Eco-Cha Tea Club: Da Yu Ling High Mountain Oolong Tasting Notes
This month's batch of Da Yu Ling High Mountain Oolong tea being shared with the Eco-Cha Tea Club is sufficiently oxidized and unroasted. This style of processing transforms the fresh, green character into a more balanced, sweeter, full bodied brew while maintaining the delicate floral and vegetal aromatic notes.
The brewing arrangement shown above includes a spouted gaiwan brewing pot and two pitchers. This allows each brew to be poured into an empty pitcher to be tasted on its own. Then, the remainder of each can be poured into a second pitcher to be enjoyed later, after each successive brew has been experienced.
We used 9g of tea leaves in a 150ml porcelain gaiwan, and brewed it for about 1 minute per brew, extending the brewing time slightly each time. Using this method, these leaves can be brewed at least six times, or more.
The aroma of the brewed leaves is a deep, foresty green combined with subtle sweet pastry and floral notes. The brew is smooth on the palate, balanced, with creamy vegetal and delicate flowery notes, and a vibrant, lingering finish.
In addition to the broader spectrum of fresh vibrant notes that the highest elevation teas offer, there is a substantial consistency and smoothness of texture that these thicker heartier leaves produce. The main reason for this is the greater daily temperature changes between night and day, which results in higher concentrations of particular compounds in the leaves that produce these flavor characteristics.
We look forward to hearing about our Tea Club members' experiences of this batch of tea that we are proud to be able to share in both a sustainable and an exclusive way.
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Eco-Cha Tea Club: Da Yu Ling High Mountain Oolong Tea
The highest elevation tea growing regions are widely acknowledged as the epitome High Mountain Oolong Tea production.. The ideal climate conditions offered by this elevation combined with the methods of tea cultivation that have been developed are considered to be the main factors that have gained this category of tea its fame.
This is a rare batch of Da Yu Ling High Mountain Tea in that the level of oxidation exceeds the commonly produced tea in this region at highest elevation. The difference between the standard 10-15% level of oxidation and the less commonly produced 20-25% is that the light, floral, green character is transformed into a more fruity, substantial, smooth character of High Mountain Oolong.