It was day 2 of this challenge, I wrote about a phoenix oolong which was duck sh*t aroma variety from last year (2019). With this one, I was excited again to try this one. But it all went wrong.
I used the 6 gr of leaves in 110 ml gaiwan at 95 C water for about 20 sec. Oh my god, the taste was so astringent that after the second sip, I had to throw away the rest of the first infusion. To the second infusion, I gave 10 sec, the taste did not improve. I then removed about 1/3 of the leaves and steeped for 10 sec. The colour of the liquor was much lighter, but the taste was so subtle that I could not enjoy. I kept going on for a while, but I could not find what I was looking for. I was thinking about what could have gone wrong. Many things really.
I do not think it was the tea as I drank other dan cong oolongs from the same producer, and they were excellent. I think my first mistake was to put too much tea for my liking. Secondly, I steeped it too long at high temperature. Even if I noticed my errors, I could not rectify. I do not know why. Perhaps the leaves were wasted already.
Whatever happened happened. On reflection, I think I rushed it. Rushing in the sense that I did not pay my full attention to the tea. I was multitasking, and things went out of control.
Lessons learnt.
Tea Profile:
Type: Oolong
Origin: Wudong Peak, Phoenix, Guangdong
Harvest time: Spring 2020
Leaf colour: Tones of the dark brown with red edges
Liquor colour: Golden yellow
Tea aroma: Floral
Tea taste: Astringent with some floral notes
Steeping/brewing: I am sorry, I cannot advise you this time.
Shelf life: Up to 1 year (the freshest the better)
Comments