Final freebie from the order, thank you :)
October 22, 2021 harvest
I feel surrounded by flowers — lily, lilac, sweet pea, freesia, gardenia, honeysuckle. A very complex, aromatic tea with persistent retronasal action. I did brew this with boiling water as suggested, at least initially, and then dialed it down after the second infusion. The liquor is — I finally get what TDJ refers to as fluid. There’s a bit of weight to it in the mouth but it’s not necessarily thick or oily. It moves around. A little alkaline-umami with a floral bitterness, some drying astringency. In the gripping aftertaste is a fruity, morphing mix of strawberry glaze, sugary peach and vanilla-cream mixed with the heady floral bouquet. Got maybe 7 infusions with long-ish steeping times, last steep produce a pure floral perfume taste-aroma.
The leaf is beautiful. I haven’t seen leaf edges rimmed with oxidation in a while. I like it. And wish I had more to play. I never expected a tea with this strong of a floral bouquet to come out of Japan. Well done!
This is even more baozhong-like than the other oolong I tried — from Sashima, Kanaya-midori cultivar. The cultivar of this one is teased at in the description. It’s probably Qing Xin. Could be Four Seasons, could be Jin Xuan shrug
Flavors: Alkaline, Astringent, Baby Powder, Bitter, Cream, Drying, Escarole, Floral, Flowers, Fruity, Gardenias, Grain, Honeysuckle, Jam, Lilac, Lily, Peach, Perfume, Strawberry, Sugar, Umami, Vanilla
Preparation
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Sounds intriguing. How does this compare to Taiwanese oolongs? I had a Japanese oolong from Yuuki-Cha once that was also baozhong-like but a lot rougher around the edges.
It’s a tad rough with the drying character and floral bitterness that presented when brewed with boiling as recommended. Keep in mind that I generally welcome bitterness, so if your tolerance is low, it may be prickly for you. Leafhopper will be getting a small sample, so maybe she can mitigate the bitterness by using lower temperature water? The oxidation level I thought was wonderful, allowing the flowers to be balanced by fruit in the aftertaste. All that said, if I had done a blind tasting, I’d never guess this wasn’t Taiwanese.
Sounds like these TDJ oolongs are winners!
Derk, I just saw your comment. I’ll remember to use 195F water to mitigate the bitterness, as I tend to enjoy milder teas.
Sounds intriguing. How does this compare to Taiwanese oolongs? I had a Japanese oolong from Yuuki-Cha once that was also baozhong-like but a lot rougher around the edges.
It’s a tad rough with the drying character and floral bitterness that presented when brewed with boiling as recommended. Keep in mind that I generally welcome bitterness, so if your tolerance is low, it may be prickly for you. Leafhopper will be getting a small sample, so maybe she can mitigate the bitterness by using lower temperature water? The oxidation level I thought was wonderful, allowing the flowers to be balanced by fruit in the aftertaste. All that said, if I had done a blind tasting, I’d never guess this wasn’t Taiwanese.
Sounds like these TDJ oolongs are winners!
Derk, I just saw your comment. I’ll remember to use 195F water to mitigate the bitterness, as I tend to enjoy milder teas.