High mountain formosa from hojo

Finally decided to brew the small sample of Hojo's high mountain formosa oolong that came with my order last year.

The dried leaf is very tightly rolled and fragrant, smelling strongly like honey and green oolong. This is 5 grams in an 85 mL gaiwan. The balls look tiny to me:

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Brewed like this: boiling water
Rinse
40s
30s
40s
50s
1min
1min5s
1min10s
1min20s
1min30s
1min40s
2min
3min
5min
Dropped in pint glass and steeped it out

As those parameters suggest, yes very high stamina!

First infusion was filled with honey sweetness. This sweetness was slightly reduced in the second and third infusions. Then it was reduced a lot but remained present at a similar level - sweet and enjoyable.
The flavor is like a winter harvest gaoshan mixed with honey. The honey is not cloying and reminds me of an artisanal avocado flower honey. Hojo mentions ripe mangoes. Not sure I get that. Overall, It is quite refreshing. Price is high relative to other concubine style teas available. However, a small amount can truly be infused a lot. Not too much complexity - just easy drinking.

Hojo: $0.52/g
TTC gui fei: $0.21-0.25 /g
Eco cha gui fei: $0.32/g
Mei leaf: 0.29/g

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...

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