1994 Formosa Yancha

I want to start off by saying that I enjoyed this tea a lot.

It may not sound like it after the next couple of sentences, but I did. The first two steepings were brutal. Very overwhelming roasted flavor signifying some definite over-roasting at some point in its life. I brewed this tea first using Song’s brewing guide but was very dissapointed with the results so went traditional Gong Fu the second time around. Short steeps of 6/4/6/8/10/15/30/45 in 100 ml Yixing.

Something changed in the third steep though and the tea suddenly became very balanced and clear. A beautiful caramel/toffee base with just a slight hint of smoked wood. This remained consistently for the next 6 steeping and probably could have gone more. Maybe next time I will try a longer rinse? Or maybe I’ll just dump the first two infusions altogether? Seems wasteful, but maybe worth it as the third steeping onward was fantastic.

I am generally a huge fan of aged yancha and this is definitely a good one though, ultimately, perhaps not worth the price of admission. I could see myself getting this tea again but would probably have to think about it first.

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Top notes of bitter, charred potato skins, mid notes of incense, pine needles, and cedar, and an interesting faint finish of dried unsweetened mangos. Medium-thin mouthfeel, overly-burnt flavor, incredibly long-lasting an surprisingly complex and enjoyable finish. I was disappointed by the flavor of this tea – it seems like it was re-roasted too many times over the years, or too intensely, but the finish is great. Would not buy again, but an interesting tea to try once. Wuyi varietal characteristics come out in the later infusions – I would guess that it was made with Fo Shou or Shui Xian, but the info on Song Tea’s website does not say. While their website recommends not rinsing the tea, the charcoal note was incredibly heavy in the first infusions even after rinsing – I cannot imagine how burnt it would taste without a rinse.

I like to brew small batches in the western style with teas I might ordinarily infuse as gong fu. Today we had this aged Yancha in a small pot. This was a sample of 5g, though I normally use 7 or 8 grams to the 400 ML of water. We infused at 203 degrees and didn’t remove the brewing basket. The first cup was poured about a minute and third seconds.

Impressions: a good tea for this style of brewing. The nose is lovely with a toasted butter cookie (think Leibniz) or arrowroot biscuit aroma. Liquor is a lovely coppery chestnut. The flavor retains the toasted butter-cookie flavor, but finishes clean and wet, with hints of dried grass, cooked millet, and parting hints of sour teff.