Bai Rui Xiang

A treat for turkey day! Super excited to try this, I cracked open the sample bag to unearth leaves that were not quite tall, but dark AND handsome, in addition to smelling like cocoa and burnt sugar and tantalizing danger to my wallet (we’ll keep this little encounter a secret from the SO, haha).

I started off hitting this with boiling water, which was a mistake. It was delicious nonetheless, with a strong mineral roast flavor across the spectrum, high and low, along with lingering sweet caramel afternotes and a bread-y flavor that ended in an intense dance of orchid bouquet flavors that accompanied each exhale, but was very strong on the roast bitterness and much improved when I switched to 180 F halfway through the session.

The lower temp water brings out an AMAZINGLY buttery slick, creamy mouthfeel along with a decadently rich honey and orchid flavored body and a distinct peach fruit aftertaste, well balanced and accentuated throughout by the now calmer, subtler roast.

There is astringency and bitterness to this tea, particularly at the start where I hit it with (I realize now) much too hot water and the roast stood out strongly, but it is well balanced throughout and I feel complements the underlying flavors, helping them to stand out rather than detract.

The mouthfeel, as mentioned before, is a lovely creamy slickness that coats the throat steadily across sips and brings out a nectar sweetness in the throat that slowly shifts to a more mineral, sugar sweetness and even a surprising subtle menthol cooling quality as it dies. It and the bright peach notes were the highlight of this tea for me.

The energy on this one was excellent and strong, I could feel it rushing to my head by steep 3 and it steadily built over the session in a very invigorating (but calm) way. It fades fast in flavor intensity after steep 10, but those 10 steeps are bursting with flavor and an intoxicating ride, definitely a great way to prepare for the food prep and festivities to follow today.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t break my wallet when it does get released, ^^;.

This is the first tea I went for out of my Tea Urchin group buy. Thanks to Tea Urchin for including this one! :)

This tea is one of my first really high quality oolongs, and…I might be in trouble. It was really good. The dry leaf had a sweet floral (orchid?) aroma. After a rinse, it also smelled slightly fruity and roasty as well.

The first steep had a light orchid flavor on the front of the sip, with a rich and long lasting mineral sweet aftertaste. After that steep, the flavors flip-flopped a bit, with a nice mineral sweetness to start the sip, followed by an explosive aftertaste which was slightly floral for one steep before moving firmly into a fruity category. At first I thought it was something really tropical, like mango or pineapple, but I think that was just my reaction to how juicy it tasted. After a few steeps’ worth of experiencing it, I decided it was pretty clearly a peach aftertaste. It carried on this way for around seven steeps, also accompanied by a slight drying quality. It was not unpleasant, and I believe it may have even benefited this tea. Here’s how: the sip starts off with a sweet mineral flavor, which is followed by a drying sensation which cleanses the palate to make way for the explosive fruity aftertaste, allowing it to shine through on its own, especially since they’re both sweet flavors.

After these first eight steeps, I finally started increasing the steep times from flash steeps – just a little bit at first. These next three steeps were on the lighter side, with the mineral sweet front of the sip taking over a bit more over the faded peachy aftertaste.

The tea went a further five or six steeps, all of faster increasing times now. In these final steeps, the aftertaste passed once again into a more floral realm. They were a bit lighter and airier all around, but still stayed with me for quite a while.

This was a pretty incredible tea. I’m glad I used the whole 7.5g for the session, though it worries me that I could develop a pricey oolong habit if I decide to pursue this kind of tea more. This one also had a very relaxing qi to it – I certainly felt good and teadrunk pretty early on in the session. The explosive, juicy, and long-term lingering qualities of the aftertaste really made this a special tea. I think it was quite balanced in terms of sweet and dry.