Stumbled on an old Hou De blog post about brewing aged oolongs. This one isn’t as old as the ones mentioned there, but anyway, adapted those parameters a little with excellent results. Will try to stick to these going forward for older oolongs.
5.4g, 90 ml ZZZ
Leaves in prewarmed pot: caramel, plum
Wet leaf: roast, inky sweet. Lid has the empty cup smell of a roasted oolong
1. 30s: tea has sour plum and medicinal in the cup. A bit bitter medicinal in taste and sweet grassy roast/smoke/plum in the finish w a strong celery/mineral note that I usually get w apparent zhengyan teas. Lingers in the throat
2. 35s. Sour plum aroma. Bitter medicinal taste and some sourness. Some aftertaste lingering smoky mineral
3. 40s. Mostly plummy. Not as much aftertaste as steeps one and two, but some sweetness on finish that builds into the lingering notes from those
4. Forgot about it but prob 1 min+. Lightened. Finish has shifted into mushroom-y and tire smoke
5. 2 min. Plummy hint
The first time where the cold remainder of the first cup didn’t actually taste chocolate-y or that great. But, over the course of steeps, the aftertaste continues to build and linger and is really lovely. A cursory glance at my notes on EoT offerings probably makes clear that I have a general indifference towards most of the teas I sampled from there, i.e., not terrible, but not worth chasing down. Happy to report then, that though this is pretty pricey, the tea is quite pleasant. Am I going to buy the full pillow pack after sampling though, probably not. One can dream about winning the lottery, but not healthy to do so too often.
Thermos’d (500ml) the rest for 2.5 hr. Was a solid but not outstanding cup the usual roast oolong thermos profile. Warming feeling that I didn’t feel during the active brew session, but tbf my apartment is sort of cold bc winter heating costs are borderline outrageous.
Simmered the rest for 10 min or so. Mostly dead but is the sharp floral of oversteeped light roast oolong w barest hint of plum on finish
