Friday, May 01, 2009

1990 Spring Hung Shui Oolong from San Hsia


Leaves:
1. From which vendor, farmer, source: Teamaster
2. Date of Harvest: Spring 1990
3. Elevation: Low 300-500m
4. Soil based: Rocky
5. Which area: San Hsia
6. Varietal. Luanze
7. Fired level: Medium/light
8. Bush age: young
9. Grade: 1st
10. breathing tea before brewing: 7 days

Brewing vessel, water:
1. Water source: Poland Spring
2. Aged or fresh: -
3. How you boil your water: Electric Water Boiler
4. Temp. for the first 3 steeping: Rolling boil, rinse, 1-3rd brew.
5. What kind of brewing vessel: Modern Zhuni/high fired. 180ml
6. What kind of cup to drink from: Eggshell

Brewing Parameter:
Amount: 4g
Rinse time: Flash
Set time: 30 sec
infusing time: 15 sec/40s/40s then add 30 sec
Height of water pouring: chest level
Hitting spots: side, till rolling leaves.

Result of the brew:
Color: clear, pale yellowish amber
Aroma: floral, metallic, raisins
Texture: soft, powdery
Mouth feel: sweet, dry fruits, dry pears, vintage pureh
Effects of the brew: lingering sweetness, calming. Best brew 2rd.
How many brews: 5th

Weather:
Drinking time of the day: late afternoon
High/low humidity: 40s% hum, low 60s temp
Rainy or sunny? Cloudy. mild and cool

End notes:
I like the powdery texture and the raisins and dry fruitiness of the brews. Very candy like with refine aging after taste. Leaves are small with metallic sheen, not high fire at all. Looks delicate, but powerful comparing to the size. Could be a first pick, high elevation spring 19 years ago? Just guessing. Enjoyable delights.

5 comments:

MarshalN said...

Looks really, really green for something claiming to be 19 years old.

TeaMasters said...

Some answers to your questions:
- Elevation: low. 300 to 500 meters approximately
- Soil: Rocky

Remarks: Fired medium in 1990, then it had 19 years to mellow, so I think it didn't need so much time to breath. (You might have weakened it like this, which would explain, for me, why you didn't get more brews out of it).
Still, I'm glad you liked its taste and fragrances!

toki said...

I think is the lighting and my unbalance skill in photography. The leaves are much darker then how it was represented in the pic. Think about the tea pot color being a pig liver red. Apology for the confusion..... : P

author said...

Oh I was going to say.. that tea is 20 years old? Anyway, the leaves are beautiful in the photo

Thanks always for your informative blog posts

- Janine

TeaMasters said...

Thanks for clearing this up! I agree with MarshalN that the leaves look too green here. On my blog, they look much darker.

On the other hand, the picture is very interesting: it shows well that even old leaves that have NOT been constantly re-roasted year after year will return to a normal leaf appearance. Some greenness will actually appear after several brews. The leaves are still tender, instead of being hard (like plastic) after too many burns.

 
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