Extra Tips on Waking Up Aged Oolong

After posting about waking up aged oolong I had gotten a lot of questions, so I thought I should post some more specific guidelines. This is a new technique for us, too, but we are very excited to practice and share. We decided to do an experiment, which I will lay out for you. I hope the outcome of our experiment will be a good starting point to practice waking up aged tea with heat.

We got the idea of waking up teas from footage shot in Taipei for the documentary. The tea brewing master she interviewed used his brazier that keeps his kettle hot to heat his clay teapot, dry, with aged tea in it. This, he said, was to wake up the tea.

We had touched up old teas before, but this encouraged us to practice it and make it a more regular part of our tea brewing.

The Experiment:

We did a side by side tasting of the '66 Aged Beipu before roasting, after being touched up in our electric tea roaster, and after being touched up in an old teapot over a candle flame. The three versions of the same tea all tasted different, and we preferred the candle flame tea.

Earlier this week, Shiuwen tried herself to touch up the tea in our electric roaster. After roasting it, she felt that although it was clearer tasting, the heat was not enough. So we tried again. This time, we tried 60 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes in our electric roaster. Despite being slightly over-roasted (had a stronger drying effect on the tongue), the tea was pretty good.

With the teapot roasting setup above, I started to heat it over the flame myself. The tea started out smelling slightly prune-like and moist. When I felt that most of the moisture was out of the tea, I showed Shiuwen. She smelled it and said "It's not done yet. Don't be afraid of the heat. And you don't need to toss it the whole time." You can see me babying the tea in the picture, continuously holding it shaking it so it wouldn't burn.

She placed the pot directly over the flame and let it sit. When she pulled the tea off the heat, we smelled the dry leaves. The fragrance was more clear, and I noticed
it penetrated deeper into my sinuses.

Brewed, the teas were all great because we started with a very good base. But the MVP was certainly the flame touched tea. It was not only clearer without the stale note, but it also 'opened' much more. The broth felt soft and round and expansive, and the scent was clear and assertive. The untouched tea was good, but the teas we 'woke up' felt like they had just a little bit more. The electric roaster tea was definitely right in the middle, clearer but without as much smoothness or roundness as the candle flame tea.

So go ahead and wake up your aged teas, if you like. It may help them to shine even more. If you discover something really awesome, let us know. We're on the same journey. And don't fear the heat, or you may find yourself outside the kitchen ;)



Written by Noah

Waking Up Aged Oolong

Aged oolongs can have a soothing energy. They are usually temperamental, and sometimes sour, but if you nurture them they can be full of life and delicious. And they will have a story to tell you. Part of the process of nurturing aged oolongs is waking up the tea.

When I talk about waking up a tea, I do this with heat. This is also called spot roasting, or touching up a tea. It is like roasting it just slightly, right before brewing. The simplest way is to get a candle, like a tea light, with a low flame. You can use a small sheet of paper, resting one pots worth of tea on the paper. Hold it above the flame so that a gentle heat starts to warm up the leaves (and not burn the paper at all!!). The goal is not to roast the tea, but merely to push out the slowly accumulated moisture. You can also make an apparatus to roast aged teas with an old teapot and a candle based teapot warmer as in this picture.

However you wake it up, the tea will taste cleaner, more direct and more full. The moisture that gets stuck in an aged tea can be like a glass wall between the tea and the drinker.

Our ‘66 Aged Beipu, for example, benefits from a quick spot roast. As it is, the tea is herbal, medicinal and smooth. When I feel like using some extra time and energy, I spot roast this tea as a step in my brewing process to produce an even more delicious pot of tea.


Written by: Noah

Charcoal Roasted Oolong and Aged Oolong

As many of you have probably heard or read about in the news, that was a big snow storm in the Northwest. It was very fun to see people making snowmen and to see kids sitting on their sleighs with big smiles on their faces. Despite all of this recent beauty and fun, I am ready for the snow to go away. It's COLD!!!

A nice surprise showed up at the shop when I needed some "warmer" teas to drink. Our winter charcoal roasted high mountain oolong and an aged 1979 BeiPu Oolong just arrived.

This charcoal roasted high mountain oolong is very balanced in its flavor and texture. There is a wonderfully warm and pleasant charcoal note that lingers in the mouth and in the cup. I especially like that this tea can stand up to brewing and I can get a lot of good infusions out of it. I brewed this tea in a gaiwan and was able to get 7 solid infusions out of it.

The 1979 BeiPu is herbal, warm, soft and grounded. I have noticed that I prefer this tea in a yixing teapot more than in a gaiwan. If you choose to rinse this tea, I recommend that you do a quick rinse. The rinsing water comes out fairly strong, so you will be giving up good flavor if you rinse too long. The tea yields 4 good infusions. I pushed the tea and brewed two more infusions, with the fifth and sixth taking more time to brew but turning out enjoyable, also.

I will list these two teas on the website soon with more tasting notes (This time "soon" means within two days, I promise).

I am back to Seattle!

I had a great trip to Taiwan and I am back to share the tea that I found.

For the unique varietals, I found a Buddha's Hand, a Taiwan Wuyi, and a Shei Shan. All of these teas have enough body, a nice mouth feel, and distinctive taste. For Baozhong, I purchased Farmer's Choice and Honorable Mention from Farmer Chen. There will be no first place this year, but you will get a chance to taste it at our Baozhong tea tastings.

There is also a selection of Dong Ding and Tieguanyin teas; some of them are very low in quantity. Both of these teas have full mouth feel.

For the high mountain teas, I chose a Shanlinxi, one Lishan, one Dayuling, and one Hehuanshan. This spring, the high mountain tea is gentler and has a softer body than previous winter teas. For the Alishan lovers, I'm sorry, but I couldn't t find one that was good enough to bring it back for you to drink. There is also an aged Buddha's Hand produced in 1991 and possibly an aged Tieguanyin.

In a couple of days, I will post some of these new teas on the website and offer you some tasting notes. Please keep an eye out for our upcoming newsletters for a series of tea tastings.

See you all very soon for new and age teas.

Rare Tea Tasting

In 2007, I was in Taiwan visiting a tea house with six customers, who were a part of my 2007 Taiwan Tea Tour. That was our first day in Taiwan so we decided to do something relaxing. We already had two pots of tea and I asked if they wanted more or if instead, they would want to go visit a temple. They all decided to have more tea because the tea house is so tranquil and nice. We saw a 25-year-old Dong Ding and they said they had never had an aged Oolong before, so we ordered that one. That was a good tea! It was very smooth and complex. And I paid $100 USD for that pot of tea!

This year, one of our tea buyers was in Taiwan and he was on a mission to find exclusive fine teas. He went to the same tea house that I had taken my customers to in 2007 and he tried the same 25 year old aged Dong Ding that I had tried for $100 per pot. As he sat with the owners, they ended up trying three more aged Dong Ding teas, each of which would sell for the same $100 per pot. The buyer brought back a sample of the one with the most complexity and smoothness. He also spent time in the Muzha region outside of Taipei, and was able to source some very high-end, full-bodied and richly-roasted Tieguanyins as well.


Having returned with these rare and high-end samples, we will be tasting these exciting teas with customers as part of our VIP tea tasting series. We will be offering 2 Dong Ding teas, 2 Tieguanyin, and one Puer. Most of these teas are aged and they all have an exceptional mouth feel. We don't have those teas for sale, but I thought it will be good to let people have a chance to taste some of the best tea anywhere in the world. The Dong Ding and Puer both retail for more than $1500 per pound, so this tasting is for the true tea lover looking for an exceptional tea. Good tea is for sharing, isn't it?

Aged Oolong and 2008 Winter Taiwan Oolong

My son Konghai is learning how to crawl. He loves to be at home. That's the place where he can go nuts! Two days ago, he was crawling in the bedroom and playing with his toys. Suddenly, he crawled to me and gave me a plastic bag. I picked it up and looked at the bag, reading "1966 Pou Chong (AKA Baozhong)." I was so excited.

Today, friends are in the shop and we tried the aged Baozhong. We were all joking that the tea is older than I am! We brewed it. The liquid is goldenrod in color. It tasted funny in the beginning, but the mouthfeel is amazing. It's very soft, buttery and smooth. Thank you Konghai, for this amazing tea.

My tea friend, Michael, is in Taiwan. He went to a farmer in Alishan for a visit. I have known this farmer for three years now.

Michael just wrote back and told me that there were only two batches of tea ready. I have been so nervous about the weather. I pray every day for good weather. He is also going to visit farmer Chen in the Pinlin region. Farmer Chen will give Michael some tea for me.

I can't wait for Michael to be back. This will be my first taste of 2008 winter oolong.