Oolong is also credited with being the most fragrant of all teas, still redolent with the freshness of a green leaf, but having undergone enough fermentation to carry deeper notes than green can muster.
EXCELLENT video,and I thank you for making it. I am a person who thought that I loved tea. But I was making tea bag tea all these years. I was drinking hot colored water! Total nonsense. I would even put sugar in it,shameful. Whole leaf opened my eyes,my nose,my mouth! A tea bag is to tea,what instant ramen is to proper noodles. Thanks for opening my senses!
Interesting timing of this video. I just purchased my first gaiwan, received it in the mail yesterday and ran out to a local tea shop to get started with Gong Fu! I went to a local tea shop where everything is loose leaf and sold by the ounce. I purchased 1 oz each of 6 different varieties to start my adventure, 3 of which were Oolong varieties. :-D
I think, essentially, Don in inviting us to be adaptable and pay attention to the flavor, aromatics, and body feel of the current brew in order to know what time/temperature to use for the next brew, and so on. In that way I think oolongs invite, perhaps even necessitate, us to explore and experiment with the tea to extract the full flavor, aromatics, and body feel of that particular tea
Hey Don! Have you thought about introducing a subscription-based service for your Mei Leaf store? I'd be great to get 3-4 random teas each month at your doorstep. Or are the curated boxes exactly to satisfy that need? Because I assume putting together a box each month might be tricky to source.
Living in Wyoming finding true tea is incredibly difficult... I really appreciate all you do at Meileaf and I will be ordering both flight boxes as soon as I get paid... hopefully next week
This video is so true! I noticed that recently. With lear brewing for Dancong its easier go loose many of the interesting notes and flavs! I aldo think that for ball rolled ones it is better to put the temp down in order to have more, balanced sessions, without ending up with a weak and washed out material. Thank you Dan for this video!
I experience the same with black tea where the leafs are opening in the first 2 brewings and the tea has less flavours. After the first 2 brewings the tea has more flavour in the taste which shows the truz caracter of the tea. So interesting al these experements to get the best out of the leafs!
My Mei Leaf pig pet blows bubbles also! Time for a Session- You have spoiled us. Everyone in my family is not a Teahead like myself- so I only brew for myself ( oh well more for me). I need a Session- Greatly! Cheers from Texas.........Ya’ll😎❤️
Same here. My husband only drinks tea when he has a cold or flu. :-/ I drink it pretty much every single day of the year so all of my teaware is geared toward single-serve.
Hi Don I'm new to both your channel and gong fu style tea brewing. I have really accelerated my knowledge in a 'non linear manner' since watching your channel, which is now the bench mark for my new past time. Thank you so much. Hope to visit your tea house soon. Hope parenthood is treating you guys well
Great video! Very useful information. Thank you! I have a random question as far as tea and health goes. Can you drink too much tea in one day? I enjoy oolong, pu erh, white, green, and yellow tea all within the same day. Everyday. Is that too much or am I good? I love tea so much, it's hard to help.
I use a ceramic kettle on an infra burner, I bring the water to temperature by watching the steam rise in a steady stream, and listening to the kettle`s sound, I take it off thye heat, I switch off the heater, and preheat the teaware, brew the first brew, after that I put the kettle back on the stove that has some residual heat but I don`t turn it on, so it does not cool down but it maintains the temperature slightly lower than the first, I do the consecutive brewings until the last two, with those I reheat the water.
I've discovered that generally I prefer soft brewing, at lower than recommended temperatures. That being said I can never seem to get the brewing soft enough for the darker oolongs, especially the ones with a higher GABA content, and the GABA is particularly useful to me as a neurodivergent person with sensory issues.
😳😱🤯 my reaction at 15:28 My gosh, Don! So SMART!! I've always brewed linearly but I can guarantee you that I'll be expiramenting a lot with dip brewing now. Especially as an Oolong lover. Loved to see a master class video on this brew method too. 👍
Oh huh, I've been doing non-linear brewing since I started (recently, I am noob and your channel is extremely informative!), just figuring from experience that if I want to pull out the last of the tea from the leaves, I have to increase the temperature. I started from your quick tea brewing pdf guide, but I change it up depending on the tea--learning to brew ball-rolled harder on the first infusion is good to know! I also tend to increase the time by a proportion, instead of a flat number of seconds. For instance, I'll add ~30% to the time each re-brewing, going from 15 to 20 to 30 to 42 seconds. I'm not sure if the proportion idea has merit, but it seems to give a steadier intensity of flavor across multiple re-brews. By the way could you include the brewing time when you do these sorts of comparisons? This is a great video and I learned a lot. The ball-rolled oolong that I bought is considerably darker and roastier than the strip oolongs I've had, but I think that is because I left it in my car too long on a hot day T_T
In my experience a tea never profits from being brewed at a higher temperature at the beginning. You will irreversible loose a lot of the volatile aromatics. It is always a better choice to increase the time instead. Then for later brews you can increase the temperature again to taste everything the tea has to offer.
Spooky I was just re watching the video on summer haze as I was enjoying a session with it and I suddenly get a notification on a new video on oolong tea 🍵
Claire's Stitching corner I drank the last of my summer haze a couple days ago. Loved those brighter fruity notes for a yan cha. My first exposure to high quality Chinese oolong was a ball-rolled Qi Lan that I fell in love with
Which harvest is best for Taiwan oolong? The Fushoushan Jin Xuan Winter 2020 harvest is on sale now, but I plan to travel to Taiwan in May 2021. Do I buy now? or wait?
Hi Dom! I've just watched a tea history video, and they talked about as you said "Indian-British tea" I would like to know your opinion about that, Cuz I haven't seen any of those on your videos. Greetings from Mexico city. Keep safe Mai leaf team!
Hello! I brew in the Gong Fu Glass Pot usually put 9gr to 150ml water. But after the leafs expand the water cannot fill all the leafs. Is that okay or I need to put 200ml water and increase the time? Thanks for the advice. :)
I kind of do this when I use my thermos, lol. Temp goes slowly down and then when I run out of water I use boiling water. Makes me wonder how did you come up with The Dip. Also, will you be releasing a single called Do the Dip? :) Also, recommend some music for sunday. Or do you have a Mei Leaf Spotify playlist?
I just got my first tieguanyin and for some reason it's super fishy tasting after the first infusion😢 i dont know if im brewing it wrong or something. Is this normal for tieguanyin?
Don, i watched one of your video about fruit which can help increase taste sensitivity. I looked it up in you channel but I seems can't find it. CAN YOU HELP ME to tell me the name of the chemical in the fruit Don?
Some teas benefit much more from “non-linear” brewing than others. It would be nice to have a deep dive masterclass on the topic for sure!
Oolong is also credited with being the most fragrant of all teas, still redolent with the freshness of a green leaf, but having undergone enough fermentation to carry deeper notes than green can muster.
EXCELLENT video,and I thank you for making it.
I am a person who thought that I loved tea.
But I was making tea bag tea all these years.
I was drinking hot colored water!
Total nonsense.
I would even put sugar in it,shameful.
Whole leaf opened my eyes,my nose,my mouth!
A tea bag is to tea,what instant ramen is to proper noodles.
Thanks for opening my senses!
Interesting timing of this video. I just purchased my first gaiwan, received it in the mail yesterday and ran out to a local tea shop to get started with Gong Fu! I went to a local tea shop where everything is loose leaf and sold by the ounce. I purchased 1 oz each of 6 different varieties to start my adventure, 3 of which were Oolong varieties. :-D
helpfulnatural me too! Lol.
Years of experience and "feel" condensed and explained as non-linear dip brewing.
I think, essentially, Don in inviting us to be adaptable and pay attention to the flavor, aromatics, and body feel of the current brew in order to know what time/temperature to use for the next brew, and so on. In that way I think oolongs invite, perhaps even necessitate, us to explore and experiment with the tea to extract the full flavor, aromatics, and body feel of that particular tea
Hey Don! Have you thought about introducing a subscription-based service for your Mei Leaf store? I'd be great to get 3-4 random teas each month at your doorstep. Or are the curated boxes exactly to satisfy that need? Because I assume putting together a box each month might be tricky to source.
Living in Wyoming finding true tea is incredibly difficult... I really appreciate all you do at Meileaf and I will be ordering both flight boxes as soon as I get paid... hopefully next week
This video is so true! I noticed that recently. With lear brewing for Dancong its easier go loose many of the interesting notes and flavs! I aldo think that for ball rolled ones it is better to put the temp down in order to have more, balanced sessions, without ending up with a weak and washed out material. Thank you Dan for this video!
I experience the same with black tea where the leafs are opening in the first 2 brewings and the tea has less flavours. After the first 2 brewings the tea has more flavour in the taste which shows the truz caracter of the tea. So interesting al these experements to get the best out of the leafs!
I always use the non-linear technique for brewing Oolong because I found similar results of the tea to you. Happy to know that I was right XD
So many oolongs I don’t know which one to pick, any suggestions for a first time oolong?
I love your videos ! Thanks for all the detail/history and showing where these teas were grown with a map- I learned so much !
My Mei Leaf pig pet blows bubbles also! Time for a Session- You have spoiled us.
Everyone in my family is not a Teahead like myself- so I only brew for myself ( oh well more for me). I need a Session- Greatly!
Cheers from Texas.........Ya’ll😎❤️
Same here. My husband only drinks tea when he has a cold or flu. :-/ I drink it pretty much every single day of the year so all of my teaware is geared toward single-serve.
Hi Don I'm new to both your channel and gong fu style tea brewing. I have really accelerated my knowledge in a 'non linear manner' since watching your channel, which is now the bench mark for my new past time. Thank you so much. Hope to visit your tea house soon. Hope parenthood is treating you guys well
Great video! Very useful information. Thank you!
I have a random question as far as tea and health goes. Can you drink too much tea in one day? I enjoy oolong, pu erh, white, green, and yellow tea all within the same day. Everyday. Is that too much or am I good? I love tea so much, it's hard to help.
Been digging into my GABA oolong just days ago, very grateful to have a technique to maximize them.
I use a ceramic kettle on an infra burner, I bring the water to temperature by watching the steam rise in a steady stream, and listening to the kettle`s sound, I take it off thye heat, I switch off the heater, and preheat the teaware, brew the first brew, after that I put the kettle back on the stove that has some residual heat but I don`t turn it on, so it does not cool down but it maintains the temperature slightly lower than the first, I do the consecutive brewings until the last two, with those I reheat the water.
LOVE it! Will you guys be bringing back Oolong sampler boxes?
I've discovered that generally I prefer soft brewing, at lower than recommended temperatures. That being said I can never seem to get the brewing soft enough for the darker oolongs, especially the ones with a higher GABA content, and the GABA is particularly useful to me as a neurodivergent person with sensory issues.
"Strip oolong" sounds rather saucy...
Gong Fu and chill
😳😱🤯 my reaction at 15:28
My gosh, Don! So SMART!! I've always brewed linearly but I can guarantee you that I'll be expiramenting a lot with dip brewing now. Especially as an Oolong lover. Loved to see a master class video on this brew method too. 👍
Oh huh, I've been doing non-linear brewing since I started (recently, I am noob and your channel is extremely informative!), just figuring from experience that if I want to pull out the last of the tea from the leaves, I have to increase the temperature. I started from your quick tea brewing pdf guide, but I change it up depending on the tea--learning to brew ball-rolled harder on the first infusion is good to know! I also tend to increase the time by a proportion, instead of a flat number of seconds. For instance, I'll add ~30% to the time each re-brewing, going from 15 to 20 to 30 to 42 seconds. I'm not sure if the proportion idea has merit, but it seems to give a steadier intensity of flavor across multiple re-brews. By the way could you include the brewing time when you do these sorts of comparisons?
This is a great video and I learned a lot. The ball-rolled oolong that I bought is considerably darker and roastier than the strip oolongs I've had, but I think that is because I left it in my car too long on a hot day T_T
In my experience a tea never profits from being brewed at a higher temperature at the beginning. You will irreversible loose a lot of the volatile aromatics. It is always a better choice to increase the time instead. Then for later brews you can increase the temperature again to taste everything the tea has to offer.
Great explanations! Thank you so much!
Spooky I was just re watching the video on summer haze as I was enjoying a session with it and I suddenly get a notification on a new video on oolong tea 🍵
Claire's Stitching corner I drank the last of my summer haze a couple days ago. Loved those brighter fruity notes for a yan cha. My first exposure to high quality Chinese oolong was a ball-rolled Qi Lan that I fell in love with
Which harvest is best for Taiwan oolong? The Fushoushan Jin Xuan Winter 2020 harvest is on sale now, but I plan to travel to Taiwan in May 2021. Do I buy now? or wait?
Hi Dom! I've just watched a tea history video, and they talked about as you said "Indian-British tea" I would like to know your opinion about that, Cuz I haven't seen any of those on your videos. Greetings from Mexico city. Keep safe Mai leaf team!
Hello!
I brew in the Gong Fu Glass Pot usually put 9gr to 150ml water. But after the leafs expand the water cannot fill all the leafs. Is that okay or I need to put 200ml water and increase the time?
Thanks for the advice. :)
I kind of do this when I use my thermos, lol. Temp goes slowly down and then when I run out of water I use boiling water. Makes me wonder how did you come up with The Dip. Also, will you be releasing a single called Do the Dip? :) Also, recommend some music for sunday. Or do you have a Mei Leaf Spotify playlist?
You were only talking about degrees but what´s about the time? Or did I miss something?
I just got my first tieguanyin and for some reason it's super fishy tasting after the first infusion😢 i dont know if im brewing it wrong or something. Is this normal for tieguanyin?
Don, i watched one of your video about fruit which can help increase taste sensitivity. I looked it up in you channel but I seems can't find it. CAN YOU HELP ME to tell me the name of the chemical in the fruit Don?
Hello! I have a nerd question:
What is the correct translation for the word oolong
(or wu long)?
I'm pretty sure it is not "black/dark dragon".
When you translate the characters it means something else i thing.
Good.
i get so nervous every time your cuff gets close to dipping
What's the highest elevation tea you guys have?
Is it 4.5g for 500ml for Oolong strips on your chart ?
Thank you for the video! Maybe now I will brew my oolong "correctly"🤣
Very useful
Good information...
Will Western style tea always be bitter?
No Vodka and Whiskey ?
What do you call the saucers that hold the loose leaf tea?
If you're not referring to the gaiwan they're the tea scoops on the Mei Leaf website meileaf.com/teaware/white-porcelain-tea-scoop/
Must see that 4 piggies tea "pet "?
Do you guys ship to the USA?
Yes, we ship to the USA more than any other country
Why do you never cover Indian teas?
Another 'health miracle'? LMFAO!