For those of us in North America there is nothing like a great, fresh Baozhong in the spring…honeysuckle, hyacinth, lilac – sweet spring flowers! I can feel the cold and dark clouds of winter lifting as we sip!
John
Yes! She actually recently went to Yunnan. Despite it not being her specialty I think she does have excellent taste.. Would be curious to see if she brought back any pu’erh back.
You guys are lucky you can just walk/drive right to her shop. Her stuff is great, hopefully we see her Muzha Tieguanyin back sometime, arguably the best Tieguanyin I’ve had.
You guys turned me on to Floating Leaves in your early episodes, and I knew I had to sample Shiuwen’s teas. As a huge fan of Taiwanese oolongs, I go to Floating Leaves now to get my Baozhong and high mountain oolongs, among others. Coming out of a long winter here in Vermont, I am just beginning to cycle from heartier teas (pu-erh, Wuyi rock oolongs) to more bright, verdant teas like Baozhong. I agree with Zach’s comment above, as I just finished my stash of Floating Leaves Muzha Tieguanyin, and it was special. Even as I tend more toward drinking pu-erh (as James said), I still have to keep some Taiwanese oolongs around, especially some Baozhong. Both the Farmer’s Choice and the 2nd Place Competition Style from last year were excellent. I order the vacuum pack bags of the stuff and pack a lot of leaf into a tea glass with a strainer. Baozhong is one of the only teas I steep like this (not in a gaiwan or yixing), maybe because I just want to consume large quantities of it for hours on end. I can’t just sip Baozhong. It is most definitely a gateway tea.
Thanks for chiming in. You won’t find much disagreement here. Whenever, I have these Baozhongs there’s a reason that they go quickly (besides being my date tea).
Interesting.. I tried a previous batch of Muzha TGY and did enjoy it. Still I can’t say that it’s the most distinct tea in my memory. I have had her Winter Dong Ding, which I thought was all-around excellent and better than the other Dong Dings I have lying around.
The only Dong Ding I’ve tried from Floating Leaves was the Spring ’14 Traditional, and I found it underwhelming. For years, before I discovered the wide range of online tea vendors (thanks to TeaDB!), I ordered all of my tea from Sebastian Beckwith at In Pursuit of Tea (IPOT), so you could say I grew up on their Dong Ding, which they list as Tung Ting. Every Dong Ding I try will be compared with IPOT’s Tung Ting, one of my favorite oolongs.
As for TGY, I recently ordered several different grades from Yunnan Sourcing, ranging from mid-range stuff to samples of the highest grades, to see how good TGY can be and to see if I know what I am talking about! Also to answer the question: is the expensive high grade TGY worth drinking over the lower grades? The 2012 Muzha TGY from Floating Leaves was very sweet and mellow with subtle notes of fruit and honey. It seemed to have been well rested with no harsh flavors that I get from some younger TGY. This is another characteristic I want to focus on when sampling the Yunnan Sourcing TGY.
Interesting! The one I’ve been drinking is the traditional Dong Ding from Winter. I’m curious to how Yunnan Sourcing’s Taiwanese oolongs are. Can’t say that I expected that turn of tea genres for them.
12 responses to “Floating Leaves Tea’s 2014 Winter Farmer’s Choice Baozhong [Episode 103]”
For those of us in North America there is nothing like a great, fresh Baozhong in the spring…honeysuckle, hyacinth, lilac – sweet spring flowers! I can feel the cold and dark clouds of winter lifting as we sip!
John
Hi John,
Yessir! Totally agree. Extremely pleasant and seasonally appropriate :).
Cheers,
-James
Floating Leaves is world-class in the tea world.
Hi Uncle Larry,
Yes! She actually recently went to Yunnan. Despite it not being her specialty I think she does have excellent taste.. Would be curious to see if she brought back any pu’erh back.
Cheers,
-James
You guys are lucky you can just walk/drive right to her shop. Her stuff is great, hopefully we see her Muzha Tieguanyin back sometime, arguably the best Tieguanyin I’ve had.
Hi Zach,
Yes we certainly are. It’s something we should be taking advantage of more..
Cheers,
-James
Taiwanese oolongs is way to get the ladies eh lol keep the bro tips coming
No problem brah :).
You guys turned me on to Floating Leaves in your early episodes, and I knew I had to sample Shiuwen’s teas. As a huge fan of Taiwanese oolongs, I go to Floating Leaves now to get my Baozhong and high mountain oolongs, among others. Coming out of a long winter here in Vermont, I am just beginning to cycle from heartier teas (pu-erh, Wuyi rock oolongs) to more bright, verdant teas like Baozhong. I agree with Zach’s comment above, as I just finished my stash of Floating Leaves Muzha Tieguanyin, and it was special. Even as I tend more toward drinking pu-erh (as James said), I still have to keep some Taiwanese oolongs around, especially some Baozhong. Both the Farmer’s Choice and the 2nd Place Competition Style from last year were excellent. I order the vacuum pack bags of the stuff and pack a lot of leaf into a tea glass with a strainer. Baozhong is one of the only teas I steep like this (not in a gaiwan or yixing), maybe because I just want to consume large quantities of it for hours on end. I can’t just sip Baozhong. It is most definitely a gateway tea.
Hi Phil,
Thanks for chiming in. You won’t find much disagreement here. Whenever, I have these Baozhongs there’s a reason that they go quickly (besides being my date tea).
Interesting.. I tried a previous batch of Muzha TGY and did enjoy it. Still I can’t say that it’s the most distinct tea in my memory. I have had her Winter Dong Ding, which I thought was all-around excellent and better than the other Dong Dings I have lying around.
Cheers,
-James
The only Dong Ding I’ve tried from Floating Leaves was the Spring ’14 Traditional, and I found it underwhelming. For years, before I discovered the wide range of online tea vendors (thanks to TeaDB!), I ordered all of my tea from Sebastian Beckwith at In Pursuit of Tea (IPOT), so you could say I grew up on their Dong Ding, which they list as Tung Ting. Every Dong Ding I try will be compared with IPOT’s Tung Ting, one of my favorite oolongs.
As for TGY, I recently ordered several different grades from Yunnan Sourcing, ranging from mid-range stuff to samples of the highest grades, to see how good TGY can be and to see if I know what I am talking about! Also to answer the question: is the expensive high grade TGY worth drinking over the lower grades? The 2012 Muzha TGY from Floating Leaves was very sweet and mellow with subtle notes of fruit and honey. It seemed to have been well rested with no harsh flavors that I get from some younger TGY. This is another characteristic I want to focus on when sampling the Yunnan Sourcing TGY.
Thanks for another great episode!
Hi Phil,
Interesting! The one I’ve been drinking is the traditional Dong Ding from Winter. I’m curious to how Yunnan Sourcing’s Taiwanese oolongs are. Can’t say that I expected that turn of tea genres for them.
Cheers,
-James