365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 26
This one is a swap sample from Kawaii433!
I did a gongfu session with this today. Now, let me preface this by saying that I am an absolute gongfu novice. I’ve done one or two sessions previously, and even that was multiple years ago. But I’ve been enjoying oolong quite a bit lately, and I’ve been very inspired by the notes of my fellow Steepsters! So I bought an inexpensive gaiwan from Amazon and decided to get my feet wet.
I was a bit confused by the instructions on Mandala’s website, as they have two different steep time recommendations, and the tea volume is 1 teaspoon per 8 ounces, which isn’t very useful for gongfu. So I also looked at TeaVivre’s instructions and sort of made the rest up…
I did a 10s rinse, which I actually did drink. The rinse and the first couple of steeps had some surprising tropical mango and pineapple flavors that I really enjoyed. There were also light mineral and vegetal notes, and even a touch of coconut. The aroma throughout all of the steeps was very creamy and buttery with strong fruity tones.
Around the third steep, the tropical fruits transitioned to a juicy peach flavor, which is more in line with what I would expect from a Taiwanese oolong. In some steeps, it was a bit closer to nectarine. There were constant notes of grass and leaves throughout, as well as a light creaminess and lasting fruity aftertaste. In some of the later steeps, I was surprised to find a sencha-like umami seaweed note. There was also a honeysuckle-like floral note that was very light in early steeps, then gained strength near the middle before tapering off for the later steeps.
The overall flavor started to wane a bit during the last couple of steeps, but I likely could have gone for a few more before it faded entirely. I was surprised to not find a ton of creamy or buttery flavor here, but it’s entirely possible that was due to my parameters.
I will say, I think my steeping parameters were likely not very good, because I got quite a bit of astringency in the middle of the session. So I likely should have gone with smaller time increases between steeps. I’ll remember for next time! Luckily, Kawaii was very generous with her sample, so I have enough to try this one Western-style as well. I’m going to hold off on a rating until then.
7g – 120ml – 190°F – 10/25/35/45/60/75/90/120/150/180s
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtHOsvMler5/
ETA: I also cold-brewed the spent leaves for a day or so, which resulted in a lovely mellow and refreshing peachy beverage!
Flavors: Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Coconut, Creamy, Floral, Fruity, Grass, Honeysuckle, Mango, Mineral, Peach, Pineapple, Seaweed, Smooth, Stonefruits, Sweet, Tropical, Umami, Vegetal
This one has fast become one of my favorites. It also is the only tea I have come close to Gongfu style brewing as I tend to steep it western style with around 20 second brew times per steep and slowly going up from there.