A Tea Addict's Journal

Entries tagged as ‘wuyi yancha’

Brewing yancha

September 25, 2007 · 6 Comments

I had the laocong rougui I bought recently again, this time using less leaves (about 50% of the pot was filled). Results were quite good, actually. The tea is a little lighter this way, and a little more aromatic, sacrificing a little bit of the “punch”, especially in the “yanyun” (what you might translate as “rock aftertaste”, rock referring to the fact that this is “yancha”, literally rock tea). It sort of depends on what you want from the tea and what you’re looking for. I have friends in Hong Kong who drink this stuff because of the yanyun, and sometimes I’ve seen teas made with about 95% of the gaiwan filled with leaves. It’s not a cup for everybody, but the results can actually be very pleasant. Most people who see me brew a yancha for the first time will often remark how much tea I am putting into the pot…. but later discover, when they drink it, that it’s not bitter nor nasty at all, but in fact, brings out nuances that are otherwise not obvious enough. I think generally speaking, a yancha (not the unroasted stuff you sometimes find these days…) should be brewed with at least a 50% fill in the pot. Anything less…. and you are sacrificing the uniqueness of yancha. Some, of course, will disagree. I am, however, quite happy drinking my yancha this way — in a small pot with lots of leaves.

I think I am starting to sound like those Chaozhou old men.

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Laocong rougui

September 17, 2007 · 5 Comments

This is one of the acquisitions over the past weekend — a laocong (old bush) rougui.

This is what I will say is a heavy roast. It has been aged a bit to mellow out the “fire” taste in the tea, but there’s still a bit of it left. The tea’s not particularly cheap, but I’ve been wanting to try some of the stuff available here in Taiwan to compare with stuff I’ve got from China, and this store sells basically every kind of Wuyi Yancha imaginable.

Although rougui is supposed to have some sort of cinnamon aroma, I have never in my life found that to be the case. I don’t know … is it just me?

The tea brews a darkish coloured tea

This is with a 80% fill of dry leaves in the rather small pot that I use.

The first few infusions were quite good — very good, actually. Deep, full flavours that coat the mouth, and the lingering aroma lasts quite long. Sniffing the dried cup yields a pleasant sweetness. Some qi, although perhaps not as much as I’d like, given the price. The aroma in the cup lingers for quite a while — I can still smell it distinctly from the fairness cup hours after the last (rather weak) infusion has left it. It lasted easily for 10+ brews, and can keep going if I wished. Of course, the tea turns to a sweet, mellow flavour after about 5-6 infusions, but one of the things about yancha is that they keep going, and going, and going….

I am rather curious to try some of this guy’s other offerings, since this initial one is not bad at all. There are some rarer varietals that are on sale there that aren’t usually found elsewhere. Prices range from medium to high, but if the quality is good… getting 100g isn’t that much of an investment. These teas generally keep pretty well, and aren’t too fussy. If only the store is not so out of the way. Yancha is very pleasant as a regular drink, as opposed to young puerh, which, despite my frequent intake, is never really quite pleasant, necessarily speaking. One reason I didn’t try one of the new cakes I bought is precisely because I feel like I need a break from that young stuff…

I still can’t tell much from wet leaves for yancha. Leaves here seem a little smaller, perhaps an indication that more tender leaves are used (thus better). Roasting is obvious, but not so much that it becomes black. Honestly, of all the kinds of tea, I feel that yancha is perhaps the most difficult to understand. It’s easy to appreciate, but to be able to figure out the ins-and-outs of any one particular batch…. I should probably go to Wuyi again and spend a few days just observing their processing. The tea requires so much skill — from picking, processing, roasting — it’s extremely complex and the factors that go into the final product are many.

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Infidelity

September 11, 2007 · Leave a Comment

I am not terribly faithful when it comes to drinking tea. You, the observers, can probably tell that I drink a different thing every day. For me, that’s part of the fun — to try new things, to experiment with something different every day. I know some people do it with food, others with movies, etc. Tea, however, has that added advantage that no two sessions are ever exactly the same, at least for me.

I went back to the aged shuixian I have today, and it tasted quite different than last time. It’s less heavy — more airy and aromatic. It opened with an incredible sweetness, but then faded a bit to a dull, slightly boring tea. When I overbrewed it near the end though, the sweetness came back (which means I probably brewing a touch too fast in the middle). There was also something creamy about it at the end. I don’t know what that is.

It’s not a terribly exciting tea, but there’s always a sense of something new… some sort of discovery when one makes a cup. Maybe this is why I don’t use a timer (I tried putting those times down in my blog a few times…. and realized it’s really not for me to do it). It’s more fun that way. I can probably make more consistent cups if I always use a scale (which is mostly used these days to make sure I don’t overstuff my pots with young puerh). I think when one worries too much about the details… how hot exactly the water is, how long exactly the water’s been in the cup… one loses focus on the more important things, which is to relax and enjoy a cup of tea, preferably with friends, but even when alone, there’s much joy to be had.

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When teas turn sour

August 31, 2007 · Leave a Comment

… you should finish it quickly.

I opened up a canister of Wuyi yancha today, some stuff I bought early on last year when I first arrived in Beijing. I know I don’t have much of it left, and figured it’s time to drink it up.

It’s quite broken — partly because this is nearing the bottom of the pile. It’s also a little more broken to begin with, given it is heavier roasted.

When I brewed it though….

I noticed that it was sour 🙁

It wasn’t terribly terribly sour, but it was definitely not sour when I had it last time, maybe two or three months ago. Now, however, it’s turned sour, a bit. There’s a puckery taste to it, and you can feel it pretty well. I adjusted the brewing time and managed to keep it under control. I also noticed that the sourness faded after about two or three infusions, so the damage is limited, so far.

However, it is probably only going to get worse from now, especially given the more humid climate here. A sour tea that isn’t too sour can be salvaged by roasting it again. A sour tea that is sour all the way through though is hopeless. Some people actually like a tiny litle bit of sourness to their yancha. I find any sourness to be detracting from the overall experience… which means that I should really drink the rest of this tea up quickly before it turns for the worse.

Oh well, at least I don’t have another 200g of this to go.

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Wuyi shuixian

August 18, 2007 · 2 Comments

I had some Wuyi shuixian today that I got from Beijing. This is from a guy who claims to have opened the first civilian (as opposed to state-owned) tea factory in Wuyi mountains. He recently opened a store in Beijing, and I got this from him since…. well, since I walked by his store when he was standing out front, and I already knew him and pretty much were obligated to go in and drink something.

Shuixians are good for two things. The first is that it’s quite easy to handle – as long as it’s a properly made and stored shuixian, it can hardly go wrong. You can overbrew it and still get something quite decent out of it. The same is true for most Wuyi teas that are of the roasted variety — really light Wuyi can be quite nasty if overbrewed, at least in my experience anyway. The second good thing about shuixians is that it’s usually really cheap.

The price differential comes from somewhere, obviously. Oftentimes the qi of shuixian is lacking, and the robustness and depth of flavour also don’t necessarily compare with a top notch dahongpao or some such, but as an everyday drink, it beats almost anything. I’ll be happy to drink shuixian till the day I die without too much complaining…

The tea today is somewhat aged. Precisely how long, I don’t know, and I don’t know if the guy who sold it to me knows. I think he muttered something around 10 years. I’m not sure if it’s that old, but it’s probably been a few years. Wuyi teas in general develop a rather distinctive taste after a few years of aging — a taste that I don’t really know how to describe, but is unmistakable once you’ve tried it. This tea actually isn’t too heavily fired

But there’s still a bit of a charcoal roasted taste to it. It is generally sweet, mellow, quite warm, and quite relaxing. This is why I say it’s a good everyday tea – it’s unoffensive and very pleasant. Can’t say the same of things like younger puerhs, light Taiwan oolongs, or greens…

The leaves didn’t really unfurl despite repeated and long brewings.

Somebody told me at one point that leaves that don’t unfurl were rolled by hand, while machine rolled teas tend to unfurl easily. I would think that repeated roastings might also have done something to it. I’m not sure, actually, if any of these are true. Even when I tried to pry the leaves open though

You can see the wrinkles.

I’m wondering why I didn’t buy more of this. Then again, I remembered why as the third typhoon in two weeks raged outside — these things don’t behave when it’s moist outside. They can get sour, and I don’t like sour tea.

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Aged shuixian

July 24, 2007 · 2 Comments

This is a tea of unclear origins. I think I picked it up somewhere along the way in Beijing…

It’s an aged shuixian of sorts. Emphasis, I think, on the aged part. It does a few funny things. It isn’t bitter — until you overbrew it. It’s very fruity, almost oddly so. It’s got that nice aged Wuyi tea taste to it, but not sour. It’s not high fired. It’s light in taste, but very long lasting (many infusions later, it will still come out bitter if you overbrew it). It’s refreshing in taste, but dries out your mouth a little. It doesn’t possess obvious qi, but along the way, maybe during infusions 4-6, I felt a warmth buzzing in the lower back. The colour is a pleasant orange

But the colour belies the taste — which would normally be accompanied by a darker hue. It’s a bit of a strange tea, really, and I don’t really know what happened to it. I think I bought this bag partly out of curiosity — to see what’s going on here. It’s a tea full of contradictions. I don’t think it’s a very good one — it’s merely ok, but quite entertaining, and will definitely last a whole afternoon no matter what you do. I think I could’ve gone further with the tea, even after a good 10+ infusions. In that way, it’s like a good aged puerh — as long as you let it stew a little longer in the water, something will come out and it won’t taste bland.

The leaves are quite complete, and some are even greenish.

Fun tea, and worth every penny of it.

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Year old Dahongpao

July 17, 2007 · 2 Comments

Digging up more old tea, I found a tin of a year old dahongpao sitting around, waiting to be consumed. In fact, it might be more than a year old, but I really have no idea at this point because I don’t remember where I got it from. I’d venture to say it’s been in the same tin for almost two years now. Most of it is gone, but some is still there

I did the usual — warmed the pot, filled it up with maybe 75% full dry leaves, and then brewed. The tea comes out a light brown

Not too heavy in colour. The flavours, however, are strong. It’s got an obvious fragrance that is aged a little — a bit of that aged sweetness is creeping in. There’s no sourness of any kind, instead, it’s got a mellow fruity flavour that seems to be buzzing below the surface. The tea has obvious qi, as I was feeling it after one cup, and it’s got a nice rock aftertaste as well as a good throatiness. This is a good dahongpao! Now…. where did I get this again?

I really can’t remember.

Oh well, there’s enough for a few more brews. I also found a box of very high grade dahongpao that I bought about 5 years ago. It hasn’t been opened yet, and I don’t plan on doing so. Perhaps if there’s some great occasion warranting it, but for now… I’ll let it sit in that foil bag for a little longer. I have plenty to drink as it is.

It’s fun going through old teas that you have stashed away.

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Lazy day

June 3, 2007 · 1 Comment

A few things happened today

1) There was a Richter scale 6.4 earthquake in Yunnan, in the heart of the puerh tea producing areas. Jinghong and Lincang, among other places, felt the shaking as well, and the epicenter was around Ning’er County in the newly renamed Pu’er City (used to be Simao). So far, casualty is 3 deaths and 290 injuries, and I’m sure that’s going to climb. My thoughts go out to the people in the area…

2) It rained today. It’s the first time it really rained in any meaningful way in Beijing since … last October? It’s so very dry here, and very depressing sometimes. It was nice seeing the rain.

3) I wanted to drink something simple today, something that doesn’t take as much concentration as a young puerh. I took out Teacuppa’s sample of laocong shuixian (old bush shuixian) and drank that. The first infusion was a little sour, not enough to be offputting but enough to alarm me. It turned a corner though, and the sourness went away by the third infusion. It’s obviously aged, with a roundness and a fullness that you can’t find in a young shuixian. The tea is actually quite nice, and lasted many infusions. It could keep going when I was done with it, after at least 10. It was slightly on the bland side of things in the middle, but I probably should’ve brewed it for longer in retrospect. as the last few infusions, using 3 minutes or so brew time, were very full. Good tea, and easily the best of the samples I got from Teacuppa.

4) While I was drinking the shuixan, I opened their sample D to give it a try. I was never too convinced of the way the leaves look, with its very obvious mix of different colours and slightly odd appearance. The brewing confirmed my suspicion… they don’t seem to be quite puerh like. There’s an odd spicy/floral flavour to the tea, and bitterness crept in around infusion 3. An examination of the wet leaves gives me the impression this is some sort of low grade Fujian oolong made into cakes, or something like that. They felt and looked more like a cheap imitation tieguanyin than a young puerh. Sorry.

I’m sure you can guess which is which.

I still have sample E to drink, which I intend to compare to my own Jiangcheng cake (I’m sure E is Jiangcheng). That will be interesting, but right now, I really don’t feel like much young puerh, yet.

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A change of pace

May 9, 2007 · 4 Comments

I drank a dahongpao today, to help me recover from the many maochas I’ve had recently.  It certainly makes you feel different when drinking it.  I brewed it strong today, using a full 80% of dry leaves in the gaiwan.  The first infusion was a little sour, but the sourness went away by the second.  The rock aftertaste was strong, and the remaining infusions sweet.  A very welcomed change from young raw maochas.

Although, I might have to live with drinking some Qimen Hongcha the next few days, and perhaps a few cups of green teas here and there.  That’s because I’m going to go to Changshu in Jiangsu province, about an hour and half away from Shanghai by car.  As some of you have already discovered, if you ask me where I’m from I might give you different answers on different days.  If you insist on where I’m really from, however, I will tell you my family’s from Changshu.  It’s the place where my family has resided for the past 800 years.  It was only my grandfather’s generation when people dispersed a little more, and he himself left the place when he was young.  Before that, my family has spent 25 generations staying there.  So that is, in many ways, my hometown.  I’m there primarily to visit family tombs and to do some research, and perhaps, to visit a tea farm if I get the chance.

I might not get access to Xanga in the next few days, or even internet.  I will, however, try to take lots of pictures.  If you don’t hear from me for a few days, don’t worry, there was no earthquake :).

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Yet another tea gathering

April 29, 2007 · 7 Comments

I went to L’s place today for tea again.  Quite a few people showed up throughout the afternoon, and we drank quite a few teas in the process.

They were already drinking when I got there.  But the first two teas we had after I arrived were the two samples sent to me by Davelcorp.  They were labeled sample A and B.  We started with sample A, as I assumed that was the order I was supposed to go in.  Sample A, when dry, smelled a little cooked for some reason.  It doesn’t smell quite like a regular puerh would after a few years of aging.  It’s a little dark, somewhat brown in colour.

The tea brewed up a reddish brown liquor.  After a few infusions, it looked like this

The tea tastes a little funny for some reason.  While the tea looks like a great puerh, and smells like an ok one, it has a funny taste… it’s got some slightly plumish taste, but not in the way that the 1997 Xizihao Yiwu taste.  It’s also got a little sourness to it on the side of the mouth, and has a strange finish.  I can’t quite pinpoint what’s wrong with it, but multiple people thought it a little odd without quite able to put their finger on it.  In fact, I think I’ve tasted this before in my Keyixing bricks… they are somewhat, but not entirely, similar in taste.  They are both a little thin in body.  I wonder if this is a tea that didn’t have enough “kill-green” and turned a bit into a red tea.

The second tea we had was Sample B.  Sample B smells a lot better than Sample A when dry.  It’s got a nice aroma, smelling like maybe a Yiwu would after a few years of aging.

The tea has a lighter colour liquor than Sample A, but the taste was obviously fuller, with a nice aftertaste that hits the back of the mouth and the top of the throat.  Everybody liked this tea.  I am quite certain this is a Yiwu, perhaps Davelcorp’s beloved Menghai Yiwu cake that has been a subject of discussion on the LJ community recently.  Whatever it is, it’s quite nice.

Here’s a comparative shot of A and B’s wet leaves

A on the left, B on the right.  The colour might be a little too light, but B is definitely greener than A.  B also has a more pungent “puerh-like” smell than A, which smells a bit vegetal.  A is really quite similar to my Keyixing bricks, down to the smell of the wet leaves.

We then drank the Bulang that I bought recently.  I like it, but L doesn’t, thinking it’s too bitter.  I find it to have good energy, but maybe I’m just deluded?

Compared to the Zhongcha Banzhang cake we drank next, the Bulang is stronger, oddly enough, but the Banzhang has an obviously different flavour profile.  I think for the cost differential, which is very substantial, the Bulang obviously wins.  Without factoring in the cost, it will have to come to individual preferences.

We then sat around for a bit, and in the meantime, L got a call from Beijing about the newest prices from Zhongcha (with whom he has a dealership relationship).  Prices have been reduced a little, which is definitely a good thing.  I think there’s now some downward pressure on new cakes’ prices, and also on new maocha prices, because the level reached a month ago was simply too high — many stores could find no buyers, especially retail buyers, for their tea.  At least L doesn’t gouge me, that I know.  Not that I have bought much of anything from him, mind you.  I think I’ve drank more tea from him than actual tea bought, which is a scary thought in and of itself.

Another guest arrived, and we switched to a dahongpao that Action Jackson got as a gift from Xiaomei, L’s business partner in Beijing (and which I hauled over).  It’s actually quite nice, aromatic, and a very, very welcomed change from all the youngish puerhs we were drinking.  We finished the day with a wet-stored cooked brick, which I didn’t find particularly interesting, but then, I rarely find any cooked stuff interesting, and certainly cannot justify high prices paid for such things.

One of the things that came up during discussion between me and Action Jackson today about younger puerhs is the matter of taste… and I realized that I no longer really drink any flavours of a youngish puerh, but rather the feeling of the tea.  She said she liked the taste of one of the teas we had today over another, and asked me about flavours.  It was then that I realized I was no longer looking at flavours… I didn’t even really pay much attention to it.  Of course, I noted whether or not something was like what I think is the taste of a certain region, but… that almost no longer enter into the equation when I make that decision of whether or not this is a good tea, and whether or not this is something I would want to buy.  It’s something worth thinking about… I should perhaps pay more attention to describing flavours, something which I’ve never been very good at.

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