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| A Darjeeling First Flush 2012 from Turzum, India. |
They say, it takes 20 brews to truly understand a variety of tea. That's a lot of tea tasted, even if I'm brewing them. That's a lot of tea drunk too. I don't know what positive effects tea have on my body, but I haven't been adversely affected either. So drinking this much tea, basically makes me pee, a lot.
These 2 weeks, I'm still learning about the oolong, including those from Thailand and Vietnam. But I'm focusing on a region different from the 'Rock Oolong' and the 'Iron Goddess'. It's the single-bush oolong from Guangdong, which could be perceived as slightly lighter than its cousin, and closer in terms of nose and taste as a fragrant and delicate Darjeeling First Flush. Known as a 'single bush/shrub' (单丛) because of the way the plant branches out from the ground, its tea leaves are the lightest and most fruity of all Chinese oolong, excluding the Taiwanese varieties. The Guangdong oolong has over 30 varieties!
Brewing the gentle Darjeeling and the exquisite Guangdong oolong makes me nervous. In fact, I now tremble and take a deep breath before I dare to make that first pour into the teapot. I take extra care with the water temperature for the first brew now. The spectre of burning my tea leaves on the first brew looms. Don't even dare to use a thermometer to measure water temperature. "Feel it with your heart. Learn it with the palm of your hand and fingers in relation to the changing environment." The teacher said. Rigght. I'd be so thrown off in winter or on a rainy day lor. Right now, the temperature in the room is constant. Bleah. I don't do very well with the skill of 'agar-ation'.
The Darjeeling is one of those teas that I'm not familiar with. I've come to grow very fond of the first flushes which are gorgeously elegant and full of oomph. One session, I brewed a 2011 Darjeeling First Flush immediately after doing the 'Huang Zhi Xiang' (黄枝香单丛) and 'Xin Ren' (杏仁单丛). Of course the Darjeeling ought to be brewed at 85°C and the Guangdong oolong at 90°C. In spite of that, they were almost similar in the aftertaste! Lovely.
3 comments:
good to be learning interesting stuffs about tea, first time i heard about 单丛 & first flush!
is 黄枝香单丛 from 凤凰? (first to appear on google search)
FML: yes! all Guangdong dancong are from the Fenghuang mountains. Hence, Fenghuang Dancong, and it's simply spilt into its different varieties and flavors.
the first flush is oddly good with milk and sugar too, if you're so inclined. my grandmother used to insist on stocking a Darjeeling First Flush in the house all year round.
Thanks imp!
I'm usually to drink tea/coffee without sugar/milk. it will take some time for me to finish that cake of pu'er before i move on to next :)
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