2016 Competition Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Five Roses Grade, Lot 561

Tea type
Oolong Rooibos Blend
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Almond, Apple, Butter, Char, Coffee, Cream, Grain, Grass, Hazelnut, Herbaceous, Maple, Mineral, Nutty, Olive Oil, Pear, Pine, Plum, Roasted, Sugarcane, Toasted Rice, Vanilla, Vegetal, Walnut, Wood
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 oz / 118 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I’m continuing to make progress on the backlog here. This was the last tea in my Dong Ding sampler that I got around to trying mostly because I was a little intimidated by its reputation. I did not...” Read full tasting note
    91
  • “Taste-wise there is a certain astringency to it but just a thin layer which covers the thickness of nuts and chocolate – and there is a lot of it!. Roasted steaming hazelnut meets hazelnut cream...” Read full tasting note
    89

From Taiwan Tea Crafts

This Five Roses Grade Box is issued by the prestigious Lugu Farmer’s Association Competition held every June. This is the competition that has helped define and promote the famous Dong Ding style teas worldwide. Each competition-sealed box contains 3 tins holding 200 g of tea each. Each box is sealed by the competition organizers to guarantee its authenticity. If you wish to experience drinking a tea that more than meets the Dong Ding standard but defines it, this would be it! We will be writing more on this tea shortly. In the meantime, we wanted to make it accessible as soon as we could. Very limited quantities.
This Competition Box Set kind of came and went in the same breath! We’re sorry for that. We had a fair quantity on hand but it all dissapeared in a matter of days. The only way to have a taste of this Five Roses Grade is to consider our Dong Ding Sampler Tin. We’ve also reserved some sealed box sets from the upcoming Winter Competition from the same Lugu Tea Farmer’s Association. These should be released sometime in early December, as soon as the competition is over. If you wish to reserve some or be advised of when they are made available simply drop us a line.

About Taiwan Tea Crafts View company

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2 Tasting Notes

91
1049 tasting notes

I’m continuing to make progress on the backlog here. This was the last tea in my Dong Ding sampler that I got around to trying mostly because I was a little intimidated by its reputation. I did not want to try it until I was certain that I would not screw it up, finally getting to that point in mid-late June. Naturally, I am just now finding the motivation to review it on Steepster. Anyway, this was an excellent tea, and I could easily see why most other reviewers loved it. That being said, I tend to feel that these super high end competition teas do not represent the best value to regular tea drinkers and would not recommend a tea like this over some of Taiwan Tea Crafts’ other Dong Ding oolongs. Honestly, it was not even my favorite in that particular sampler tin despite its quality.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, I detected aromas of char, wood, toasted rice, and vanilla. After the rinse, I discovered a new roasted grain aroma. The first infusion then introduced a hint of cream to the nose. In the mouth, I picked up light notes of cream, roasted grain, and toasted rice that were chased by impressions of butter, wood, and maple candy on the swallow. The following infusions introduced clear spruce and pine-like aromas with some sugary maple candy touches and hints of pear, apple, and roasted nuts. Stronger butter notes and vanilla came out in the mouth. New impressions of banana leaf, coffee, grass, minerals, apple, pear, roasted almond, roasted cashew, pine, roasted hazelnut, sour plum, and roasted walnut also appeared along with some fleeting sugarcane hints. The final infusions were very smooth, offering lingering cream, vanilla, and toasted rice notes up front before transitioning to reveal subtler notes of minerals, butter, grass, and roasted nuts. Interestingly, I also got an uptick in pine character on the swallow that was accompanied by belatedly emerging juniper and olive oil hints on the lengthiest infusions.

This was a very complex Dong Ding oolong with a gradually shifting mouthfeel and nice body in the mouth. Its profile was interesting, steadily evolving, and very appealing overall. Even when I cut the review session off, I got the impression that this tea still had a little life left to it, so I have no clue what else it would have revealed. It was an excellent tea, though it was definitely something more suited to special occasions or situations in which intense focus must be maintained during the brewing and drinking processes. So, while I loved it, this probably would not be a tea for everyone or one I would choose to have on a regular basis if it were available to me. I don’t know. This was a great tea, but there are funner, more accessible, and less intense Dong Ding oolongs out there.

Flavors: Almond, Apple, Butter, Char, Coffee, Cream, Grain, Grass, Hazelnut, Herbaceous, Maple, Mineral, Nutty, Olive Oil, Pear, Pine, Plum, Roasted, Sugarcane, Toasted Rice, Vanilla, Vegetal, Walnut, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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89
72 tasting notes

Taste-wise there is a certain astringency to it but just a thin layer which covers the thickness of nuts and chocolate – and there is a lot of it!. Roasted steaming hazelnut meets hazelnut cream meets dark chocolate a hint of vanilla and cinnamon plus roasted pine nuts, walnuts and almonds steaming up through your entire scenting senses. Wow! That’s a really strong fellow – not strong when it comes to its pushing parameters but when it comes to its full taste. Within the second infusion you definitely are going to experience a herbal mineral flair too which also tingles your palatal, teeth and throat. This is for sure a Winter tea with all its warming benefits. This tea does might sound not that complex as some other ones do when it comes to a variety of nuances but within its little cosmos this Competition Dong Ding is definitely a precisely and masterfully composed Oolong with a deep nutty and chocolatey profile. If you want to compare it I would say it somehow reminds me of a fusion between a Wuyi Bai ji guan Yancha and a nicely roasted Japanese Houjicha. There is no end to this tea – after a countless infusions I stopped drinking because I noticed that my body had enough. This fellow keeps going and going

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