Huang Jin Gui oolong from Teaspring

For the first time since I got this latest batch in from TeaSpring, I had a challenge dialing in a tea today: Huang Jin Gui oolong.

I started off with 4.8 grams of leaf in a preheated yixing, boiling water, 1 minute, like most other teas I've had this week.

The scent was moderately thick and floral. The color was sort of a tinted amber with a hint of green. And there was more tea dust in the cup than other teas I've had lately.

The flavor was subtle and crept up on me over a few sips. A cool, refreshing mouth feel was immediately evident. There was a perfume-like quality to it, but not to outrageous excess.

It reminded me of a jade oolong. If I'd had to guess blind, I'd have tagged it as straight from Taiwan (and would've been mistaken, as it's from An Xi, Fujian Province).

After several infusions, I finally tried just reducing the steep time by about half in a cool pot, producing a more agreeable brew. Next time, I may try a more gong fu influenced approach with ultra-short steeps.

There's honestly nothing wrong with this tea. It's just not my personal style.

However, I think it may prove quite worthy with some tinkering, and is certainly a candidate for blending to lend some of its enjoyable qualities to some other tea.

Feng Huang Dan Cong from Teaspring

This morning I tore into the Feng Huang Dan Cong that came in my big Teaspring order.

Contrasting it with yesterday's Bi Luo Chun Hong Cha is easy enough at a glance.

From Fight Club

In this picture, the BLCHC is on the left, and the FHDC is on the right.

The BLCHC is twisted up into tight little nuggets, whereas the FHDC is on the verge of being impractical to handle with a spoon.

I weighed out 3.1 grams and steeped about half a minute in a yixing slightly less preheated than normal in water just below boiling.

It came out amber, unlike the deep brown of most of yesterday's BLCHC infusions. I found the taste bright and complex, with a cool sensation that may have been astringency. In comparison with this, the Bi Luo Chun Hong Cha eats like a meal.

Subsequent infusions over the next several hours continued to produce satisfying cups of tea. I changed up the temp and steep time semi-randomly and was just couldn't make a bad cup.

At the end of the work day, I took the following pic of one of the wet leaves.

From Fight Club