“This green oolong comes from the gardens of Luoyan Village [罗岩村]. Roughly 800 meters above sea level, the tea bushes grow in fields and terraces alongside a small variety of native plants…This is the Summer harvest, made in July of 2019. Because this tea was grown in the summer without any pesticides, leafhoppers bite the tea leaves and provide the tea with its distinctive sweetness. The picking standard of this tea is roughly 1 bud for every 2 leaves. The leaves were withered in the sun, shaken and oxidized by hand, and then fired and shaped by machine before drying. The tea itself is sweet, buttery and floral. It is a very approachable tea.”
One of the interesting parts about the tea scene is that occasionally people and companies simply just disappear. They stop posting to social media and their websites vanish. Ghost teas.
This is an Anxi Oolong that a company called “Breathing Leaves” sold a couple years ago. They’ve seemingly shut down since then and the proprietor has disappeared from social media.
The tea is called “Luoyan Leafhopper”. The first impressions are of the Ooolong perfume, and it is indeed sweet and thick, like a bug bitten tea, but with more astringency and, along green tea lines, and a bit of surprising, and pleasant, huigan, or lingering sweet bitterness, that makes itself known in the aftertaste as the tea cools.
It is a very nice tea. I am not usually a fan of low oxidation Oolongs and this is very well done. I am a bit sad that the company seems to have disappeared, (Or at least gone into hibernation, as the last time I looked, their website was still up, but the shop shuttered. I tried to contact the proprietor with comments about enjoying his teas, but received no response.)
(Not to mention, they also sold some really good, well priced, Puerh.)
Trying to build a brand on social media is a thankless job, seems like lightening in a bottle, one in a hundred thousand, unless you are previously famous, or have the guts and commitment for a very long haul. Take it from someone who has had websites for almost as long as there has been an internet, and even a pretty “successful” one for a while. Don’t think it’s easy path to quick money, success, and fame.
I’m gonna call this tea @mudandleaves GC High Mountain Oolong, Summer 2019, ‘cos I find its actual traditional name a little creepy. Mud and Leaves also suggested calling it by its Pinyin name, “Huangjin Guafei Wulong” (Link to the GC High Mountain Oolong, Summer 2020).
GC High Mountain Oolong is a type of Taiwanese Oolong which the growers intentionally allow/encourage to be bitten by an insect called the Tea Jassid, a type of leaf hopper. The teas are also commonly called “Bug Bitten Oolong”.
The producers of this type of tea say that the insects’ bites on the leaves cause the tea to have a sweeter character.
On a practical level, these teas do not generally have the same levels of perfume and/or types of flavors evocative of fruit that you would expect from an oolong tea. Or maybe a different type of fruit.
Instead, the primary characteristics of Bug Bitten Oolongs are more reminiscent of Fujianese white teas. Early steeps have flavor and a thicker mouthfeel a bit reminiscent of minerally dry white wine, perhaps minerally Sancerre or very dry gewurztraminer. Subtle floral scents dominate the middle steeps, which fade to sweet grain-like flavor the later steeps. A long lasting light after taste stays in your mind and palate.
The energy seems concentrated in the throat and upper chest.
As is usual with all of their teas, Mud and Leaves’ 2019 GC High Mountain Oolong is an excellent example of this style of tea. Like White Teas, Bug Bitten teas are great summer teas, sweet, with a lasting cooling effect. (For the record, I also got the cool Dragon cup and nifty Ruyao Porcelain Gaiwan in these pictures from Mud and Leaves.)
As an aside, one of the most interesting things about Taiwanese teas, which are often formed into pearl shape, is when you weigh the dry leaves, it never seems like enough tea, yet when the leaves unfurl, you are always surprised by how much they fill the gaiwan.
The “BGT” here is a Raw Puerh cake known as “Big Green Tree” (because there is a picture of a big green tree in the middle of the wrapper).
To explain, in the early days of pu-erh enthusiasts, most of the teas were distributed by the Chinese National Tea Company (CNNP) with only Chinese characters on the wrappers. Puerh enthusiasts who didn’t read Chinese characters would distinguish between these various puerhs based on the main graphic feature of the label. “Big Yellow Mark”, “Small Yellow Mark”, “Big Red Mark”, “Small Red Mark”, and, obviously, “Big Green Tree”. The early, pretty legendary, versions of “Big Green Tree” were distributed by CNNP and very highly thought of among the teas of that time.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a Guangzhou tea collector and distributor named Ye Bing Huai started commissioning teas under the name “Big Green Tree” as a tribute (or attempt to reproduce those teas). He worked with different companies for a while, but recently they have mostly been made by the Xiaguan Tea Company.
The initial impressions are of a nearly Lapsang level of smoke. Later flavors are autumn forest floor, leather, tobacco leaves, perfume/incense, wood, and finally camphor. Very good length of flavor and complexity, but definitely a Puerh for Scotch and Mezcal lovers. I no longer drink Scotch (or smoke), but I do enjoy a Puerh that evokes those flavors.
Big Green Tree
Given the darkness of the leaves, and its relative youth, it seems like this tea must have spent at least part of its life, (before traveling to Slovakia,) in pretty fast storage, i.e. hot and/or humid. However, given the smoky burly nature of the tea flavors, it is still relatively clean tasting.
The tea provides a nicely zippy, but not unpleasant, long lasting head based energy.
As someone who grew up in the Midwest, obviously, I am going to buy a tea called “Midwest Nice”. Basically, no matter what the tea.
This raw puerh from White2Tea is one of their exercises in forming tea cakes using a traditional method of steaming the tea inside roasting fresh canes of fragrant bamboo. It’s a complicated and labor intensive process, which they usually employ for a few tea batches every year. If you’re interested, it is covered in depth on their blog: Bamboo Style of Puer
The tea picks up sweet toasty/grassy flavors from the fragrant bamboo, a bit like fresh corn grilled in the husk at a Midwestern corn boil (or Mexican tamales steamed in corn husks).
I’ve tried a couple of their Bamboo Ripe Puerhs, usually on the younger side, but this is the first time I’ve tried…
a) one of their bamboo raw puerhs
b) a bamboo compressed tea with any significant amount of age.
At this point, 6 years down the line, as a raw puerh in its young middle age, the flavor and sweetness of the bamboo has completely integrated into the tea.
And indeed, if you are expecting a tea with big, burly upfront Puerh punch-you-in-the-face flavor, Midwest Nice is not currently that tea. The flavor is soft and sweet, its main attributes and charms existing more in its aftertaste and lingering post consumption impressions than in the flavor of the tea while you are actually drinking the tea. The energy of the tea is a calming, warming, body buzz.
So, while the expression “Midwest Nice” generally refers to a superficial niceness independent of your actual feelings about someone or something, I can say that I do not have to employ any false niceness to say good things about the 2015 Midwest Nice Raw Puerh. It is a truly nice tea.
Liubao is a regional Chinese tea from Guangxi province.
The more common form of Liubao is a fermented/oxidized dark version similar, but pre-dating, ripe puerh style tea. This is another type, more similar to raw puerh. The unusual thing about this type of LiuBao is that older leaves, and even stems, are purposely used. The name “Lao Cha Po” means something like “Old Granny Tea” or maybe “Old Tea Granny”. From what I can tell, the reason for the name is that this was a tea that tea farmers would make for themselves, simply processing and drying the tea leaves in their homes. Of course, the Grannies and the Wives would do the hard work of processing the tea.
I’ve seen pictures of Liu Bao La Cha Po and always been struck by how much it looks like nothing more than a pile of leaf litter. (I’m tempted to start a series of instagram posts, “leaf litter or liu bao?”) In any case, I’ve always been very curious what such unusual, and often visually imperfect appearing, tea leaves might taste like.
With both versions of liu bao, it is not uncommon for the tea to be aged for decades. However, this is unaged fresh tea.
Because the tea leaves are older and thicker, both types of Liubao are often prepared by long simmering the leaves in a pot and adding more water as the tea gets drunk and the water level gets lower.
So, that’s what I did. I gave 7g of the tea a good soak with some boiling water and poured it off. Then I added the rinsed tea to 16oz (475ml) water and brought it to a simmer. When it was at a simmer, I poured half off into cups and drank. When I’d finished, I added another 8 oz water to the tea water and brought it again to a simmer. Et cetera, until it tasted more like water than tea. What I will say is that that first simmer after the rinse didn’t taste like much. While hydration is never bad, you could probably discard both the first rinse AND first simmer without missing much.
The tea smell and flavor is very unique and reminds me of a plant smell from my youth which I still can’t quite place. One thing Mrs Flannestad mentioned is that the kitchen smells a bit like it does when she steams fresh artichokes, minty-vegetal-grassy. The flavor of the tea has a herbaceous sweetness that lingers on your palate.
This is a wood roasted version of the same material used in the above Green Liubao Laochapo.
Definite smokey roasted smell as you open the bag.
Again making this by simmering the tea leaves. If anything, the roast version seems to take even longer to start giving up its flavor.
Initially my thoughts were that I preferred the green version, but as the simmering went on the roasted tea expressed even more interesting and complex flavors than the green had. At one point something like a maple flavor came through, at others more typical tea astringency. Like the green Laochapo, this is a tough tea to pin down. With a base from the flavor of the tea and the smoke of the roast, other flavors dance in and out as the steeps progress. Cool.
Liubao Laochapo Roast
Liubao Laochapo Roast
Liubao Laochapo Roast
Liubao Laochapo Roast
Liubao Laochapo Roast
I don’t know if either of these teas would make it into my daily or weekly routine, (unless I was visiting Guangxi province in China,) but they are super unique, unusual, and interesting representatives of the Chinese Tea family. Another educational and pleasurable shipment from the White2Tea Club!
One of the interesting things about the various lists of “Big 10 Famous Chinese Teas” (十大中国名茶)” is there is usually only one black tea on the list.
Most of the world drinks nothing but Black teas, but, in China, most black tea, (they call them red or “hong cha”,) is not very highly thought of.
As I discussed in the post about Lapsang Wild Tea, the creation of black tea was (allegedly) a happy accident when the green tea making of a mountain village in the Wuyi area of Fujian province was interrupted by a raiding party and the tea left to oxidize for longer than usual.
In any case, the single black tea traditionally included among the Chinese lists of “Big 10 Famous Chinese Teas” (十大中国名茶)” is usually Qimen, (usually anglicized to “Keemun” in the West).
“Keemun is produced exclusively in the Qimen County in the south of Anhui province. The name of the tea is an older Western spelling of the name of the nearby town, Qimen (pronounced “Chee-men”). The tea-growing region lies between the Yellow Mountains and the Yangtze River.[1] The cultivar used for Keemun is the same as that used in production of Huangshan Maofeng. While the latter is an old, well-known variety of green tea, Keemun was first produced in 1875 using techniques adapted from Fujian province farmers.[2]
“Many varieties of Keemun exist, with different production techniques used for each. Nevertheless, any Keemun undergoes particularly slow withering and oxidation processes, yielding more nuanced aroma and flavor.[1] Some of Keemun’s characteristic floral notes can be attributed to a higher proportion of geraniol, compared to other black teas.”
Wikipedia
I’ve drunk Keemun/Qimen quite a few times over the years, but for the most part I’ve had the very coarse types which are easily available in the US. While not usually bitter or overly astringent, these types are very strongly flavored, with a medicinal umami character that is unmistakeable even when it is used as part of a tea blend. I always describe that distinct flavor as a bit similar to the iodine tang of lowland Scotch whiskey.
I’ve even tried to order Qimen from different sources, but never really found any that helped me to understand why it deserved its place among China’s top 10 teas.
Through my travels in the tea circles on instagram, I became familiar with a user called @soiwatter, a French national who was living in China learning about Chinese teas. Even going so far as to help out with the harvest and processing of Tai Ping Hou Kui last year. He posted some great photos from his time there, which helped me understand the tea harvesting and processing steps.
When he posted to instagram wondering if any of his instagram followers would be interested in trying directly imported high grade Tai Ping Hou Kui and Qimen teas, I quickly raised my hand.
When he and his wife moved back to France, they started a tea importing company called Retour des Montagnes Jaunes.
If you look at the photos below, you can see this is not at all a coarse tea. In fact, it appears to be bud only with a few small stems, early spring tea, of very high quality.
Wonderful bakery scents in the dry leaves. When steeped, super clean in flavor, with the savory medicinal notes only appearing in the background. Lingering umami/savory sweet bitterness which lingers in your palate and mind. Good resteepability for gong fu style brewing, at least 6 or more, and it was still going.
Strong cha qi, which, even as I write this at 8pm, I am still feeling from this morning in my chest and throat.
Easily one of the most elegant black teas I’ve tasted.
Qimen
Qimen
Qimen
Qimen
Qimen
Drinking Qimen from Retour des Mountanges JauneQimen Qimei
“Mei” is a grading term often used with Fujian black tea. It literally means “eyebrow” and refers to, basically, single buds the size of an eyebrow lash. It is bud only tea from very early in the season.
When I was weighing this out, I pulled out a big pinch figuring it was way more than 7g. But the tiny buds, without hardly any stem and no leaves, is super fluffy and light. The big pinch turned out to be nearly exactly 7g, even less dense than the bud heavy Qimen above.
Distinguishing it flavor-wise gets a little tricky, as it is the same tea, picked a few days earlier in the season, and sorted for smaller buds and no stems.
I talked a bit about the medicinal note in the Qimen above. That is non-existent in the Qimen Qi Mei. Instead there is a stronger floral character, (Retour des Montagnes Jaunes describe it as rose-like and I agree,) in both the dry tea and the tea in the cup.
That floral character that the scent of the dry leaves promises is stronger through the whole drinking experience, it is rounder and softer in the soup. For a bud only tea, I got a good number of steeps.
I think the cha qi of the Qimen Qi Mei is slightly more calming than the Qimen. All bud only teas have strong cha qi, it is intense in the Qi Mei, but a bit more even.
I said the Qimen was one of the most elegant teas of tried so far, and the Qimen Qi Mei ups the ante on that tea, bringing a stronger floral note and better, more evenly integrated flavor and smell.
Qimen Qimei
Qimen Qi Mei
Qimen Qi Mei
Qimen Qi Mei
Qimen Qi Mei
Qimen Xiang Luo
Qimen Xiang Luo, Spring, 2020, from Retour des Montagnes Jaunes.
Retour des Montagnes Jaunes calls this Qimen “fragrant spirals”, but it is also sometimes called “aromatic snail”, due to the curly shape of the dried leaves.
This is an earlier pick than either of the other teas, but a larger sort, and also a longer oxidation, making this a more assertive, full bodied tea.
However, of course, it is still a mostly bud, very early spring tea with a very clean sort, so it isn’t going to be anything thing like the broken large leaf “keemum” typically found in most Western tea blends. There is a bit of the medicinal character I mentioned in the plain Qimen, but it is mostly in the early steeps. The later steeps are given over to stone fruit and rose character, maybe even a bit of sweet date. The added length of oxidation gives it a bit more resteepability than the other two teas.
The folks from Retour des Montagnes Jaunes have said this is their favorite of the three Qimen teas and I can see why.
Qimen Xiang Luo
Qimen Xiang Luo
Qimen Xiang Luo
Qimen Xiang Luo
Drinking Qimen Xiang Luo from Retour des Montagnes Jaunes
I am glad Retour des Montagnes Jaunes have chosen to feature these Qimen among their offerings. It is hard to find exceptional examples of this famous Chinese tea, and tasting the three illustrates why Qimem deserves its place among the “Big 10 Famous Chinese Teas”.
If I were to compare the three, the Qimen Qi Mei feels like a rich, floral special occasion tea. The Qimen and Qimen Xiang Luo are also special, but a little more down to earth and accessible, highlighting the richer and fruitier aspects of the tea. But, really, you can’t go wrong with any of the three, they are all amazing teas.
“Old arbor large leaf varietal tea that is usually destined to be made in raw Puer, picked and processed into dianhong style tea with sun drying. We also have a white tea version of the same material.
“Arbor red has an herbaceous fragrance and flavors that often border on medicinal. Sweetness underlies the complex flavors and heavy body of this tea. This is an enduring and heavy black tea best suited for a longer, gongfu style tea session.”
White2Tea
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Yunnan red teas (aka black. In China what we call “black tea” they call “Red Tea” or Hong Cha).
Young Yunnan black tea can be tad harsh and astringent, with cranberry and sour cherry flavors standing out and twisting in your stomach.
In older Yunnan black tea, the fruit fades and they inch into leather and dry forest floor type flavors, but sometimes the harshness or mellows into bitterness.
There is a sweet spot, though, between enthusiastic youth and dusty age where Yunnan Red Teas can be quite nice.
Personally, I like to drink them in the fall here in CA. Once the fire season sets in, it’s time for me to put away the light summer green tea and move into something that can stand up to a little smoke.
When, in 2019, I ordered this cake of 2018 White2tea Arbor Red, I was hoping to get it right in that sweet spot. I even figured that, being in a cake, some of that youthful exuberance might be preserved.
The first thing I noticed on unwrapping the cake was how great it smelled, like dried cherries and plums. Just fantastic.
But, when I brewed, I noticed it was not very red, more of an orange.
And when I smelled the brewed tea, and tasted, I got a bit of smoke wrapping around a mild flavor with a lingering sweet complex bitterness in the aftertaste.
What I’ll say is that this is not so much a Red tea for Red tea lovers, as a Red tea for Puerh drinkers.
Someone who likes English Breakfast tea (or even other Chinese red tea,) is probably not gonna dig this tea. But someone who digs Puerh tea might taste it and say, “Huh, that’s some interesting and subtle character. This is a Red Tea I can get into!”
Kuzu is a trio comprised of Dave Rempis on alto/tenor/baritone saxophone; Tashi Dorji on guitar; and Tyler Damon on drums.
Purple Dark Opal is their new album. It was recorded live on October 14, 2018, at The Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Purple Dark Opal, the album, is a single 55 minute and 31 second track called, “To The Quick”. A bold choice for these attention deficient times.
A lot of improvising percussionists have jettisoned their traditional drum kits for large assortments of small, and large, percussion. Unlike those players, Damon is a capital “D” drummer, who plays a, more or less, traditional kit. He skitters and twitches across the skins and cymbals, seldom allowing what I perceive as the “beat” to drop below 200bpm.
I would describe Dorji’s guitar playing as textural. He doesn’t seem to use a large array of modern digital FX with his playing, it is a fairly dry tone, albeit with some distortion. However, he does often employ the non-traditional areas of sound generated by his guitar. Harmonics from the strings below the bridge, etc.
Of the three, Rempis is probably the most traditionally melodic player, though he, as well, is not afraid to explore the outer limits of his saxes’ sounds and his technique.
Though Purple Dark Opal is, no question, “energy jazz”, the players leave plenty of space in sections for quieter, or more sparse, explorations. Other times, one of another of the players will lay out, leaving the other two, or occasionally one, time to change the direction or velocity of the energy flow.
The fact that there are different moods over the duration of To The Quick, mean that there is always something new to listen to. While a single track doesn’t make it the most accessible album in the world for whatever is left of Jazz radio, I found the album to be very enjoyable on repeat for the entire week, picking up and leaving off wherever it aligned with my daily commute.
Last year I talked about Wuyi Stone Oolong tea, (Or Wuyi Yancha,) when I received an assortment of them from white2tea, starting from this post on “Iron Arhat“.
A type of Wuyi Yancha, Da Hong Pao, or “Big Red Robe” can be among the most highly desired, (and expensive!) teas grown in China, especially if it comes from the legendary few original tea bushes allegedly chosen by a monk and designated when he put his “Big Red Robe” over them.
While none of these teas are original Da Hong Pao, many of them were chosen by Jon Huarong Li of Tong Xin Teahouse to represent the best Wuyi Yancha teas he tasted in 2019.
To celebrate this year in Wuyi tea, he created a “Premium Yancha Tasting Flight“. It is a set of 12 single dose samples of (mostly) 2019 Wuyi Yancha teas.
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Tong Xin Teahouse Yancha
Also, in 2018 I had ordered a selection of Wuyi Yancha from Yunnan Sourcing. Some of the varieties overlap with the teas from Tong Xin Teahouse and some don’t. But they provide interesting contrast to the Tong Xin teas.
First up is Tong Xin Teahouse’ Lian Hua Feng (aka Lotus Peak) Shui Xian. ‘Shui Xian’ is the tea varietal and ‘Lotus Peak’ is the tea garden in Wuyi where the tea is sourced.
Lotus Peak Shui Xian
Lotus Peak Shui Xian
Lotus Peak Shui Xian
Lotus Peak Shui Xian
Because I didn’t write down any notes about this tea, I will simply quote the description from the Tong Xin Teahouse website.
“Today, I want to talk about Shui Xian, the lotus peak in Wuyi rock tea. It is one of the thirty-six peaks in Wuyi Mountain, and it is also well-known. The Shui Xian tea garden has a good environment, old trees, long fragrance, and obvious rock charm. The Shui Xian tea garden uses boiling water to Chong Pao, which has a longer fragrance. The dried tea has both the fragrance of orchid and flowers. People familiar with rock tea know that Rou GUI has made it very well A tea has the fragrance of osmanthus. Shui Xian makes this tea very well. He has the fragrance of orchid. This is a kind of fragrance of his. We say Yan Cha is made with the right technology, which is to make the characteristic fragrance of rock tea. This year’s Wuyi rock tea production process has been greatly improved compared with last year. We say that the most difficult part of Yan Cha process is Bei Hoo. If it is baked high, it will have a burning smell and cover up its fragrance. If it is not baked enough, the tea soup will have a green and astringent feeling, the fragrance is not enough, or the tea soup is thin, and there is no alcohol thickness, so this fire is particularly difficult to grasp.”
“”Lao Cong” (or old bush) Shui Xian is grown in the Jiulongke area of Wu Yi. Jiulongke is included in the “Zheng Yan” (lit. “Proper Rock”, meaning strictly the original area of Wu Yi Mountain) area of Wu Yi Mountain. This Lao Cong is grown and picked from 100-150 year old bushes. Shui Xian is the oldest varietal of Rock Oolong and has been grown in Wu Yi for several hundred years.”
“Lao Cong Shui Xian generally refers to Shui Xian tea trees with an age of more than 60 years. Shui Xian belongs to large leaf type, late growth type, and semi arbor type. Its leaves are larger than those of ordinary small leaf type tea trees. Its growth environment is generally humid, and its surrounding ecological environment is good. Lao Cong tea trees are covered with various parasitic plants, especially moss. Lao Cong Shui Xian has a high age of trees, so it absorbs a lot of natural breath and has a unique flavor of mountains and varieties. It is difficult to pick Lao Cong Shui Xian because the tea trees are very high and it is necessary to use stairs when picking tea.”
Tong Xin Teahouse
My Notes:
It’s funny, some of the notes from the yancha from Yunnan Sourcing sometimes mention a marijuana-like smell in the flavor notes. I got the hint of marijuana smell in some of their teas, but here it is, in this Tong Xin Teahouse yancha full on, from the wet leaves to the tea in the glass.
Medium charcoal roast flavor as the tea cools in the glass and a strong earthy mineral character grounding the tea.
Great length of flavor and very good resteepability.
Even though this tea has had since 2015 to settle, it is a bit of a bruiser. You have to like big teas, to like this one.
I again spaced on notes for the Lotus Peak Rou Gui, so will reproduce the notes from the Tong Xin Teahouse website.
“Wuyi Mountain Rou Gui, also known as Yu Gui, why is it called Rou Gui? Because of its strong fragrance of cinnamon, it was named this name. Rou Gui is a kind of tea with high fragrance, which is charming and domineering. There are more than 200 kinds of fragrant materials in it, and it is also the most fragrant and changeable tea among all Wuyi rock tea. Therefore, Rou Gui is loved by so many people. It has a strong sense of mystery. The tea in Wuyi Mountain scenic spot is called Zheng Yan tea, whose quality is also excellent. When we make the first four bubbles, we can choose to make soup quickly (3-5 seconds). Because it’s a highly fragrant tea with a strong fragrance, the first four bubbles can reflect the essential characteristics of cinnamon and what kind of fragrance it belongs to. From the beginning of the fifth bubble, we have to soak it consciously for some time (1-3 minutes). Many people say that it’s not good to make this tea without fragrance after eight to nine bubbles, not eight to nine. The tea after jiupao drinks its astringency, water alcohol thickness and Gan Tian degree, which is what we call “Yan Yun”. Not every tea is the same. There are many misunderstandings among tea makers. I will share this conclusion with you because many Yan cha in the tea market are not the tea planted and produced in Wuyishan. They are sold to you as the tea of Zheng Yan in Wuyishan. In fact, as long as you taste it with your heart, you can distinguish its good from the bad. It’s easy to drink a cup of tea, but it’s hard to taste a good cup of tea. I just share some of my experiences over the years. Maybe some of my friends don’t agree with me. I hope you can put forward more opinions. I will accept them with an open mind.”
“Rou Gui means Cinnamon in Chinese (肉桂茶). It’s varietal of Wu Yi Mountain rock tea that has been around since the Qing Dynasty. First flush of spring tea is picked, wilted, fried, wilted again then lightly roasted to bring out it’s subtle bouquet of aroma and tastes. Our Rou Gui is a medium roast level and can be brewed 7 to 10 times easily using the gong fu method of brewing. The brewed tea produces a golden tea soup with hints of fruit and chocolate. A lovely tea that can accompany you on almost any tea session.”
Yunnan Sourcing
My Notes:
Super solid well balanced flavor.
Good body.
Decent resteepability, as long as you keep early steeps short.
Moderate length of flavor, with a bit of lingering bitterness and a nice perfume.
“Ma Tou Yan Rou Gui 马头岩肉桂 (lit. Horse Head Rock Cinnamon) is a unique varietal grown in the “Zheng Yan” Ma Tou Yan 马头岩 area of Wu Yi. Zheng Yan (正岩) refers to the innermost protected area of the Wu Yi Heritage site. It’s a protected area separate from the scenic area and outsiders are not allowed inside. The “Zheng Yan Growing Area” refers to these tea gardens: tiānxīn yán/天心岩, mǎ tóu yán/马头岩, huìyuàn/慧苑, zhú kē/竹窠, bì shí/碧石, yànzi kē/燕子窠, jiǔlóng kē/九龙窠, yù cháyuán/御茶园, yù huā dòng/玉花洞, shuǐ lián dòng/水帘洞, fo guó/佛国, táohuā dòng/桃花洞, guìlín/桂林, sān yǎng fēng děng děng/三仰峰等等. Ma Tou Yan area is 425 meters high. Rou Gui varietal has been grown here for over 100 years and many of the bushes are quite old. The mineral taste of the Zheng Yan area is present in this tea. The processing style is a medium-high level of roast done respectfully over several months time. The taste is silky and sweet… roast taste is there but not strong and will fade over a few months. Nice thick body with a long lasting sweet cinnamon-like after-taste. Tea can be infused 7 to 10 times if brewed gong fu style.”
My Notes:
Darker Roast/Heavier Oxidation
Chocolate and camphor flavors.
Very Good length of flavor and fair resteepability.
Flavors of the later steeps edge towards herbaceousness.
“My Aunt Chen Zhenying has 40 years of practice and research experience in the Tea Research Institute. She has rich experience in the cultivation, cultivation, management and traditional rock tea production technology of the tea garden. Besides the fourth Quxi of JIUQUXI, Wuyishan, is the seat of Wuyishan Tea Science Research Institute and the former royal imperial tea garden. Now, most of the famous varieties of Wuyi Mountain are from here. Today, I want to share this tea with you from the Dahongpao made by Aunt Chen Zhenying. What is the matching Dahongpao? It refers to the Dahongpao (generally 4-5 strains of tea) which is made up of more than two strains of tea. The main ingredients of rock tea are cinnamon and Narcissus.”
Tong Xin Teahouse
My Notes:
In my limited experience with Wuyi Yancha, I think this tea is as close to perfect as I have yet tasted. It is such a wonderful balance of perfume, roast, and astringency.
A seriously great tea to contemplate, and turn over, again and again, on your tongue and in your mind, on a cold winter’s day.
“A premium lightly processed Da Hong Pao from Wu Yi Shan. “Hua Xiang” means flower aroma. It’s a method of light processing that is unique and brings out a flower aroma in the tea when brewed.”
Yunnan Sourcing
My Notes:
Sweet cannabis scent to the dry leaves in pre-warmed pot. Slight roast flavor in the scent of cooled tea.
Light oxidation.
Large Leaves, no stems.
Sweet floral lingering flavor, almost like pastille candies. Spring in winter.
An unusually low level of oxidation on this Wuyi Yancha. Almost a bit like a white tea made from yancha varietal.
“Grown naturally in a small family plot in Tong Mu Guan village in Wu Yi Shan, these Da Hong Pao varietal tea bushes have been growing without human involvement and are picked twice a year in May and late September! The aroma is at once nuts, chocolate and floral, while the taste has these elements too, but also some slight astringency to complement it’s pungent and vibrant nature. Sweet and thick in the mouth the tea that reminds just how good unadulterated naturally grown tea can be!”
Yunnan Sourcing
My Notes:
Grassy, vegetal smell in pre-heated pot.
A little bitterness/astringency to the liquid as it cools.
Some stems and buds noticeable.
Almost like a green tea made from yancha varietals, even a bit of nuttiness.
“Da Hong Pao is the quintessential Wu Yi Rock Oolong varietal. Our Zheng Yan 正岩Hua Guo Xiang (花果香 Flower Fruit Aroma) was harvested in May 2018 and tirelessly processed through roasting and resting, and only available for sale by mid-June (this is fairly typical for Wu Yi rock oolongs). “The tea leaves come from mature bushes that grow in an area with heavy mineral content in the soil. This superb (and classic) environment for Rock Oolongs is felt when cupping this divine tea! Thick, sweet, viscous, and complex with tons minerality, cannabis, fruit and flower tastes melded together into something that is better experienced than talked about. Zheng Yan (正岩) refers to the protected areas of the Wu Yi Heritage site. It’s a protected area separate from the scenic area and outsiders are not allowed inside.”
Yunnan Sourcing
My Notes:
Smell in the pre-heated pot has a strong floral and roast character, reminding me of Chinese incense.
Sweetness and astringency in flavor, thick soup.
Very unusual flavor of the tea also reminds me of Chinese incense and perfume.
“Qilan, one of the representatives of Wuyi rock tea, is a very distinctive kind of rock tea. People familiar with it all know that rock tea is famous for its water and not for its fragrance. Today’s Qilan, which I share with you, is made by my brother Gao Peng. Description: Its fragrance is fresh, full-bodied, not as fierce as Qilixiang (seven mile aroma) yancha, but has its own penetrating power, Its first two Infusions are standard orchid fragrance. It’s like an empty valley orchid which spreads its fragrance. It’s particularly elegant and refined. However, from the third infusion, its fragrance has changed into an obvious Gardenia fragrance. The fragrance is stronger, stronger and more vigorous. The fragrance is rich, clear and sweet, which is intriguing. Besides the fragrance, the soup of Qilan also has its own characteristics. The soup is extremely sweet. At the entrance, I almost thought that I was drinking fully fermented black tea. However, when I drink it, I feel like walking in a quiet valley and meeting an independent orchid. I am happy to pick it up and suck the nectar of its flower juice. Its sweet smell of flowers is like the magical dew from heaven.”
Tong Xin Teahouse
My Notes:
Pleasant smell in the pre-heated pot.
First narcissus/lillies, then medium roast and medium oxidation.
There is an implied candy scent of fruit pastilles in the aftertaste.
Good resteepability and very good length of flavor.
“This Yan Cha was cultivated from the Wusan Di Tea Garden. Jin Mu Dan tea is a clone, shrub type, middle leaf type, and an early-growing species. The fertility of buds and leaves is strong and tender. Jin Mu Dan was bred with excellent quality, strong lines, long fragrance, mellow and sweet taste, bold flavor and quality characteristics of a Tie Guan Yin varietal. In fact, Jin Mu Dan was bred by the Tea Research Institute of Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences from 1978 to 2002. A crossbreeding between Tie Guan Yin and Huang Bi creates the unique taste and aroma of Jin Mu Dan.”
Tong Xin Teahouse
My Notes:
Excellent smell in the pre-heated pot, sweet orchid and narcissus.
Medium roast flavor and oxidation.
Complex and perfume-ey aftertaste, with a lingering sweetness.
I was watching the trailer for “The Decline of Western Civilization” and found myself wondering how old those swastika bedecked neo-nazi punks would be in 2019.
The answer is, if you were 18 in 1978, you are about 60 now.
Which means, essentially, the men who were 18 in 1978 are now running the world.
Then thinking how much Donald Trump owes to the “Say Anything” methodology of Malcolm MacClaren and Johnny Rotten/John Lydon.
Is the Trump administration the closest we could possibly get to “Punk Government”?
“Do you ever get the feeling that you’ve been cheated?”
