Another gong fu adventure today! I loved this tea when I tried it western style, and I figured oolongs are generally good candidates for gong fu brewing, right? I was in the mood for raisiny autumn loveliness. I used the same vessels as last time, two 10 ounce mugs, the first one with a lid for brewing, and the second for drinking out of. I used TeaVivre’s parameters for a similar tea, but altered the amount of tea based on TheTeaFairy’s suggestion of 1 gram of tea per 1 ounce water.
The method: 4g tea in 4oz water, 185 degrees F, 10s rinse/30/45/60/70/80/90/100s
Rinse (10s): very light flavor with pastry, honey, golden raisin. A promise of things to come! :D
Steep 1 (30s): light pastry with honey, hint of autumn leaves, raisin (not golden)
Steep 2 (45s): stronger pastry with toasted nuts and honeyed raisins, underlying roasty leaves
Steep 3 (60s): very raisiny with fig, honey becomes molasses, autumn leaves, roasted grain
Steep 4 (70s): very similar to steep 3
Steep 5 (80s): roasted grain changes back to pastry, golden raisin, honey (my favorite steep)
Steep 6 (90s): flavor becoming much lighter, pastry with lightly toasted almonds
Steep 7 (100s): too light, somewhat similar to rinse, reminds me of white tea with its hay notes
I had a lot of fun and I loved seeing the flavor of this change, and then change back to almost the same as the early steeps. Very interesting. And I enjoyed all the permutations in between! I really want to try more oxidized oolongs now, especially if they’re similar to this one.
One question, I noticed a few of the steeps had a little bit of underlying bitterness. Not enough to make them less enjoyable, but I just wondered why it was there. Any ideas or suggestions would be good! :D
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Fig, Grain, Hay, Honey, Molasses, Pastries, Raisins, Roasted nuts
Preparation
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Not sure about the bitterness, but I would be interested in a reply from someone more experienced, so I’ll watch and hope for a reply. So glad you had a successful gongfu session!!!!
I’m not an expert but was pretty successful with OB by Teavivre
http://store.thechineseteashop.com/mobile/category.aspx?id=23&404;http://store.thechineseteashop.com:80/Yixing_Teapots_s/23.htm=
My verdict: shorter steeps
http://steepster.com/boychik/posts/237585#comments
Ignore my previous link, I’m using iPhone . Stupid iphone
Yeah, the instructions for their Oriental Beauty are the ones that I used. I think I have enough for another session, so maybe I’ll start shorter next time or something…
Oh, okay. I will try those parameters next time. :)
Very insightful review cameron :-)
I love OB, being a leaf hopper bitten tea. But there’s distinctive taste to it very hard to define that could be interpreted as bitterness. I love that taste, and it’s hard for me to understand if that,s what you got.
I can’t really give good advice on gongfu steepings cause I’m one who never counts. I just go with the smell and how i liked the previous steep. I suck at following instructions :-o
that’s light for leaf! I would do 6-7g for 4oz.
Cameron – thanks for another great review! If you are looking to explore other oxidized oolongs, we would also recommend trying Gui Fei Oolong, which has a similar taste profile to Eastern Beauty. You can read some tasting notes here: http://steepster.com/teas/green-terrace-teas/46710-gui-fei-oolong. Have a great day!
Not sure about the bitterness, but I would be interested in a reply from someone more experienced, so I’ll watch and hope for a reply. So glad you had a successful gongfu session!!!!
I’m not an expert but was pretty successful with OB by Teavivre
http://store.thechineseteashop.com/mobile/category.aspx?id=23&404;http://store.thechineseteashop.com:80/Yixing_Teapots_s/23.htm=
My verdict: shorter steeps
http://steepster.com/boychik/posts/237585#comments
Ignore my previous link, I’m using iPhone . Stupid iphone
Yeah, the instructions for their Oriental Beauty are the ones that I used. I think I have enough for another session, so maybe I’ll start shorter next time or something…
Oh, okay. I will try those parameters next time. :)
Very insightful review cameron :-)
I love OB, being a leaf hopper bitten tea. But there’s distinctive taste to it very hard to define that could be interpreted as bitterness. I love that taste, and it’s hard for me to understand if that,s what you got.
I can’t really give good advice on gongfu steepings cause I’m one who never counts. I just go with the smell and how i liked the previous steep. I suck at following instructions :-o
that’s light for leaf! I would do 6-7g for 4oz.
Cameron – thanks for another great review! If you are looking to explore other oxidized oolongs, we would also recommend trying Gui Fei Oolong, which has a similar taste profile to Eastern Beauty. You can read some tasting notes here: http://steepster.com/teas/green-terrace-teas/46710-gui-fei-oolong. Have a great day!