Gui Fei

Really awesome scent on the wet leaves—the usual roasted oolong notes of malt and chocolate but with a little fruit in there. Similar flavor on the first steep. Beautiful light amber/deep yellow soup. Very clean tea, basically zero dust. Second steep I’m getting more fruit and a little sourness right on the rear sides of my tongue. Pretty unique sensation. Faintly reminiscent flavors of lychee ramune. I’ve never had a gui fei so maybe this is run of the mill but to me this is extremely unique and very, very delicious.

After the 3rd steep the smell of the wet leaf becomes, for lack of a better word, soapy. Not in an off way, I mean I’m getting citrus/fruit/floral notes that are not identifiable to a single plant so the mishmash of scents reminds me of a scented soap. A little astringency is starting to peek out which is nice. The fruitiness and sour notes keep getting stronger as the roasty flavors fade. Seriously tasting like a lychee ramune with the little marble, if you don’t know what I’m talking about see if your Asian market has them they’re so good.

I would’ve used a bit less leaf but the sample was 7g and 120ml is my biggest gaiwan and I wasn’t about to toss 2-3g! My pot is crowded af with this leaf though and it doesn’t even look like it’s done expanding. At $0.23/g, I’m not in a huge hurry to get more but I always have a hard time breaking past the $0.10/g barrier (which is why I don’t drink a ton of oolongs). Based on other oolongs I’ve had at a similar price, this is a good deal. It’s nice to have a roasted tea that doesn’t just taste like roastiness.