3 Responses to Da Yu Ling Oolong [Episode 13]

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2. Connor says:

   February 4, 2014 at 4:36 am

   Just had a chance to brew this tea according to similar parameters. I felt that the aroma and color were very impressive, but I caught a lot of that bitterness and astringency that you guys mentioned–even at relatively short steep times. Many of TFT’s much less expensive teas were far more robust and had similar complexity. I’m wondering from that and what I’ve read elsewhere, is Da Yu Ling supposed to be an unforgiving brew? Or is it just that really good/robust DYL is hard to come by?

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   • James says:

     February 4, 2014 at 11:27 pm

     Hi Connor, thanks for the comment. Very interesting that it brewed up bitter and astringent. Most really high-quality gaoshan will be very forgiving and can come out quite tasty improperly brewed. Perhaps it was not a particularly good batch of DYL this Winter for Tea from Taiwan? I do know from my conversations with Tony (Origin Tea) that this was a below average harvest season.

     The DYL in this episode was the Spring 2013 one. Also, I think we slightly overbrewed this one which is why it is teetering on bitterness.

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