Da Yu Ling Oolong

Just added this to our website. I always like to drink the teas while I write the descriptions for our website, even though I have already written full tasting notes. It gets me in the mood to write about the tea.

I love this oolong. Our Anxi Tie Guan Yin and this one are my 2 favorite oolongs. I definitely recommend this to any oolong fanatics. This is a winter harvest and the leaves were plucked just a couple months ago, so it is very fresh. The leaves are very sturdy. Here is a picture after the 3rd infusion: http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i446/butikiteas/3rdinfusionleavesdayuling_zpsb70e1a64.jpg. That’s from my mini glass pot that I use for gongfu sessions. I love being able to see the leaves brew. This is just such an interesting tea. Here’s a short breakdown of the infusions I’ve done so far:

1st infusion: Very floral, notes of orchids and lilac mingle with bosc pear followed by light spearmint notes. Buttery. Light spinach notes.

2nd infusion: very very vegetal.

3rd infusion: vegetal but fading.

4th infusion: The floral notes are back and even stronger now! The spearmint notes are also pretty strong and lingers long after the sip. Nice sweetness and deliciously buttery. This was one of my favorite infusions this session.

5th infusion: Floral, vegetal with strong spearmint notes. Delicious!

This tea has a few more infusions left, but I need a break at the moment.

I strongly recommend giving this one a try but also recommend taking some time to spend with it.

I had a nice oolong afternoon with this baby. All gone now, I had just a enough left to make a Gaiwan session.

This baby is a decadent one.

Floral notes of lilacs, creamy and buttery, with a minty fresh finish.

Love that thick texture, a total PUDDING MOUTH!!

It’s from the highest plantations in the world, maybe that’s why it tastes like the sky…

I’ve reviewed it a few times before, this resteeps for a while, and though it looses its floral notes, it remains creamy and buttery all “oolong”…

Just yum.

This was quite nice in the gaiwan too, yay. Oolong-a-thon! It did remind me of the vegetal notes in sencha for sure, as Stephanie mentioned in her log. Upon resteep I get quite a lot of spinach. (I’ve a feeling I’d be noting floral elements like everyone else more if I hadn’t already had such an intensely flowery oolong.) The body is surprisingly full and buttery and the flavors linger a long time on the palate.

I find one of the bonuses of using a gaiwan is that the design makes examining the unfurled leaf seem quite inviting; I nearly always end up picking a few up and looking them over, feeling them straighten between my thumbs. With this one, the result is pretty breathtaking; everything is straight up the platonic idealized “two leaves a bud”, iconic, full, unbroken, beautiful. No ripped edges from machines or whatnot, shockingly unmarred. Amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I decided to try my new Gaiwan for the first time today and made this tea, also for the first time. I really love the Gaiwan! This tea ain’t half bad either ;)

The first steep was extremely buttery and reminded me of a good sencha. The 2nd steep had more of an oolongish vegetal yet floral vibe. All steeps were super sweet! Gongfu is fun! Getting to taste the tea evolve, and see the leaves unfurl. Good times! Thanks again for everything, Stacy :)

I made this up in a mug a couple of times and got bored two steeps in (too vegetal too quickly for me), but this sipdown gongfu session is turning out to be great!

The first steep is very floral, with a slightly fruity sweet finish and lingering taste (favourite oolong things). Richness is on the heavy side here too. I think I’m starting to get well acquainted with orchid notes. It’s one of the few floral notes where I go “yeah, I totally recognize this and can give it a name.”

The second an third steep are little more vegetal, like how the first two mugs of western brewing tasted. There’s still a sweetness to the finish, but the orchid notes are no longer there and it tastes like steamed greens with a very light slathering of butter or oil.

I butchered my fourth and fifth steep and I ended up combining the two together. It worked out somehow though, and the floral notes are back, alongside a zippy green note. This combo cup and the first one are my favourites so far.

I think I’ll end it there because I’m starting to feel uncommitted to this note. I still love Organic Sparrow Tongue most of all but this oolong is up there in the ranks with some of the tieguanyin oolongs I’ve tried.

I have extra time today and have decided to make this Gongfu style which is my preferred method for oolongs. To prepare it, I rinse the leaves first. The liquor is light yellow with a greenish cast. The wet leaves smell very vegetal. The 1st infusion tastes very buttery and has light spinach notes. The second infusion has a more floral fragrance and taste, with light vegetal notes in the background. After 5 infusions, I can sum up my impression with the words buttery, light, smooth, and creamy, with a lingering sweetness-it reminds me of what I appreciate in a good Tieguanyin. Each infusion is a little different, but all of these aspects are there to some degree, and the first four infusions are very flavorful, though not aggressive. The 5th infusion is pushing it, but I think next time, I might use a little more leaf, higher temp, and shorter steeping times as an experiment. If you’re an oolong fan, this is worth trying, especially if you like Tieguanyin.

This tea was part of Operation:Backlog. After being inspired by Sil I’ve decided to try and drink my older teas up so I can rotate everything better. I think this one has been in a plastic ziplock for 6 months now? Whoops.

I dove in and gave it my best. And I have to say this was an unusual oolong from the brief experience I’ve had with them. I got a lot of floral notes, as well as some fruit – either a peach or an apricot. Each sip left off with a strange aftertaste that wasn’t unpleasant, but hard to identify.

Interesting! I can’t wait to investigate further with the 2nd half of my sample.

Thanks CrowKettle! (I’m assuming it was from you? :( I rec’d this before I started logging who gave me what)

Yay, another yummy oolong to add to my list of favorites. Ive probably said it before, but I can’t believe I ever didn’t like green oolongs. It wasn’t because I had bad ones, I just had a complete change of taste preference a couple months into tea drinking (In February, it’ll be a year since I started loose leaf and steepster, yay!).

I wanted to sample the Anxi Tie juan yin also, but it appears that I got someone else’s samples. Oh well. Ill probably just order it next time anyway, which will be soon since I need a bigger bag of this now than the little 1/2oz that I got :p

This was the first tea to grace my new (and first) gaiwan! I was able to do 5 steeps. I think next time I need to adjust my steeping times. I was unsure of what to do with the gaiwan, and I think I may have used times that were a little too long to get the most out of this oolong. Now I know to use shorter steeps in order to get a little more out of this tea!
First I did a quick rinse. I tasted it, of course, because I was curious. Even the rinse was tasty! But let’s get down to the “real” tasting steeps.

1st Steep:
-Smell: Vegetal, almost creamy scent. Also present was a floral scent, which my little sister described excitedly as “lilac”. There may be hope for this kid yet!
-Taste: This first steep was mainly vegetal, almost asparagus-like, though not as pungent. Maybe more like spinach. I’m also detecting a sweetness to the cup. It has a smooth, creamy mouth-feel and a floral aftertaste. Overall, a nice cuppa.
2nd Steep:
-Smell: Floral smell is front and center, with a light vegetal smell. I find this so interesting, as the wet leaves in the gaiwan smell VERY vegetal. Strange how that works. I’m also detecting a bit of a mint scent in the brew, but it’s very faint.
-Taste: Taste wise, this cup brings forth a bit more of the floral aspects of the tea (lilacs!). There are also some spinach-y, asparagus-y aspects, but the floral is definitely the most prominent. The very end of the sip holds a surprising minty kick, which was very refreshing! This cup was both sweet and smooth. Even smoother than the first steep.
3rd Steep:
-Smell: This cup smells very floral, and I’m detecting very little of the vegetal aspects.
-Taste: Suprisingly enough, though very floral in scent, this cup is very vegetal! Interesting. The vegetal aspect of this cup is very spinach-like. That being said, the spinach taste I’m getting is not only vegetal, but sweet! This cup is also smooth/creamy, and the mint aspect is still going strong. The lilac I got in the previous steep isn’t discernible in this cup. May be my favorite steep yet!
4th Steep:
-Smell: The vegetal scent is back, but it’s about a 50/50 mix with the floral scent.
-Taste: This steep is still vegetal, but the spinach-like taste is lighter. Aspects of the floral taste are coming back. The mint aspect is not present. Sweet, light, smooth cup.
5th Steep:
-Smell: Smells like spinach, with only slight floral aspects.
-Taste: Very light. Slightly sweet. Vegetal taste and floral taste are both present, but neither is really standing out more than the other. This steeping is still good, but will be the last, as I 1)have to do some homework and 2) think I may be close to exhausting this one. Next time I’ll use shorter steeps in order to keep this tea going. I had a lot of suggestions from people, so I’ll experiment a little to get the most out of this delicious oolong!

Overall, I love this oolong! It’s on the vegetal side, but isn’t grassy like greens can be. It’s floral, but not in a bitter, overpowering way. It was a perfect choice for my new gaiwan, and I can’t wait to try this one again now that I know a little bit more about brewing with the gaiwan and have a framework of steeping times in mind.

This was another one from Stephanie!
I really do love Da Yu Ling Oolongs…the creamy texture and strong floral flavor hooks me every time! And this one is definitely an excellent one! :D
It’s full and creamy in texture, which would make me feel sick on it’s own, but the floralness outweighs it. This, my friends, is one freakin’ good tea!
Thanks so much for the sample,Stephanie!! :D :D