Lao Cong Shui Xian from Jing Tea Shop or Butterfly Brand Ti Kuan Yin (el cheapo from local Asian mart - not great but ok for work)
1992 Menghai loose Shu for after lunch
Various at home, '93 7542; 30year loose blended cooked from BTH; DHP from Tea Museum in HK, Royal Grade B loose Pu-erh from James Banna; Golden and Imperial Oolongs.
But right this minute, 15:22 in the afternoon, it's the '92 Menghai.
;-)>
Cheers Mal Oz
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Since my tea exploits are well documented on my blog, some of you probably know what I've been up to anyway. The most interesting and best tea I've had recently is a 1960s Guangyun Gong. So good. I can drink that everyday. Too bad I only have a small sample from a friend.
I found a can of it (TGY) in a local Thai/multiethnic store here in Washington (State) but it's been a few years. I got the one can and haven't seen it since. I was very impressed with it at the time since I had not really had huge whole leaf oolongs before that, and to my recollection it wasn't too bad. The leaves were hugeand it wasn't super green. .I think Jim might have an online source or at least a picture. Jim?
I have seen it in two places, probably neither of them any use to you, but Yue Hwa in HK and Singapore have it and here in West Australia most local Asian supermarkets carry them. 'Supermarket' is probably an overstatement as they more resemble a 711 with an Asian overtone. I think I paid A$8 for a
125gm tin.
First time I brewed it I didn't factor in the huge expansion of the leaves - took the lid right off the gaiwan !
The one I have says its packaged by the "Fujian Tea Import and Export Co Ltd" in Fuzhou. As I said it probably won't win any awards but it has a fantastic aroma, huge leaf and tastes Ok for an every day tea.
Incidentally, it was a Butterfly Brand Wuyi Mountain that got me into this obsession in the first place.
I don't know if it is sold online in the US. THe last link was from Myanmar which has dried up. The Fujian Export site shows the Butterfly Brand:
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You have the top grade FL111. Interesting what they show as FL116 is my FL115 which showed up in Chinatown recently. Even that grade is enough to gag a pot but is single leaf and not multileaf stem like yours. The Butterfly Brand has a picture of a butterfly on the lid. The two different characters for Butterfly each mean butterfly according to my dictionaries. At $4/125g it is just as good as my local tea shoppe Supreme version at $12/100g.
I'm heading to Los Angeles next week, so I'll hit both Chinatowns there, now that my interest is piqued. You never know what will show up and it's always a good excuse to pop into Wing Hop Fung and stop somewhere in Montery Park for dim sum. Shen
Shen, save the effort and just go to WHF in Monterey Park on Atlantic Blvd. And if you are into wine as well, ask for Keng Ong...the young owner who's in charge of the wine section.
About what's in my cup, last night I had the 2003 Xia Guan Bao Yan brick, which was mildly smokey and quite mild tasting too for me. It left a sweet aftertaste in the very back of the throat and an obvious cooling sensation.
I also had 3 types of Dan Cong's.
- light oxidation and light roast - caramel and honey
- medium oxidation medium roast - peach and floral
ITC has two in their new newsletter - Winter Fush Imperial Pouchong and Winter Flush Imperial Green Ooolong. Now that I'm over my ITC temper tantrum, I'm going to the Berkeley store tomorrow to taste them. Shen
Phyll, I'm just curious...you list four teas, how many steeps did you get on average with each? And how large are the cups? I always wonder about this because I can only get through about one tea an evening but I'm drinking maybe 6-7 steeps of about 8 ounces apiece....just comparing quantities out of curiousity.
I'm sorry. I wrote my comment above in a hurry and I wasn't careful about the time line. I had those 4 teas in 4 separate days, and the
2003 Baoyan being the one I had the night prior to writing the post.
For the Baoyan, I did 8 infusions before stopping (the tea was still brewable for a couple more, I think).
For the lighter/greener Dan Cong, I was able to get about 5-6 good brews because I used less leaves than I would other Dan Cong's. This greener Dancong gets bitter easily, and if overbrewed it smells like burnt rubberband. That's why I used less leaves and shorter infusion time to get the nice caramel and honey characters. It's a bit tricky to get this tea right, I think.
The medium one was a gift from a hardcore tea enthusiast. He sent me a little amount of this truly fabulous Dan Cong that he got while visiting Guangzhou. The tea opened up beautifully at around the 5th brew, and it kept on giving for 10 or so more infusions (a 5-minute steep for the last round). Such impeccable balance of fruit, floral, and roast, and no one taste overpowers the other.
The song zhong is a specimen from Best Tea House in Hong Kong. Drinking it with my wife, I got 18+ brews. It's by far the most assertive Dan Cong I've ever tried. Obviously, I used too much leaves (1/2-full of my Yixing). It got bitter on me easily and I had to reduce the infusion time. What's new (for me) about this Song Zhong is that the liquor was reddish in color for the first 2 or 3 brews, and the tea gave off a strawberry/red berries taste. After that, the liquor became a normal amber-brown with the usual peachy/yellow fruits tastes. It's an assertive tea, for sure. Next time I should use less leaves.
While at work browsing tea sites, while I should be doing something else. I found this Zhuan Cha on Tea Spring, this is what I feel is an excellent shu Pu erh,
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Of course it is much cheaper from an ebay store (1/3 the price).
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