5 Tasting Notes
Artificial milk and butter aroma and flavor. Smells like kettle corn popcorn. Not natural at all. The leaves are very small, unlike the authentic Taiwanese version with large WHOLE leaves 2 and 3 connected with buds-simply a gorgeous sight. This is opposite, small and broke leaves. Had to spit it out as did my tea tasting friends. Advice, opt for an authentic Milk Oolong or Jin Xuan or Golden Lily oolong from the high mountains of Taiwan.
Preparation
One of the 5 rarest and most famous Wu Yi Oolongs and it’s easy to see why.
Online, it’s described as being the rarest, because the process requires such high skill that most people won’t even attempt to create it.
I don’t know what brand or what year this Oolong was harvested, but I will ask my friend who gave it to me.
(It’s pricey and rare, so he only spared me 3 grams of it, but that 3 grams was little enough to get upwards of 8 infusions, in a small Yi Xing teapot)
The complexity of this tea makes it hard to describe, but that’s also is what makes it such a treasure. Unlike most Wu Yi’s, the leaf is not a deep dark brown.
Dry Leaf:
This Bai Ji Guan was a medium brown, almost cherry like color with spots of olive green. A truly beautiful and distinct leaf, unlike any I’ve ever seen. The leaf style is typical Wu Yi, large curly, these were not particular long and wiry, but shorter and wider.
Dry leaf aroma: Smoky, hint of some kind of wild fruit.
After rinse aroma: Passion fruit, floral, soap-ish (good in this tea)
First infusion: 15 seconds. WOW. The flavor is incredible, it might have been even slightly over-steeped at 15s, but the initial fruitiness is unmistakable. Followed by a slight smokiness. And then comes the sweet finish, and what a lingering sweet finish. I noticed that 5 minutes after, it was still there and you only really realize it after you forget that it’s there-if that makes sense.
I won’t bore you guys with the details but I went on to steep this tea many times for my friends and each time, something unique, different, distinct and most of all, delicious.
We don’t currently carry this Oolong (but we do have 2 grades of Da Hong Pao) but we might in the future. So if you ever get your hands on some, savor it and treasure it…and send me a few grams ;)
Unusual blend, because Osthmanthus is usually overpowering and white tea is generally very subtle. Almost a waste using Silver needle as a base tea because you can’t really taste it and it would be too expensive to use premium SN. However, I do love Osthmanthus, but I would rather have a blend like Osthmanthus and oolong so I can taste both flavors and not just the flower and less expensive for better quality.
For beginners, I think they would like this tea, it’s subtle and fruity, exactly what the label says. But for me, it was nice to try, but wouldn’t drink on a regular basis.
