At some point in the past year in my reading about Baozhong oolong tea, I think I remember reading that roasting the leaf was a traditional part of the process. Recently, a trend for greener oolong emerged and dominated the market, perhaps a reason why I haven’t come across this style of tea before. Thanks to Kawaii433, I was able to try a roasted Baozhong for the first time.
I drank this while grinding away on homework a few nights ago and managed to jot a few barely legible notes in the margin of my graph paper.
4.3g, 100mL teapot, 212F, rinse plus 5 steeps at 30/40/30/45/60s. I probably could’ve gotten another few infusions but since it was near midnight, I opted for sleep.
Dry: plenty of roastiness but calm. Roasted barley, roasted almond, roasted coffee bean, sour, very dark chocolate, orchid?.
Rinse: bamboo shoot, polenta
Liquor pale straw color. Thick, soft and round with high note gardenia bouquet in nose and mouth on top of a lightly sweet base of toasted corn meal, chestnut, straw, light mineral. Tart bamboo shoot in back of mouth after swallow. Persistant, sweet and airy gardenia aftertaste. Butter later. Never once bitter and only slightly astringent late despite using boiling water.
This was actually a great, calming tea that complemented night work with its cool, soft florals and warm, comforting grain/nut taste. The floral finish stuck around so long that I had naturally spaced out the infusions which let me focus on my work instead of solely on the tea. Really impressed!
