2013 Ban Yan Wuyi Medium Roasted Qi Lan Rock Tea from Jkteashop.com

My next cha from JkTeaShop(JKTS) is one of their Wuyi Oolong offerings --- Ban Yan Wuyi Medium Roasted Qi Lan Rock Tea! (What a mouthful) I have been interested in wuyi oolongs for awhile and this is my first "real" wuyi rock tea. I think Ive tasted some low quality "wuyi" at some point but I don't recall enjoying or not enjoying it.

To be completely honest, I know very little about this tea or where it comes from. The extent of my knowledge is that wuyi oolongs are picked at high altitudes and they are grown in between rocks thus giving the tea a mineral/rock like flavor note. Fortunately, JKTS has great descriptions about their teas and here's what they have on their site: "Qi Lan tea variety is introduced and cultivated in Wuyi mountain in early 1990s from Nanping city, which is the border city of Wuyishan city. After over 15 year's cultivation in Wuyi mountain, plus the high Wuyi rock tea making skills, the Wuyi Qi Lan tea has its very unique aroma & taste from its original variety taste.

Wuyi Qi Lan is limited in production yield in Wuyi mountain. Its medium-roasted delivers better orchid aroma & slightly palm leaf aroma, and soft tea liquid. Its lingering aftertaste sweetness is very amazing and the overall mouth feeling is complex and changing as time goes by after sipping the tea.

All of our Wuyi rock tea is baked extremely slowly by charcoal, and only arrive in the market in August of every year. So the new Wuyi rock tea still has a little bit charcoal feeling in taste. As the tea breathe under the air, the charcoal aroma will disappear slowly and the tea's original taste and aroma will come out."

In the Wuyi category of tea, this Ban Yan is my first charcoal roasted cha. If its anything like the TGY I reviewed recently then I'm sure ill love it. On to the tasting notes!

As per usual, I took 5g of dry leaf and added it to my freshly heated gaiwan/houhin. The smell is roasted sweetness mixed with a very light floral scent. The floral smell is so light that I couldnt really pin point it until I read the description again. Next was a quick rinse and an immediate infusion for 30 seconds. The liquor is a medium darkness and still quite transparent. The body is medium thick and the flavor is lighter than expected. Im getting a very light sweet roast flavor that lingers on the pallet for sometime after you sip. Ive always read that Wuyi Oolongs have a mineral or "rock" taste. To be honest, I dont know what that tastes like and cant tell if its there or not. This is hard tea to describe... I know that I do like it. Second infusion was about 45 seconds and produced a similar color as the first infusion. The flavor is nice on this infusion. Im pretty much getting what the first was displaying amplified up a little more. Im really starting to enjoy these roasted teas at night. Its almost like a desert with the smooth roasted sweetness they give. I will say that roasted aged teas have a "better" sweetness but this one isnt bad.

I stopped taking notes after the second infusion because I was working on something and wasnt focusing on the tea. I believe I took the leaves to 5 or 6 infusions before I felt that the liquor was too thin and weak for me. The flavor for this cha didnt change, or at least I couldnt detect any, on the pallet like some complex teas are known for. It was certianly enjoyable and for a 50g bag its 8.80 and for a 100g bag its 16.80. Its pretty affordable for such a nice tea and it is my favorite Wuyi I got in my samples order from JkTeaShop. I think im starting to get the medium to high roasted teas and why they are popular. Its certianly a nice change from my Green Oolongs I tend to drink most of the time.  On to the next cha!

-C
Pictures soon!

2009 High-roasted Tie Guan Yin from Jkteashop.com!

From my past notes of tea on this blog you may have noticed that its been pretty much green oolongs and not much else. Green Oolongs are probably my favorite genre of tea, especially in the summer months. I have been getting a little bored with the floral notes of green oolongs so Ive decided to look around for something different in the massive category of Oolong.

 

Bottom of sample bag--DARK CHA!

My first order from JKTeaShop(JKTS) was a "sample" order of various teas that I was interested in trying. JKTS has the option of ordering a sample, about ~15g, of all their teas that they offer for very cheap.($1.50-$5.00 a sample) This is a great option for people who haven't had a style of tea and cant afford to buy 2-5oz of a tea they don't know if they will like. I ended up getting lots of Wuyi teas as well as various other teas. One tea out of the samples I ordered that really lured me in was the 2009 High Roasted Tie Guan Yin. Ive never liked any of the high roasted teas Ive tried but the smell of the dry leaves of this tea is hypnotic  I'm getting notes of chocolate, caramel, and a possibly a hint of coffee out of the bag! My mouth is watering from just smelling the cha.

 

As always, I weigh out 5g and toss it into my warmed houhin/gaiwan and the dry leaf notes are amplified! Its reminding me of cake and sweets. It makes me wonder why I was giving the cold shoulder to such an amazing genre of tea. On to the brewing notes!

 

2nd Steeping

To start off I did a flash rinse. The color of the water was pretty dark so I decided to take the flash steeping route. The first infusion was 10 sec and produced a beautiful dark translucent liquor. The flavor is a little light in this infusion. I'm getting a caramel/brown sugar sweetness but its only slightly there. I'm craving more flavor out of this tea so I take the time of infusion up to 30 sec on the second infusion. In hindsight, this is the starting time I should have used. Flavor is about 50% more than the first infusion and I'm absolutely loving it. I would like the flavor to be a little more but for an unflavored tea, this is a beautifully sweet complex treasure. Very sweet caramel notes are coming through with a hint of something I cant quite place ... is it coffee or cake... After thinking for a bit I decided it was a roasted malt flavor one would taste in the grains used for making a dark beer. Its certainly a fantastic tea for an after dinner sweetness. Next infusion(3rd) was for 45 seconds with freshly boiled water. Absolutely delicious brew. Lots of sweetness and a complex roasty malted caramel chocolate swirl of flavor on your tongue... I regret not buying a bag as big as my room. I'm in love with this tea. The next infusion(4th) brings less sweetness but is still an enjoyable cup as it still has some of the attractive qualities of the 2nd infusion just less flavor. The 5th infusion is getting to the point of being too light for me. Although, I am picking up a new flavor/aroma. In this cup I'm getting a slight sweet cigar smell that is reminiscent of an Acid Blond, one of my favorite cigars! Unfortunately the flavor is so light I cant get overly excited. I decided to take the leaves two more infusions so see what else was hiding. Apparently nothing, the tea has given up like an obese person trying to run a marathon. The two latter infusion brought nothing more than a slightly tinged water.



Delicious Tea!

 

After thoroughly enjoying a session with this wonder tea I went on to JKTS to order as much as my tea budget would allow. After searching around I wasnt able to find the tea. After an email to JKTS, I found out that the 2009 tea was gone but they have a much better "2011" High Roasted for the same price. Well crap...Despite not being able to get it anymore, I was completely blown away with this tea. I wasn't expecting such a complex sweet offering from something that I wasn't expecting to enjoy. I know now not to judge a tea by its color or roast!

Supermarket Tea: A-Li-Shan from Tradition Tea Co.

Hello all! Recently Ive become interested in the common "standard" of tea for Asia. Do they go for supermarket tea or always buy premium? I guess the same could be applied to American's (westerners) in regards to coffee. Who goes to Starbucks vs. Folgers at home. Thinking over a cup of high mountain oolong, I decided to seek out as many supermarket teas to compare the quality to some of the single farm/mountain artisan teas I've been drinking. I wasn't able to find a lot of information on the company... actually, I wasn't able to find ANY information. I'm sure there is a Chinese site out there but even if I found it, which I didn't, I wouldn't be able to read it.

First up in this experiment is an offering from Tradition Tea Co., A-Li-Shan Oolong!(Yes, that's how they spelled it.) I was shocked to find this tea in my local Asian market because teas from Ali Shan Mountain(s) are fairly sought after by us tea enthusiasts. Teas from this area are generally sweet and floral with creamy notes. I was a little concerned how good the tea would be with a mere $9.99 price tag for 100g (about $2.80 an ounce).

The tea is tightly rolled balls of green oolong in various sizes ranging from dust particles to 7-8mm(estimation) in diameter. Certainly not as "pretty" as my normal green oolongs but the proof is in the taste! Speaking of taste, lets get started with tasting notes!

Today I used my houhin with 5-6g of the cha. To start off I did an extra long wash(20-30 sec) with off boiling to get rid of anything on the leaves as well as debris that may have been trapped in the rolled balls. The smell coming from the leaves after the wash is very inviting. Sweet with a touch of floral. The first infusion was 30 seconds and produced a very light liquor with a muted flavor. I am getting a very light floral note but not much of anything else. The second infusion brought out more from the tea. I steeped for 40 seconds and I am getting floral and fruitiness with a lingering sweetness after the tea goes down. Not bad for such a cheap tea! To me this would be a good tea to try for someone interested in Li Shan teas but isn't ready to shell out for premium. The third infusion(50 seconds) is similar to the second but with about half of the flavor sticking around. The sweetness is still there but I can tell its going to fade; It doesn't linger as much as the last pour. The fourth infusion(1 min 10 seconds) gives an even lighter brew that is similar to the first with a hair more sweetness. I would call these leaves spent after this infusion.

After four infusions the tea gave up but to be honest, I wasn't expecting it to have the Qi of what I normally drink. You also get 3 times the amount of tea you would normally get if you purchased artisan tea, so you cant really fault that. Overall, I thought the Tradition A-Li-Shan was fairly good for the price plus you get a "reusable" tea tin! I would absolutely pick some up if my tea budget is blown or I'm being frugal with my funds.

PICTURES COMING SOON!

Oriental Beauty (Bai Hao)

Bragger's Tea, Dong Fang Mei Ren, Bai Hao---Oriental Beauty. This is a tea with a rich, and entertaining, back story that I will not be talking about in this blog. The wise bloggers, Teamasters and Marshaln, have posted about Oriental Beauty with in depth writings far better than I could peck out on this blog. I will include links at the bottom of the page for those who are interested.



Oriental Beauty oolong cake.

With that out of the way, lets talk about the star of the blog today: Mountain Tea's(again, I know...) Oriental Beauty Oolong Cake! I was drawn to this tea due to Mountain Tea's unique way of offering the cha. It's pressed into a 'cake' form which is usually, from what I've seen, a popular form to offer Puerh cha due to the ease of storage and aging. That brings up the question, is this oolong made for aging?

Not wanting to wait a few decades, I decided to dive right into this cake with an open pallet. As you can see in the picture to the left, the pressed tea presents itself with beautiful earthy colors. Although the tea has darker leaves this is due to the high oxidation (60%), not the roast(0%). Due to how this tea is made, having bugs nibble on the tea leaves, there aren't any chemicals used in the growing process making it an organic offering. The tea is pressed into 3.8oz cakes and comes wrapped in paper just like puerh beengs. Mountain Tea is charging $22/cake making this tea ~$5.79 an ounce. Not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive cha I've seen.

Cake packaging with yixing and cup 

I tried this tea in a few different brewing vessels to see which emphasized the notes of the tea. When brewed in a yixing pot, the oriental beauty was slightly muted giving the liquor a flat balanced taste. I preferred my porcelain houhin's brew over the yixing due to porcelain's ability to give more of the high notes and allow each note to "pop" a little more.


First infusion.

Third infusion

On to the tasting notes! As I do with all my tea, I weighed out 5g of dry leaf and added it to my houhin. Using off boiling water I started the infusions. After a quick rinse, the first infusion gives a light honey colored liquid that is inviting to drink. The flavor is in its infancy, possibly hinting at a nectary fruit to develop in later infusions. The flavor Bai Hao cha gives is hard for my mind to describe. Its reminiscent of puerh without the old leather boot and tobacco notes but is nothing like raw puerh. Its very hard to pin point... The second infusion's liquor was very different from the first. It's starting to lend itself towards a roasted tea, yet the roast is 0%. Can high oxidation give such a rich liquor? Must be.  The flavor opens up in this infusion; as most teas tend to do. I'm getting a strong apricot/rock fruit transforming into a nectar-like honey with a touch of spice. It's a little overwhelming to be honest. My tea to water ratio is fine but its teetering on being over brewed. I use a timer so I know this tea was brewed correctly... I'm starting to think that these leaves are in for a long session. The third infusion is similar to the second but is easing up slightly on intensity. I'm not tasting any new flavors, but the flavors are starting to swirl together a little more making it an exciting cup. The next infusion is exactly where I want my tea to be with flavor. The liquor is orange-yellow and the flavor is that of apricot on the sip and a semi sweet honey flavor with a dash of spice that lingers . From the 1st to the 4th infusion the flavor mellowed out dramatically into a very pleasing cup of tea.

Over the next hour or so I kept infusing the leaves with off boiling water, raising the steeping times when appropriate, to get a liquor as pleasing as the last. I lost count after 10 steeps with this tea but I would guesstimate that I had at least 12-15 infusions! These leaves have a wonder Qi and treated me nice as I sat immersed in a film. This tea would be a nice addition to anyone's tea collection or current drinking rotation. If you can get past the bull headed first few infusions, when brewing gong fu, you will be greatly rewarded with a long lasting fruity, nectary, shyly sweet tea that will aid in relaxing the body and mind.


More information about Oriental Beauty tea:

http://teamasters.blogspot.com/2007/02/study-of-oriental-beauty.html

http://www.marshaln.com/2014/04/the-original-oriental-beauty/

Spitfire Pottery

Earlier this year I joined a tea forum called Teachat.com. On TeaChat, they have an artisan section filled with potters who make some of the most beautiful pottery I have ever seen. While looking through the pages of art, I stumbled onto Spitfire Pottery which is ran by Bill. I contacted Bill and asked him if he could make a special order for me. He happily obliged. 

I asked for a very small kyusu(about 3-4 fluid ounce) with matching 1oz cups and a tea caddy all in teal. The blues Bill can get in his pottery is simply stunning. Take a look below at his art and my new brewing vessel! If you would like to contact Bill, check out his Etsy shop. https://www.etsy.com/shop/splitfirepottery

2013 NATC LiShan Winter Oolong

Hello! Today I'm going to be talking about a new tea I have been excited to get in the mail; Mountaintea.com's 1st Place winner of the 2013 North American Tea Competition(NATC) green oolong category: LiShan Winter Oolong!(Cheers)

Now with this much anticipation of a tea, or anything really, I tend to try not to get too excited so I'm not let down if its all hype. Fortunately for this tea the "hype"(if you call putting a NATC emblem on the sites image hype) was pretty on par with what I read on the NATC's website. The LiShan received a score of 90 putting it into the 'Outstanding: a distinctive tea with brilliant style' category. Well, lets not take their word for it, time to crack open the bag!



First steep after rinse!

After opening the bag and smelling the dry tightly rolled green balls, I wasn't really smelling anything that was blowing my mind. It had a faint floral smell but not really much of a smell at all really. I attributed this to lack of acclimation of the tea. After letting the tea sit for an hour or so the real scent of the tea came out! An orchid floral note mixed with orange blossom dances with fresh green oolong and permeates from the bag begging me to fill a pot and experience its brothy offering.

LiShan is a growing region in Taiwan 2000+ meters above sea level. This high elevation growing is well suited for tea due to its consistent cool temperatures. This tea exhibits all the initial characteristics of a high quality tea and all that was left was to put some in a pot and brew.





Steeping 3 or 4.

 

After adding 8-10g of Lishan to my vessel I poured off boiling water on the leaves for a quick "wake up". The smell of orchid and orange blossom takes the stage. When tasting the first steep, I get the obvious floral notes but I'm also getting a citrus note. Its either orange or lemon. I may be also getting a slight hint of jasmine in there too. I'm also getting hints of creme and vegatables from time to time. The broth is lightly colored with a smooth mouth feel. Its quite nice. This is one of the only teas, albeit flavored teas, that I have tasted fruit notes. In the later infusions, this tea keeps up well. I was getting a full flavor brew for 5-6 infusions tapering off into a flowery water. Because I don't have tons of expirence with floral teas I can only compare this to the Four Seasons of Spring I posted about a few weeks ago. While the FSoS was good; the LiShan kicks its ass in delicacy. FSoS is a flower bomb while the LiShan is a flower falling slowly to the ground. The Lishan also stands out in complexity compared to the FSoS. The citrus and individual floral notes really make you sit and focus on the cha. It demands you to listen to what it has to offer, relaxing you all the while.

Leaves in a yixing!

 

 

Note: When trying the LiShan I brewed it in a porcelain houhin and a yixing pot. I preferred the porcelain houhin's brew over the yixing because I felt the yixing muted some of the more complex notes I was getting out of the houhin.

Coming up!

I just got some new teas in to review so expect to see some new posts in the next week or two. I will be trying a LiShan Oolong, Mountain Oolong, and a Jasmine Tea I picked up from my local Asian market. Ive been getting more and more interested in what is commercially available in Asia and seeking out what the tea "baseline" should be. Ive been keeping an eye out for Sea Dyke, Wuyi Star, Golden Snail, and a few other large Asian companies. So, with that out in the open, keep checking back for reviews of any tea I can get my hands on!

 

-C