Old World Qing Xin

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Anise, Bread, Cinnamon, Cookie, Cream, Grass, Mineral, Nutty, Orchids, Peach, Pleasantly Sour, Roasted, Spices, Walnut, Wood, Almond, Bitter, Cardamom, Floral, Ginger, Menthol, Milk, Molasses, Orchid, Pine, Plant Stems, Sugarcane
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Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by boychik
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 3 oz / 90 ml

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4 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Thanks to Derk for the sample! Because it costs more to ship from the U.S. to Canada than it does to ship here from Taiwan or China, I tend to have few teas from American companies in my cupboard....” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “This came to me from the ever generous derk! Thank you so much! My husband said he would like to have tea tonight so I made cinnamon toast and set up for gong fu. We have been really enjoying a...” Read full tasting note
  • “Going for another Dong Ding so soon. Why not compare to learn? I’ve had this sitting in a jar with an absorber for probably over a year. This is pretty dang different from the Taiwan Tea Crafts...” Read full tasting note
    85
  • “Got this sample for review. This is traditional roasted Dong Ding that is not common nowadays unfortunately. The roast is skillful and tea tastes settled. It’s not overpowering. 3g/50ml...” Read full tasting note

From Totem Tea

Notes of sandalwood, roasted walnut, cinnamon, and forest walk.

Beautiful roast, very smooth texture, like a walk in the woods when the sun is heating the forest floor… this tea is exceptional. In particular, I’m very impressed by the multi-day traditional roast of this oolong that maintains and enhances the fragrant and woodsy qualities of the leaf itself.

This high mountain oolong is from the famous Dong Ding range where the higher altitudes create a more concentrated floral flavor. Non-roasted high mountain teas have a beautiful elegance that is delightfully ephemeral, with a taste that sweetly evaporates. But when those same high mountain oolongs are roasted, like this one, a new depth appears that is very dynamic and quite delicious.

Dong Ding is one of the great tea mountains in central Taiwan, and this tea comes from the Lugu township in Nantou county, home of Dong Ding mountain. This oolong uses the famous Qing Xin cultivar, brought from China during the Qing dynasty. Qing Xin, also known as Gentle Green Heart is very delicate and only suitable for high mountain growth.

Brew this high mountain oolong with 195 degree water for 1 minute. Add a minute to the brewing time with each additional infusion.

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4 Tasting Notes

85
413 tasting notes

Thanks to Derk for the sample! Because it costs more to ship from the U.S. to Canada than it does to ship here from Taiwan or China, I tend to have few teas from American companies in my cupboard. This is my first tea from Totem Tea, and as a Dong Ding-style oolong from Taiwan, it’s sort of in my wheelhouse. I steeped the roughly 6 g in a 120 ml teapot at 205F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of cookies, peach, cinnamon, nuts, and wood. This tea is making me hungry! The first steep has notes of cookie, peach, walnut, anise, grass, orchid, cream, pleasant sourness, and wood. I can tell there’s a roast, but it’s somewhat green for a Dong Ding. The cinnamon and other spices are a bit more apparent in the second steep, as are the orchid florals and that sour note I tasted earlier. The third and fourth steeps continue to be nutty, woody, and floral, with some baked bread undertones. By steep five, notes of minerals, sourness, walnut, and wood become stronger, though there’s still plenty of sweetness and a little spice and florality. The session ends with wood, minerals, and roast.

While I didn’t get all the nuances from this tea that Derk did, I found it to be a slightly offbeat, intriguingly complex Dong Ding. Those cookie and spice notes were lovely, though I wish they’d stuck around a little longer. Thanks for the chance to try this tea from a new-to-me company.

Flavors: Anise, Bread, Cinnamon, Cookie, Cream, Grass, Mineral, Nutty, Orchids, Peach, Pleasantly Sour, Roasted, Spices, Walnut, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
White Antlers

For some reason, this makes me wish for a plate of gingersnaps or nutty biscotti to dip into a snifter of tawny port.

Leafhopper

I’m glad my tasting note conveyed this tea accurately! I was craving gingersnaps the entire time I was drinking it.

White Antlers

LOL! I do believe that derk is a super taster and you really created the seasonal cookie (at least here in the U.S.- an old Hallowe’en standby) with your tasting note. : )

Leafhopper

Thanks! I agree that Derk is a super taster and I’m in awe of her palate. I hope to be able to detect all those flavours one day.

derk

You inspired me to make a pot. I do smell floral ginger and charcoal roast in the warm leaf. Supertaster? Idk, I love bitter sheng and stuff like all the bitter greens, ridiculously spicy peppers and Swedish snus tobacco but not coffee or dark chocolate even though I can appreciate them. I feel like my palate just kinda went crazy in my mid 20s. First, I quit smoking cigarettes, then a permanent taco truck showed up in my very whitebread town. Then I moved from Ohio to San Jose and went nuts with my first taste of Vietnamese food. I’ve since moved out of the toddler ‘put all the things in the mouth’ phase.

derk

White Antlers, I can see how you get that craving from Leafhopper’s note!

Leafhopper

Derk, that’s interesting! I also enjoy bitter things, like coffee and IPA. I’m sure putting all the things in the mouth helps with detecting flavours! I like eating different cuisines, but don’t cook much, so might not always know exactly what goes into various dishes.

Leafhopper

I might have to rope my family into doing this. My hunch is that I’m an average taster. How about you?

White Antlers

Oh, I’m a sub-par taster, Leafhopper. One reason I don’t post tea reviews even though I drink lots of it every day is because to me, it tastes like ‘tea,’ ‘good tea,’ ‘stuff I don’t like,’ or ’it’s okay.’ When I was a teenager, I was hit by a car as a pedestrian and as a result, suffered a traumatic brain injury which left me blind in one eye and with no sense of smell in my left nostril among other things. While I do enjoy bitter flavors (not beer),love almost all cuisines and don’t find cilantro ‘soapy,’ a super taster I am NOT.

Leafhopper

I separate tea into those categories, too. I don’t think you need to detect every nuance to enjoy good tea. :)

White Antlers

Nope, you really don’t. While I am not big on analyzing what I eat and drink, reading tasting notes like yours and derk’s gives me tremendous vicarious enjoyment and pleasure. : )

Leafhopper

Thanks! I’m glad you appreciate my notes! Sometimes they’re a shot in the dark, but I do my best. :)

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3226 tasting notes

This came to me from the ever generous derk! Thank you so much!

My husband said he would like to have tea tonight so I made cinnamon toast and set up for gong fu. We have been really enjoying a Dong Ding from Tin Roof Teas so I thought he would enjoy this tea, as well.

We used a scent cup and the aromas were lovely. I was surprised to smell cinnamon in the scent cup – and I am sure it wasn’t the cinnamon toast I was smelling! It was definitely in the cup. There was a hint of magnolia or osmanthus, too.

The steeped tea was a medium yellow color. It was smooth, not overly sweet and less roasted than some Dong Ding I have tried, but lightly woody still. Delish! The unfurling of the leaves was pretty impressive. I taste light cinnamon, a little woodsy flavor, light floral notes, and a very little mineral taste.

Delish! We enjoyed! Thank you, derk!

derk

You’re welcome :)

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85
1557 tasting notes

Going for another Dong Ding so soon. Why not compare to learn? I’ve had this sitting in a jar with an absorber for probably over a year.

This is pretty dang different from the Taiwan Tea Crafts competition Dong Ding I had yesterday. Another awesome roasting, though. I’d classify it as more medium-roasted than light. Sweet, green, nutty anise cookie aroma and empty cup smell. The cooler and greener aspects like cardamom-pine-balsam-menthol and sweet grass are still able to shine brightly through a roast that mainly brings spice cookie-walnut-sweet almond-sandalwood flavors, fleeting molasses. There is an orchid undertone that seems to tie it all together. Impression of steamed milk on the swallow. Good bitterness that slides over the tongue and deposits in the back but quickly turns into sugarcane returning sweetness. Good astringency and minerality, too. Pleasant unripe peach aftertaste turns deeper. I get the classic high mountain oolong calmness which I actually didn’t experience in the Dong Ding from TTC. Moderately mouth and body cooling with an opening of the sinuses and ears.

Can’t believe I had two tasty Dong Ding oolong in a row.

Flavors: Almond, Anise, Bitter, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cookie, Cream, Floral, Ginger, Grass, Menthol, Milk, Mineral, Molasses, Nutty, Orchid, Peach, Pine, Plant Stems, Pleasantly Sour, Roasted, Spices, Sugarcane, Walnut, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 45 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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493 tasting notes

Got this sample for review. This is traditional roasted Dong Ding that is not common nowadays unfortunately. The roast is skillful and tea tastes settled. It’s not overpowering.
3g/50ml 212F
Started in gaiwan but then transferred to my Hokujo kyusu from @artistic_nippon #artisticnippon
Dry leaf smells of fruits and roasted nuts and maybe touch floral.
It is dried fruits sweet, oily thick and mineral with pleasant bitterness at some moments. Savory spices, tingling the tongue. Some dill, nutmeg and peppers. It was highly enjoyable and went thru many many steeps.
I tasted several Dong Ding at that time and I think this one really stood out for me. I love traditional roasted DD
Thank you for the chance to try it totemtea

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 2 OZ / 50 ML

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