Jin Yaoshi (Golden Key) (2020)

Golden Key clearly hails from the same heavily roasted family as Red Robe but offers a more perfumed, playful edge than its austere older brother. Having never smelled an orchid I cannot verify its purported “orchid aroma,” except to say that Golden Key is ever-so-slightly “brighter” than the Robe; not in literal color, but in synesthesia. If Da Hong Pao is a cello, Jin Yaoshi is closer to violin, though it remains deep and masculine despite the flowery flourish. If David Bowie’s sex appeal was tea, it would be this one – a man with makeup, perhaps, but still a man.

There is some caramelized fruit interwoven with orchids – definitely stone fruit and not tropical. Do not be misled into thinking this tea is “woody” like a kukicha, although there might be some hints of hojicha from the roast. Most clearly, however, “woodiness” here expresses itself as a hard-to-pin-down character reminiscent of something aged in, perhaps, a bourbon barrel. Think darkened wood chips, heated almost to the point of burning but then cooled and tossed into a caramelized apple bochet. Red apple skins slightly toasted on dry cast iron, along with some ineffable accent like juniper berries.

2021 harvest. Just exactly what I like in a yancha, heavy honey-like stickiness, toasty notes that don’t taste too much like smoke or overwhelm the floral aftertaste.

Gongfu Sipdown (1774)!

I had this on my last day of vacation and I just wanted to indulge in a good yancha and this one delivers with such a pleasantly consistent astringency and a very woody profile that reminds me of the smell of my grandfather’s woodshop; a mix of the sweeter and almost “clean” smelling freshly sanded planks of wood along with something a bit more resinous and spiced. What comes to mind in this moment is frankincense oil. This is offset but a very subtle maple-like undertone; that small bit of sweet brown that creeps into the otherwise very woodsy profile is really lovely, and adds a pleasant and almost playful new layer of complexity to this oolong!

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfre3Houza-/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD-k7W9K7Q