Origin Tea’s Mr. Du’s High-Fired Alishan [Episode 86]


Denny and James review a really well-done high-fired tea from Origin Tea. The tea is unique in that the roast has been done at a lower temperature for a long period of time. In this episode we erroneously refer to the tea as Hong Shui, when it is actually just high-fired!


7 responses to “Origin Tea’s Mr. Du’s High-Fired Alishan [Episode 86]”

  1. Good review guys, with some good basic info on roasting. But at the end, Denny is over-selling (“awesome”) your non-existent newsletter .

    • Hi Peter,

      Thanks for the comment. The embarrassing part is we filmed this episode 1.5 months ago!

      I’ll make it my responsibility to get something up and going in January.

      Cheers!
      -James

  2. Hung shui oolongs are something something comparable to Wuyi yancha style. Notably high fermentation before roasting. I would, however, hesitate to suggest that the tea is NOT a hung shui. Hung shui is simply an overarching style, and if it’s pretty dark in brew and fruity, while from Taiwan (and not a Dongding)

    I get the feeling that this is very likely a similar product:
    http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1322

    Perhaps people who likes this might like:
    http://www.tea-masters.com/en/hung-shui/41-2013-winter-hung-shui-oolong-strong-yong-lung.html

    In general, roasted DongDings (much more common!) may approximate some of the enjoyment.

    However, what with the nuke green trend (and how much it makes things easier and less risky) have made supply of quality roasted oolongs much rarer these days. Historically, Houde was the best provider of refined, roasted, oolong in the US. That OriginTea did as well with Yancha and yancha-like roasted Taiwanese oolongs is an aberration that hopefully was fully appreciated and enjoyed by all who visited. And still, there’s just one roasted oolong of this type at Houde today, and from 2011 (two, if you include the Foshou 2009)!

    • Hi shah8

      Thanks for the comment.

      Indeed. Hong Shui is a pretty broad and somewhat ambiguous categorization. In the case of this tea, I’m labeling it as it was sold to me. Mr. Du also had a Hong Shui, which I also got through Tony. Comparing the teas, the main difference with the Hong Shui is the increased oxidation. Both have a similar, high-fired style roast.

      Agree about DongDings. A functional, albeit usually unexciting alternative.

      Cheers!
      -James

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