In episode 79, Denny & James review an aged Baozhong kindly provided to them by Philipp Abba of Zero Tea Zen. A total contrast vs. the modern, green-style Baozhong that currently dominates the Baozhong market. Read more about the tea here (English at the bottom of the post).
6 responses to “40 Year Old Baozhong via Zero Tea Zen [Episode 79]”
Always fun to watch you guys talk tea, as you are quite down-to-earth, easy-going, and non-pretentious about the whole experience. By the way, do you know what the oxidation level is on that BZ, by chance? Thanks.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the comment! At this point, it’s pretty difficult to guess the original oxidation and roasting levels. My guess would be that they are both far more significant than most of today’s Baozhong.
Cheers!
-James
1) I think I’m seeing a pair of guys getting smashed with good qi, judging by behavior. You guys *did* get a lot of qi in that tea, didn’t you?
2) I was never really a big fan of aged baozhongs, but lots of people do like it. Tends to have a very distinct phlegmy texture in the mouth. Sort of medicinal-plummy taste, but otherwise consistent in taste. So I find them boring aside from the qi. Aged dongdings, yancha, and some dancongs are more my thing.
3) Never take age seriously on an oolong. Without pretty tight chain of custody, most of them don’t have any firm dates at all, aside from tins, competitions, etc, etc.
4) All that said, I hope you guys continued drinking it for a long time. Many such teas do last a ton of brews. Others are short. Did it die quickly or not, if you continued drinking?
Hi shah8,
Thanks for the comment.
Not sure about the qi. I don’t have a strong memory of the day when we filmed this. It was the second episode so perhaps it was just the caffeine. As you suspected, this tea did last probably 15-20 brews.
Agree re: aged Baozhong profile and questionable age. This tea doesn’t fit into the Aged Baozhong category as neatly, because it is a bit wetter. Still I’d probably take a good aged Dong Ding or Tieguanyin over an aged Baozhong.
Haven’t had as much aged Yancha or aged Dancong. But they’ve been quite different from my experience.
Cheers!
-James
A 40 year old banana??? I must say this was just one of my favorite episodes to see you both coming up with words to describe the flavors. I do not know much about oolong tea and appreciate all of your info and opinions.
Thanks again,
Carolyn
PS-I know this is probably revealed in an old episode, but what does do the “DB” of TeaDB represent??
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoyed the episode. You should definitely give oolongs a try or two. I’ve found them to be an easier gateway to tea than pu’erh for instance.
The DB represents Database, although it is debatable if that is an accurate descriptor for TeaDB.
Cheers!
-James