same order I got some sencha (same variety that I liked so much in an order I placed with HM a year ago) and some first grade genmai cha. I'm enjoying a cup of the genmai cha right now. It's low in caffeine, and just the perfect cup to sip while sitting at one's PC.

Debbie

Reply to
Debbie Deutsch

Wild Lily in western Chelsea and Wild Lily Tea Market in the East Village are both good places to drink teas you've never tasted before. I prefer the latter because I find it more relaxing.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

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