Mr. Chen’s Heritage Wenshan Bao Zhong Spring Tea, Lot 929, 2020, from taiwan tea crafts

From vendor:

PICKING DATE	May 2020
OXYDATION LEVEL	Very Low
BAKING LEVEL	None
TERROIR	Wenshan
ADMINISTRATIVE REGION	New Taipei City
PICKING STYLE	Hand Picked
CULTIVAR(S) USED	Qing Xin
GARDEN ELEVATION	600 m

Mr. Chen is 92 years old. He was born under the Japanese occupation and was 28 when they left the island in 1945. At about the same, time he started producing tea in the hills not far from Pinglin next to the family’s ancestral stone house where he still resides and continues, to this day, to practice his craft with the help of his son and daughter-in-law (not the other way around!). His Bao Zhong tea is slightly more oxidized, like it used to be, before today’s trend to greener teas.

Review:

Leaves: large, dark green with some spots of white. Smells like flowers and fresh vegetables. A bit fragmented.

Brewed 5 g in 125 mL 100 C water in porcelain

Rinse/ 1 min / 1 min / 1min30s/ 2min / 3min /5min / 8 min / 10 min / 15 min / 25 min

Dark liquor indicates stronger oxidation

Very smooth with no trace of astringency

Early steeps: light celery and sea salt mixed with some muscatel reminiscent of bug bitten black tea and white teas without any of the astringency.

Later steeps: the tea sheds the muscatel notes, allowing the floral notes to shine stronger. The tea is more creamy and develops some nuttiness. Celery notes remain. Aftertaste is exquisite and complex

Very floral cup that can be pushed hard to increase body. A wonderful tea. It seems to deposit a green powdery layer on the porcelain in a way i have not seen before.

Comments

Glenburn king single estate first flush 2019 from vahdam

Leaves are small and bud like. There are many broken leaves as well and leaves with holes indicating insect bite. This could explain some of the Muscatel. 1.8 teaspoon 350 mL water 90 C water Steep 1: 4 min Steep 2: 8 min Steep 3: indefinite time Light, flowery, herbal Some muscatel in nose Muscatel, herb, flowery hops, light wood notes in taste Lingering herbal, fresh hop and cooling mint I am told mint is often a sign of Assamica tea but these are supposed to be chinary.

2020 Competition Grade Jin Jun Mei Black Tea from Yunnan Sourcing

From vendor: Late March Harvest Tong Mu Guan Village (Fujian) Review: Strong yeast and honey suckle aroma from dry leaf. Lots of orange yellow powder from the small, tight buds. A small holed filter is necessary. Brew parameter: 4 g / 100 mL 90 C in porcelain Rinse / 10s / 10s / 15s / 35s / 1 min / 2 min / 5 min Strong honey and milk chocolate notes. Smooth and thick with stone fruit (peach) aromas and sweet yam flavors. Some vegetal notes develop in later steepings. Early steepings are quick and strong but drops off after 3rd steeping. Strangely, a pu-erh like wet pile funk is faintly present. This is not particularly pleasant. Western brewing is also acceptable at 1 g /100 mL for 3:30. However, the chocolate notes are much more mild when brewed in this way.

Brewing Taiwanese oolong

Bao Zhong: After some experimentation, I found it works best in this way: ~7.3-7.5 g/125 mL. Basically a little less than yancha. Boiling hot water No rinse 30s /35s/45s/1 min etc Keeping it at 6.5 g but longer time makes the later steeps less balanced for me. Going higher to yancha ratios overwhelms me with qi. Oriental Beauty This tea can behave like hong cha and white tea hybrid with some oolong notes. for natural clean stuff - 4.5-5.5g / 100 ml - start at 15s and slowly go up increasing by 5-10s. Allow the cup to cool each time- treating it evenly And gently but also with strength (boiling water) like a fine lady results on full appreciation of aromatic journey For green gao shan Ive learned it depends a lot on the nature of the leaves and the brewing vessel. When using thin porcelain, 6 grams/100 mL, doing Rinse/45s/35s/45s is a good starting point When using a thicker vessel like kobiwako clay, a similar ratio can be appropriate, but maybe a slightly faster first infus...

Tea

Search This Blog