Doi Mae Salong (DMS) Dong Ding Oolong

Part of the Liquid Proust’s Oolong group buy 2017:
Western, 200F, 2min
Heavy roast, hazelnut shells, cocoa shell, sour, gets somewhat sweeter as it cools. This is too much roast for me. Leaves don’t unravel well and seem to be more burnt than anything else. I don’t want to spend much time with this tea. Super heavy roast that’s not well done.

I really don’t get Dong Ding. I don’t hate it, but every one I’ve had so far has been just a little boring. I think it has to do with the charcoal roasting more than anything else. The result of this roasting is a generic roasted peanut flavor at best, and lighter fluid flavors at worst.

Doing a few side-by-side comparisons between roasted and unroasted versions of Taiwanese (or Taiwanese-style, as the case may be) oolongs, the unroasted versions were substantially better. Better flavors, more depth, more complexity.

Anyway, that said, I don’t really know where to place this one. In terms of Dong Ding, I think it’s pretty good. The aftertaste is pretty tasty and has some staying power. But in-mouth, it’s pretty boring. But, like I’ve said, I found this to be true with my other roasted Dong Ding experiences too.

In terms of the roast, I don’t really think it’s too bad on this one; there are a few hints of lighter fluid, but overall, it’s really just a charcoaly, nutty sort of experience.

In the end, I found myself gulping the tea just to get to the aftertaste. Not a whole lot to explore in the tea liquor itself.
*
Dry leaf: raw pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, raw walnut, roast peanut. In preheated vessel – sweet char notes like charred green vegetables, some notes of charcoal.

Smell: charcoal, lighter fluid, bittersweet green herbal

Taste:
Arrival – roast nut/peanut, charcoal
Development – does not develop – same nut and charcoal notes. At times some pleasant sourness (tart raspberry) arrives and fades.
Finish – fruit sweetness arrives and some creaminess develops
Aftertaste – lemongrass, bittersweet citrus, tart berry

From Liquid Proust’s 2017 Regional Oolong sampler

I steeped this gong-fu style, which I don’t usually do for oolong. It came out so well, I will have to do it more often.

Many of the teas in the sampler have been too heavily roasted for me. I realized that my taste in oolong has been compressed into those teas in the mid-roast range. I’m not crazy about green oolongs, or heavy roasts. Having said that, this tea hit my sweet spot. It had quite a bit of roast, but I was still able to taste the underlying tea.

The first two steeps (10s) were pleasant and toasty, with herbal notes. The roasted, almost burnt, flavors were stronger in the second steep, but I can still detect the tea behind the roast. Nice finish. Surprising amount of cha qi. 6th steep (30s): Still potent, though more in the nose and especially the finish than in the taste. Rich and toasty with a hint of spice caramel.

I got this in the LiquidProust Regional Oolong Group Buy 2017.
Let me first say that I have come to really enjoy Dong Dings. Or at least I thought. I’m not sure what makes a DD-Oolong a DD-Oolong but I can’t stand this tea. I only infused it twice (plus a rinse) before giving up.

I did 4.5 grams in 150 ml gaiwan and probably about 190-195 degrees for 25 seconds.

It taste very medicinal like drinking oolong flavored cough syrup. There are some nutty notes and some sort of floral notes but overall it taste like something you take when you’re sick. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad quality tea, it just doesn’t work for me.

I received this from the LiquidProust Regional Oolong Group Buy 2017.

The dry leaf (very tight almost black rolled balls) smells like a middle ground between a strong rock and an alishan oolong with a nice roast but not overly so a slight sweetness also comes through. In a good oolong mood today, I decided to brew up 6g in my 200ml tempered glass teapot with 30 second infusions and 190F water.

The teapot lid smells strongly of honey roasted peanuts and the wet leaves smell like cracker jacks. The liquor is a very transparent light copper brown and smells of roasted edamame. It has a pleasant roasted vegetable umami flavor with a sweet almost vidalia onion lasting sweetness. The tea is smoother than it’s aroma led me to believe with a delicate mouth-feel and noticeable cooling afterwards.

The second infusion is noticeably darker as the tightly rolled tea is able to unfurl in the teapot. The flavor profile moves into more nutty territory, reminding me of roasted chestnuts, and the mouth feel is a bit more oily. The third infusion on is more of the same with the roast dying off a bit more. I stretched it out to six infusions overall.

This was an enjoyable tea that was a worthwhile addition to the group buy as the flavor is akin to other oolongs but still sets itself apart, and shows its terrior.

The leaves of this tea are rolled and much darker than this photo suggests.
http://instagram.com/p/weuqyXmK63/

My leaves are mostly dark olive green to chocolate brown and smell of fall leaves. This is a medium roast oolong produced in North Thailand sourced from a family run enterprise.

I decided to steep my tea using a gongfu method and used 1 TSP of tea in 100ml of water.

I started out with a 3s rinse which I decided to drink. I am happy I did so because it tasted of baklava. It’s flavour was all honey and nuts ( particularly pistachio) and pastry.

I then chose short steeping times to start out with. My times were: 5,10,15,20,25,30,40,60,90s, and 3,4 and 6min). Altogether I made 12 steeps plus the rinse of this tea.
5s scent: honey, pistachio, pastry, hint of something sharp like a currant and fall leaves.
flavour: cream, honey, with fruit, slightly tart yet creamy hinting to mango tempered by something softer like apricot. Pastry and pistachio up front before fruit and honey develop faint hint of fall leaves.
Aftertaste of honey and fruit.
1Os cream, mineral notes, fruit, with hints of citrus rind added to above, pastry, pistachio
15s cream, honey, fall leaves, pastry, fruit, nuts, spice, bits of malt, hints of bitter veg.
20s honey and pastry, pistachios, fall leaves mixed with bitter veg, cinnamon, cream, malt, apricot.
25s roasted grain, leaves, and walnuts, cream, honey and apricots, malt and faint tinge of bitter veg, spice.
30s pastry and nuts, apricot, cream and spice. Hints of malt.
40s apricot, cream,spinach, nuts,pastry, spice.
60s minerals, apricot, cream, hints of ash, sweet and bitter veg, faintly floral with good spice notes, honey. Tingling on the tongue., hints of oatmeal.
90s similar to above.
3min similar but no ash, more sweet vegetables with cream, apricot and honey.
4min. Similar to above with a floral element.
6min similar.

The finished leaves are a fairly uniform deep olive to milk chocolate colour. Some of the leaves show signs of insect distress.

I am not always a fan of mid roast Oolong’s but I really liked the nutty, sweet pastry like notes in this one. I really enjoyed it.

Siam-Tee suggests that when using longer steeps this tea has a profile approaching a Da Hong Pao. I will have to try that in the future. As for now I’m glad I tried it this way. I have never had a tea taste so naturally of baklava before.

http://en.siam-tee.de/product/dms-dong-ding-oolong-tea/