Chaozhou is a way to drink tea, using an extreme amount of leaf, but the catch is it also needs to be very good high fire oolongs. The tea I have from just 4 tea is one such tea. To start fill the gaiwan 1/3 full of leaves and crush them, then cover those crushed leaves with whole leaves untill you get close to the top. Now I recommend doing this in a 100ml gaiwan or smaller, or else it might just be a major caffiene overdose.
The trick is to try and get identical infusions. I can tell you with this there is a very pronounced burnt butter and sugar taste, with some notes of rasberries, and lots of espresso.
2 comments:
I'm not so sure about this chao zhou method.
I used small gaiwan (2 oz) and filled it 3/4 full with organic wuyi (a high fire oolong, as you suggest). The first infusion at 180F for 60s was unbearable. Sure, the burnt sugar, espresso, and red fruit, but it was hard to taste through the blinding rage of bitter tannins.
A shorter infusion (30s) yielded similar notes. The caramel character is brilliant and distinct, but its not really drinkable in the face of all that bitterness.
Suggestions?
Tom,
I should note that with Wuyi, due to the shape of the dry leaves, as in just twisted and not rolled into tiny balls, crushing is usually not needed.
And even then Wuyi is somewhat of a different beast. If you do have any High Fire TGY, give it a try.
If I want a Wuyi strong its usually 3/4th full or possibly slightly less, and after a quick rinse, proceed to 20-25 second infusions, a little shorter (5 seconds or so) on the second, then start stepping them up.
But as I always say, you want the tea to taste good to you. Some people are not huge fans of the "stuffed pot" method, and it certainly takes some getting used to.
Adam.
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