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Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong
Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong
Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong
Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong
Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong

Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong

$9.00

Charcoal Heavy Roast Dong Ding Oolong

The 'cigar' of the Taiwanese tea world, this tea is something special. Masterly charcoal roasted at 140C, four times, for eight hours at a time, this tea is the most heavily roasted tea we have ever had on the site. It boasts a profile of rich, smooth roast hickory wood, high-quality cigar smoke and toasted marshmallow sweetness, great those brave enough to try this dark, dark tea. It is rare to find a heavily roasted tea with this complexity, but thanks to our friends in Dong Ding we are getting used to finding these rare types of tea!

The roaster of this tea is the nephew of the Old Master who makes our Old Master Dong Ding, and he deserves the name Master as well. 360 days a year he roasts tea at his home on the Dong Ding plateau, checking the temperature and profile of his teas every 15 minutes, 8+ hours a day. It is an amazing sight to see, smell, and taste, and one that we will be happy to share with you once our Mountain Stream Tea Tours begin again.

The Dong Ding area is steeped in tradition and has rather rigid agricultural practices. We have looked for years for an agrochemical-free authentic Dong Ding Oolong but haven't found one. Yet. This tea is conventionally grown and we have chosen to include this tea for its authenticity. For more information, see here. 

Other teas from this garden:  Unroasted Traditional Dong Ding Oolong, Tradtional Dong Ding Oolong, Charcoal Mid-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong

Elevation: 900m

Status: Conventional

Cultivar: Qin Xin Oolong

Season: Winter, 2020

Oxidization: 40%, Heavy Charcoal Roast, 140C for four 8 hours sessions

Method: Hand picked, processed on site, small batch

Region: Dong Ding, Nantou

Recommend Brewing Style:

Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~100C water, 30, 45, 60 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 4-5 steeps.

Western Style: 3g per 100ml, ~100c water for 2 minutes. Lasts 2-3 steeps. Very suited to western style brewing!

 **This tea is traditional, and strong. It is not a beginners tea. The Old Master Dongding series of teas is much more accessible for most tea drinkers. There are a few who will love this tea, but many whowill not. By all means try it! But perhaps, buy a sample before you buy a lot of it ;)

 

Customer Reviews

Based on 4 reviews
75%
(3)
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25%
(1)
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A
Amber
Not as smoky as anticipated

I do like this tea, the rating is more a reflection of it not being what I expected. I brewed this western style and didn't find it smoky or cigar-like at all, just a regular toasted oolong. So while it's nice, I have several cheaper roasted oolongs that taste the same to me and would rather buy those.

P
Peter
Fantastic

I've been long looking for a fine, smooth heavy roast oolong for a while. They tend to be either too harsh (burned) or too weak. This one is perfect, heavy, smooth roast that preserves the original tea quality and enhances it with depth and smoothness. Exceptionally well done.

B
Beryl
Charcoal Heavy-Roast Traditional Dong Ding Oolong

The roast on this is superb. Making this a good daily drinker. That is saying something because my daily drinkers tend to be teas that cost over 50cents a gram. While this one is cheaper then that that means it’s a good tea. The longevity of the roast doesn’t last through the steeps be the beginning to mid steeps done gongfu style is a fairly decent cup of tea. I would recommend someone to revisit it. Drink it up fast because over time roasts get out of the tea. Once again this roast was done extremely well. It really makes this tea above average taste and fragrance.

M
Morgan
An excellent heavy roast

This tea isn't what I was expecting from a "heavy roast" tea. The 2016 #20 charcoal roast oolong has a very upfront charcoal note until its spent some time resting in clay with some oxygen. Even then it takes a steep or two to bring out the real stonefruit flavors. Until well rested it can be described as scratchy in the throat.

Right out of the packet heavy roast dong ding one is delicious with clarity of flavors. You have a sweetness and a creaminess along side what I'd describe as a "roast" flavor that is some combination of leather/tobacco notes. It's very very good. I get no cigar or ashiness I was worried about in a heavily roasted tea.
The later steeps I find the flavors begin to muddle a bit and there is a noticeable almost grainy texture I have a feeling is caused by the roast. Based on experience with similar teas I think this may smooth out over time.