When I am offered a tea, I usually pick Taiwanese Oolong if it is amongst the options. It is because I cannot source good quality oolong from Taiwan quickly, and I do not think I tasted enough of them. Especially compared to those oolongs from Fujian and Guangdong, I have frequently been tasting. And each time I tried a good quality oolong tea from Taiwan, I was impressed. I recently sourced a few different Taiwanese oolongs, and I’ll be posting about them.
This is the first one, the famous Dong Ding oolong. It was processed by an experienced master after from the Qin Xin cultivar. The tea gardens where this tea came from have an elevation of 800 meters which is not as high as some other Taiwanese oolong (high mountain oolong teas). However, it does not change the fact that this is a fantastic tea with toasty notes and sweet lingering end taste. It has been oxidised at 50% and has a middle-level roast. I like it, and I also love that the seller provides the exact date this tea was processed, which was early April this year.
Luckily, I have some more of this tea. The seller suggests that this tea can be aged. Aged Taiwanese oolong tea or even aged oolong tea is a new concept for me. So, I’d be looking forward to exploring aged versions of Dong Ding going forward. I do not think this tea will last for ageing.
Tea Profile:
Type: Oolong
Origin: Nantou,Taiwan
Harvest time: April, 2020
Leaf colour: Tones of dark green
Liquor colour: Golden yellow
Tea Aroma: Smoky and fruity
Tea taste: Toasted fruity flavour with a sweet lingering ending
Steeping/brewing:
Place 5 g of this tea in a teapot or gaiwan and add about 100 ml water at around 100°C.
Rinse after 5 sec.
Steep for 30 for the second time and increase the consecutive steeping time by 15 seconds each time. You can steep this tea up to seven times or more.
Shelf life: Can be aged