The Da Hong Pao experiments in taste begin.

So! The Da Hong Pao is pretty good. I have only had DHP once before, from a different vendor, in fact I don't even know who the vendor was, it was a small packet stuck into a large tea-ware order I had made and not from one of my trusted sources like Yunnan Sourcing, or Teavivre, or Verdant etc. I had disliked it pretty darn intensely, but then decided to try it in a new pot I had not been able to pair anything with and boom!the tea became drinkable. that was about four months ago and that's when I learned pairing a tea with a pot really is a thing, not just something people who sell pots might tell a novice who has too much cash on hand and a wild look in her eyes(albeit online so they couldn't see that) and was buying pots left and right. The pot that DHP sample worked with was one of four Yixing pots I bought in the first few months of my new addiction to tea, and man, I didn't know how I felt about that pot. I thought I had perhaps wasted my money, and it was 'so small!'
One of the four pots had quickly been assigned to be a Puerh pot, one had quickly become recognized as a useless non-utilitarian pretty 'art piece' never to be used ( every newbie buys one of those, right?), one had become an Oriental Beauty pot and so forth. I know you are rolling your eyes saying one pot for one kind of oolong? But seriously, this pot is part of my almost literal shrine of obsession with Oriental Beauty teas and nothing else is going in that pot. Moving on, one of the pots was a yixing yellow Xisha 90 ml and there was nothing that worked in it. Then I put in that mediocre DHP and all was well.
SO! Today I started in with my first good quality Da Hong Pao from a source I know and trust, I had brewed it up a few times last week just to test it out in my usual plain white gaiwan, it was OK, nothing to go all 'nom-nom-nom' about like my earlier tea of the morning(see below post on that gorgeous oolong), and so I decided to hang back and try it again today. I brewed 3 grams in a 100ml gaiwan and it was OK. It seemed to get better as the steeps went on, not madly in love with it, but  can see how I could develop a real liking for it. I think.
Then I remembered the yellow Yixing, grabbed that, dumped the wet leaves from the gaiwan and started fresh using 3 grams each vessel, and began steeping in both, same time, same water temp. Hey, I can do this two handed and not burn the living crap out of myself? WIN!
And just like months ago the DHP in the Yixing went Boom! and was better tasting than the gaiwan brew. The color from the brew in the pot is lighter just a bit than the gaiwan brew, perhaps the new thirsty little pot is taking out some of the fullness of the tea, and if so, perhaps that's what this tea needs to be made more attractive to me.
Here is a photo, and now I am off to play with temperatures and grams. I think I will focus on using the little pot, and take out a gram of wet leaves, and drop the temp down to 190f, see how that goes. As usual, Dear Readers, your emails with suggestions, admonitions and so forth are encouraged!As this is an ongoing experiment to experience a real good DHP and do it properly I will be answering emails the same day I promise! No lag time on this one.

A new favorite emerges! Mountain Tea's Black Pearl Oolong.

This was a sample I grabbed this bleary-eyed morning because, well, because it was close at hand. Now I cannot believe I have not tried it sooner. I used four grams in a 120 ml gaiwan, at temps ranging from 200 down to 190f. The first six steeps were absolutely fabulous. As usual, I did not time my steeps but they were pretty standard gungfu times, 30 seconds and perhaps a little longer as the brews began to thin out after the sixth steep. Mountain Tea says one will 'marvel' at the savory mouth-feel, and marvel I most certainly did. They also write that notes include, 'baked apple, apricots with cane sugar in the aftertaste.' Yes, indeedy. So I guess the way this tea is produced creates this balanced, medium-bodied dark oolong with a medium-heavy liquor. Very much appreciated by me first thing in the morning. A perfect level of depth to start my day, yet not so complex I couldn't sit at my tea table for an hour greedily steeping and re-steeping brew after brew and gulping down tiny cups of total-yum. Mountain Tea, whose webpage descriptions are written like friendly terrific learning lessons from someone who really cares says, "The key difference between green, oolong, and black teas are not the ingredients, but production techniques.  Look, specifically, at the process of oxidization.  Green teas are not oxidized at all, black teas are 100% oxidized, and an oolong can run anywhere in between.  Black Pearl is a heavily oxidized oolong tea; showing off the qualities of the best black teas, yet still retaining the multi-layered complexity of an oolong." This is a first rate, (as if I would know, but it is how I feel,) full bodied whole-leaf oolong that goes to the top of my short list of things to buy right away. And in all further sessions I will continue to honor this tea by only using the gaiwan so as to not miss out on any of the pleasures it so kindly offers. I love my Yixing, my Jian Shui, my infusers, but this tea deserves to be seen and I don't want to let those leaves out of my sight. 

Da Hong Pao, the Big Red Robe, here in my home at long last!

I have been wanting to try a good and authentic Da Hong Pao oolong since I first started this tea-journey. This tea is famous for its unique floral fragrance and its Wuyi rock tea taste. What does that mean, 'rock' taste? As of this writing I still do not know. I had one small experimental steeping last week but decided to hold off until I was better prepared lest I waste the leaves I have.

I decided instead of starting my DHP session tonight, I would spend some time with just the dry leaves. I was immediately impressed by the clean flower aroma and strong sweetness.

I have been told Wuyi rock tea is baked extremely slowly, and only arrives in the marketplace in August of every year. I am told to expect the new Wuyi rock tea to still have a little charcoal in the taste. Just out of the bag all I smell is flowers and cookies. Yes, again with the cookies. I am told by another DHP-loving tea-friend that as the tea breathes under the air, the charcoal aroma will dissipate and the tea’s original taste and aroma will come out.

The leaves are a dark brown and crisp feeling in my fingers, the aroma is natural and fresh with unique ripe fruit fragrances a little different from any other oolongs I have smelled prior. 

This is from Wikipedia...

Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) is a prestigious Wuyi oolong tea. It is a premium variety of the Wuyi yan cha (武夷岩茶, Wuyi rock tea) group of oolong. According to legend, the mother of a Ming dynasty emperor was cured of an illness by a certain tea, and that emperor sent great red robes to clothe the four bushes from which that tea originated. Three of these original bushes, growing on a rock on the Wuyi mountains and reportedly dating back to the Song dynasty, still survive today and are highly venerated.

Cuttings taken from the original plants have been used to produce similar grades of tea from genetically identical plants. Taste variations produced by processing, differences in the soil, and location of these later generation plants is used to grade the quality of various Da Hong Pao teas. In recent years, a number of companies have invested in preserving the interest in this tea and other so-called "artisan" teas, which typically are of very high quality and have rich histories as is true with Da Hong Pao. These have an initially high cost of production (and typically are only considered authentic when grown in their place of origin), but, as they have quickly become popular in Western countries, prized selections of the tea are available each year, with quality being consistent due to the increased popularity of tea.

Due to its high quality, Da Hong Pao tea is usually reserved for honored guests in China.

Tomorrow I will begin a series of sessions and write-ups about this, my first Big Red Robe! Check back in for more!

Zen Tea's herbals. Because you can't live on Puerh alone!

So delicious and would you look at that? I am feeling far less aggressive than usual......huh!

My first Mi Lan Xiang Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong.

The long twisted leaves and strong floral aroma are the first things I noticed when opening the bag. Wonderful dry leave scent, like peaches I thought initially!
As this is my first Mi Lan Xiang ( meaning 'Honey Orchid Fragrance)Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong I decided, naturally, to make a production out of it and headed outside with my mini-tray, my vintage gaiwan, a thermos full of piping hot water, and found a place in the sun to experience this nice and slow.

The aromatic complexity is simply nuts. One of those teas I tend to 'huff' for awhile before even thinking of steeping.
The rinse smelled so good I drank it and am so glad I did, what a waste it would have been to dump this! And the first brew was so different from the rinse that it was a pleasure to be getting a second impression with the 'first real steep'! Further infusions with the water temperature dropping down to to around 180 were sweet but lacked the vibrancy of the steeps at a higher Fahrenheit so I brewed some fresh water at 205 and hit the leaves another three times. Very warming sensations, a sweet little buzz in my head, a feeling of abandon took over so much that I even let QuanYin, one of my curious birds wander over for a bit!

Flavors range from peach and apricot to honey with a slight malty note. A real pleasure to drink and my thanks go out to Zen Tea for making this tasting session possible. Bravo and cheers and a deep bow thrown in there for good measure as I sit here on my back porch and feel fully awake, alive and aching with gratitude for all the good things in my life, this hour with this tea being on the top of the list at the moment!

The end of a good session with a remarkable tea.

Again with the Da Jin High Mountain Oolong but a different experience thanks to trying out new kinds of brewing devices!

If you, Dear Reader remember reading my post called 'Smacha Whacha Wow!' (and honestly I don't even remember writing it, I was so tea-drunk)  then you know I really liked Smacha's Da Jin High Mountain Oolong. Maybe too much. I believe my gushing might have taken on new spectral heights in that 'review'. I will not apologize. Enthusiasm is a gift, people, a gift!
Today I had the Da Jin again and once again had a series of wow moments, but in quite a different vein. Oh, I still loved it, its just this session is a low and slow, passionate yet playful science experiment playing with parameters, temperatures and so forth and all with my Smacha auto-brewer instead of a gaiwan. I followed Smacha's written advice and used almost 8 grams of tea as I filled and refilled the 12 ounce pretty white porcelain infuser over and over. I went from 205f to 190, all the way down to 170, and all with different tones coming out of this sweet Oolong.
It is not an overly complex tea, I am learning from complex with my huge stash of shou Puerhs, but it has depth and personality and wonderful floral notes and nuanced sweetness, it has earthiness and nuttiness and all sorts of things you want from a good high mountain Oolong!

"Oh yes," I sigh deeply as my Serious Sunday Yum Needs are met so perfectly this hour with a new Oriental Beauty from Teance of Berkeley, California.

As my growing group of new readers can attest, I am an Oriental Beauty. Damn, I wanted to end the sentence there, but I cannot. I wish it was the case but the sentence really should read, I am an Oriental Beauty lover. This is my favorite tea, it was the first loose-tea I gongfu brewed and it has set the standard for all other teas my newbie palate has been blessed with trying. I have now been gifted by  tea suppliers and tea-creators with many samples and have made purchases based on those samples, including two Oriental Beauty cakes! This tea from Teance, called Taiwan Beauty was not a sample, I actually bought it before trying it, that's how much I trust Teance Tea even though I have never tasted their teas until this mornings session. You see, my facebook group, which is an ongoing source of education, delight and a new sort of bonding with tea-friends all over the world who guide me, was the cause for my trust and purchasing this tea and a few others from Teance without ever having been there( I haven't physically 'been' anywhere since I don't leave my zipcode,  sheer laziness, not phobias, so no worries, Dear Readers!).
So, let's talk about this Beauty, this 'Taiwan Beauty'. Why it is called Taiwan and not Oriental I do not know but will be researching to find out. Maybe just a preference of the tea-shop owner? This is a Summer 2015 harvest from Shinjhu, Taiwan.
I brewed exactly four grams in my 120ml gaiwan and the leaves expanded like a good tieguanyin. Check it out. I may need to move the leaves to a 250ml gaiwan for subsequesnt steeps.

I played around with temperatures, starting at 190f and moving it closer to 200 with steeps 4-6. Just a warm, delightful tea. The wet leaves are heavily floral but the taste is far more mild, with barely any floral notes at all. Warm honey, molasses, butter..... Just a clean and softly sweet brewing session.
And lastly, here is what the website tell us...

Elevation: 1,000 meters
Varietal: Coming Soon!
Oxidation: 80%
Production: Natural Oxidation
Caffeine: Medium

Connoisseur grade and competition entrant. 

A unique style of oolong tea, naturally oxidized by cicadas called leaf hoppers, who nibble on the edges of leaves on the premature tea buds, removing the astringency and leaving a unique sweetness and perfume. Robust, spicy, and honeyed, made by the Hakka tribal people of Taiwan. Hand harvested and crafted by a Hakka tea master from Shinjhu, harvested in July.
This is one of the most unique and beautiful teas in the world, the flavors are somewhat mysterious; results produced from a marriage of terroir, mankind, and insect. The interaction between the leaf hoppers and the leaves protecting its bite wounds, combining with the Hakka tribal culture of hard work, eschewing comfort for the hottest, most humid conditions in order to allow this tea to oxidize naturally, creates this superior, complex tea that can not be replicated anywhere in the world. Buying from origin doesn't just mean soil and weather- it is the people and culture as well.

Amber Oolong steeped in the Smacha auto-infuser.

Bleary-eyed, 6 am. I mentioned, didn't I, that I start early? I will even go so far as to admit, Dear Reader, that I got up even earlier at 4:45am and did the unthinkable; had a decaf vanilla Keurig cup of coffee. Proud of it I am not. But it did the job which was to make my belly warm and send me back to bed for another hour bringing me to this moment, my bleary-eyed first brew of the day, to be made easier with my Smacha 'no-brainer' auto-brewer.This is Monday morning, first time I have used the Smacha since it came this weekend when I was far more lucid and the hour much later. So! I sleepily choose my brew, Amber Oolong, always a great choice, I have loved gongfu-brewing these tightly rolled delightful little balls of yum for weeks. I go to my printed sheet on the fridge that came with the brewer to check out what Smacha says I should use for gramage and what the what? 7-8 grams? I am used to using a 100 ml gaiwan. At this rate I will be out of Amber Oolong in....hell, two months!
OK, don't panic, remember this is making 12 ounces and I can re-steep just as many times as I do in the little gaiwan. Am I wrong? (That is one of my common daily quotes from The Big Lebowski. Walter Sobchak constantly asking that question. Just FYI.)

I heat the water at a higher temperature than I usually do for Oolong, again following the printed instructions that came with the brewer so I am brewing the water to 205f. For me that is Puerh temp, I usually brew Oolongs at 190f tops. But I am following instructions. It's nice to have instructions actually, especially using a new tool at 6am.
First I warm the vessels, then add 7.38 grams of rolled Oolong, (I couldn't get myself to do 8!) and when the vessel is warmed and the tea is waiting I fill it to the brim, cover and wait.
Two minutes they say. I am hovering, as you can imagine, over the infuser and about ten seconds into my two minute wait I wonder, 'What is that gorgeous smell?' I can smell the Amber Oolong brewing! Even with the lid on and the infuser sitting snug on the pitcher, the amount of tea and the temperature, and the way it is steeping is giving my keen nose a hint that I am about to see and taste my Amber Oolong in a wholly new way.
And yes! Look at the color! And, oh god, the first sip is heaven. I wasn't supposed to rinse this, right?
Hope not, we are in a drought here, and this is 12 ounces of liquid and it looks and smells divine. Not too light at all, rich, honey-hued deliciousness.
This tea, and I have had it for 5 months, has never tasted better. Not in the gaiwan, not in the celadon, not in the Jian Shui. In all my experimentation with this tea, which I consider to be a safe, solid-tasting and reliable daily drinker, never has it reached a flavor profile this distinct. Wow, 7.38 grams, huh? I never, ever would have used that much in a gaiwan or one of my little pots. My largest vessel for Oolongs is a 'huge' Jian Shui holding 7 ounces, even then I might have used 6 grams at the most.
Who do I thank for this discovery? It feels like I should be thanking god, but that's really not my style and I doubt she was involved so obviously I thank Jason Chen, and perhaps even more so I thank Andrew Goodman who is helping this newbie discover new ways of hedonistic yet appreciative Teaism that is forming the basis of the rest of my day. I am now off to pee a bunch and then take an early morning walk where I will undoubtedly smile and hail each passer-by in a blindingly happy fashion.
(Buddha-mom big time happy. Peace OUT!)

(The Tea-pet gang wondering where the hell I think I am going as I walk past them with that big white pitcher and mug in my hand headed for my desk to write about this!)

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Hidden Peak's Puerh 401 renders Buddha-Mom (nearly) speechless!

I am speechless. Almost.

I will have to allow the website the do the talking. I can tell you that even I, with my newbie palate could tell right away I was sipping something pretty vibrant and alive. Two steeps and I had to back off, my head felt both light and heavy at the same time. That's when I decided I better get online and find out what I was drinking. Here is what I learned.

FACTS

• Vintage: 1996 - 1998
• Category: Shou
• Format: Loose leaf
• Leaf Grade: 3
• Growing Region: Lincang
• Blend of two different teas
• After-matured 3 years

401 is a blend of two shou pu-erhs made for advanced drinkers. This was a small production tea made with small leaf grade raw materials, one from 1996 and one from 1998. After blending there was a three-year after-maturing for optimal harmonization.

A unique aspect of this tea is its Hong Kong/Yunnan flavor profile. Wet storage pushed the ripening in early stages followed by years of much lower humidity. The result is a flavor and aroma profile that presents the interesting palette of wet storage without the physical down side of ingesting “moldy tea”.

WHAT'S IT LIKE?

Due to the small leaf size this tea infuses quickly - a wonderful opportunity to test your gung fu brewing. It is a very complex and elemental blend with minerals, woods, grasses and waterways taking the palette on a wonderfully rich culinary tour.

Wetleaf:dark brown/black color and very even in the blend • beautiful juice exuding and quite brilliant

Broth:

medium clarity in beautiful burnt umber tone during initial steepings moving into bright clear broth with gorgeous amber hue

Energy:   

pointed initial impact splaying into diverse avenues of colorful expansion

UPDATE!
I have now been steeping the same 5 grams of leaves for almost 24 hours. Not constantly, and I certainly didn't start the day out with 401, but at this point, I could, if I had the mental faculties and tea knowledge say a lot more about this tea than I am. Sadly for my readers, I am too new to tea to know how to talk about something like this.
I can tell you that I think I've infused the leaves maybe 8-10 times and that it rather suddenly, after being left alone for a few hours, got very sweet and gave me some chi energies that might have frightened a less adventurous newbie.
Just a wild ride, but a delicious one from the first steep almost 24 hours ago til this last one.