"Calibrating" my tea taste buds (help)

[JPDyson]

Thanks again to everyone who helped point me in the right direction for getting started with tea; you've mostly supplied my wife with Christmas gift ideas, but I've got a few things to try for now (mainly just a couple of bags of tea and an infuser mug from World Market, and a nice variable temperature kettle).

Now, I'm sure the tea isn't quite world-class, and I plan to buy some better stuff as soon as December 26th (when I'm allowed to buy things for myself again). However, I'd like to make sure I'm getting close to the results I should expect.

The variety of tea I'm using is called "Mountain Wulong - Organic oolong tea". The recommendation is to brew 1-2tsp of leaves at 185 degrees for 3-4 minutes in 8oz of water. I'm making a larger cup, about 12-14oz, so I'm using about a tbsp of tea. Temperature (at least, according to my kettle) and time (first infusion at 3:30) are about the same. I've added 1 minute to a second infusion, and get results very comparable to the first cup. I even get color results very comparable to those pictured on the package. It just seems to taste a little weak.

Should I be expecting very mild flavors from this tea? I'm historically more of a coffee drinker, so perhaps I'm just expecting more abrupt flavors than what I should. Any thoughts?

 

[bradyarz]

*subscribing*. i would like to know more as well!

in my very limited experience most teas will be more mild than your typical coffee flavor. there are a few i've tried that have very bold and distinct flavors, but those teas are fewer and further between (again, in my limited experience).

 

[shah8]

1) Good oolongs aren't the best for western style brewing, generally speaking. Wuyi Yancha and certain other roasted teas (certainly not all of them!) do well western style in the fashion you want.

2) We don't have enough information to help in specific ways to your requests. You more or less have to experiment in order to get the best experience you want. We can't really tell you whether that's good or not. Organic mountain does suggest one of those high fragrance green oolong that isn't oxidized or roasted much. If that is the case, then it's probably a waste to brew it western style. You'd want the small cups so you can breath in the smell often. Their taste is pretty delicate too, so a long brewing can be muddy.

Tea like this:
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-tea-shop-oolong-dhp.cfm
is good for the coffee natured, I think.

 

[JPDyson]

Thanks, shah8 - I've never been one to settle on a single variety of most any consumable, so I'll end up with a lot of different teas if my shaving collection is any indication. I think one thing that's encouraging is that perhaps I'm getting what I should expect from this variety and this style, and when I fish for recommendations, should lead with " I'm accustomed to coffee, and I like the simplicity of western style brewing".

 

[Proinsias]

If it's a little weak try:

more leaf
hotter water
longer steep

Keep pushing until it tastes bad. It's probably not going to be as strong as coffee but as a coffee drinker you may prefer it far stronger than the recommended brewing.

 

[Proinsias]

What do the leaves look like?

Green or brown? Rolled up or wiry? What colour is the liquor?

 

[JPDyson]

Keep pushing until it tastes bad.

I find this helpful - it's a good reminder that this is subjective and variable.

That, and I may just tend to prefer bolder teas - but even then, they'll probably not be as bold as the bolder coffees I'm used to drinking (I've used espresso roasts in my french press).

Edit...

What do the leaves look like?

Green or brown? Rolled up or wiry? What colour is the liquor?

I'll probably have some later on, and may be able to snap some pictures that would be more helpful than my descriptions. In general, though, the leaves look rolled up, most of them are a dark green that almost looks black, but a few are tan/beige. The liquor (I guess that means the drink post-infusion) is a golden brownish color.

Yeah, I'll take some pictures in a bit.

 

[SiBurning]

Oolong tea tends to be quite tasty, sometimes even in a bold way, but there's always a delicacy about them. That's due to being partly oxidized, so they have both raw and oxidized parts. You said yours is almost black, with a deep orange liquor, so it's probably more highly oxidized than most, let's guess and call it 60%. You almost certainly don't want to steep it 3 full minutes, and definitely not more, maybe 2.5 tops if you brew it that way. I'd raise the temperature a bit to 190 or maybe 195 and steep for 1 minute. Better, use 2 teaspoons and start the first steep at 30-45 seconds before pushing it to a full minute. This should help bring out the unique tastiness of the partly-oxidized oolong at first, while each subsequent steep will bring less of that and more of the underlying tea. Expect 2-3 steeps before it starts to mellow seriously, and eventually gets utterly spent. Play around with the temperature and time, and use your nose to judge. You need to balance temperature, quantities, and time, and it's better to err on making too light a tea, because once you go too far, you can pretty much toss the leaves.

I would forget about coffee, and think of tea as a completely different drink. If you want that milk & sugar thing, your best bet is to skip the Chinese teas and go to the assam variety of tea from India or elsewhere. (But not a Darjeeling, which is closer to oolong, although they can be lovely, too.) I do put a tiny bit of sugar in some of my oolongs, but would never dream of adding milk. I'd recommend a good bold single estate tea, either an Indian Assam or Nilgiri, or a Kenya estate tea. I got these from specialteas.com and am extremely pleased, but I got them fresh in season. Other places have disappointed, but that's partly the timing. The Kenya is especially bold, but not as deliciously balanced as the others. Their Irish Breakfast blend was fantastic as iced tea, but the other blends are clearly inferior to the estate teas. That might be more to do with how my tastes have refined drinking different sinensis varieties of tea, and that I've come to appreciate the individuality of good teas. The blends are designed to stand up better to longer steeps, but have less individuality, which means a certain amount of blandness, so if you find you really need a stronger brew, try a blend. Otherwise, just accept that tea is more delicate with less body than coffee and enjoy them in all their varieties for what they are.

Right now, the freshest teas are probably some late season Taiwan teas, or Argentina, and parts of Sri Lanka. In a month or two, southern India and the rest of Sri Lanka will be coming out fresh. I wouldn't switch my taste preference from a Japanese green to an Argentinian tea just because of the season, but if you like the tea, it pays to use it as fresh as possible. Or you could use puerh and forget all about freshness.

 

[JPDyson]

Well I tried experiment number one before seeing the post above, which was more tea and hotter water. I get pretty much the same kinds of flavors, and don't really notice a remarkable difference in strength. It seems counter-intuitive to me to go with shorter steep times, but I might try that.

This morning's tea was almost the color of common sweet tea here in NC. It smells pretty good, but the taste is a bit less full and bold that I'd like. Perhaps I'll appreciate teas like this more in the future, and in better varieties. But it seems like I'm going to tend toward something bolder for now.

 

[vanztb4]

Being that your from Durham there is really only one tea you need to be drinking...it's cold and it's sweet On another note, blooming tea flowers are very interesting and most that I have tried have a great taste for white tea, typicallyl their flavor is not that strong. Good luck!
Tyler