Light charcoal roasted da yu ling from Ethan Kurland, 2020

Vendor:

The DYL is from Spring 2020. I don't know the mile or the very exact altitude of the farm. If it were being graded, it is not the very best. If going by what I like, this the DYL that I prefer, which luckily is far from the most expensive

Review:

This is a green oolong, not hong shui!

In porcelain, 5 g / 85 mL

Rinse / 45s/40s/55s/ 1min25s/ 3min/ 5min/10 min / steeped out many times

The leaves say it all! Thick, glossy full leaves that can steep out all day. Some even appear bug bitten! A sweet aftertaste that lingers on and on! The leaves themselves taste so good in the end: nutty and sweet! Am i crazy to eat them?

In kobiwako, 5 g/110 mL (since larger leaves, needs less leaf more time! This clay can retain temperature well so this works)

Rinse/1min20s/1min15s/1min30s/2min30s/5min/10min

The tantalizing bouquet of aromas is now gone! Where did it go?? One whiff of the clay lid and the clay body reveals the truth: the clay sucked up all the aroma! Wow! The clay lid smells delicious...almost want to take a bite, and the cookie like texture of the clay strengthens this bizarre desire..

But something else happened. There is now a distinct umami and oily texture in the brew. The taste is now deep and more full. In later infusions, some of the aroma actually return, but transformed: more fruity than floral.

What is better here then, porcelain or kobiwako clay? This time, it seems almost a shame to lose the exquisite aromas, so labor intensively cultivated in the oxygen poor heights of the taiwanese alpine - sacrificing them to the evil thirsty clay whose origins is the murky bottoms of lake biwa, or so we are told by master Hojo... but the rebounded taste is so much better!

In the end i simply take the cup in one hand and, and clay lid in the other, sniffing the clay and drinking the tea at the same time! My wife watches, puzzled.

Comments

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