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“Okay well I’m going to blindly trust verdant wholeheartedly here. My teapot is ~5oz and the sample I got is apparently 5g and thats that they say for this one. the leaf looks like less than 5g, but...” Read full tasting note
Under careful airtight conditions, Wuyi teas that are particularly rich and packed with minerality can age into deeper, more complex teas. Li Xiangxi’s personal favorite is to use her old tree Wuyi Gongfu Black, picked from trees approaching one hundred years of age. The Old Tree Wuyi Black gains more foresty notes and deep cooling qualities on the palette that make it thrilling to sip. Li Xiangxi has been aging her Old Tree Wuyi Black tea since 2013, and she kindly shared more than half of what is left of her personal reserve. We have only a few pounds to offer, but we are excited for the chance to share this unique illustration of the benefits of aging Wuyi teas.
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Okay well I’m going to blindly trust verdant wholeheartedly here. My teapot is ~5oz and the sample I got is apparently 5g and thats that they say for this one. the leaf looks like less than 5g, but I mean.. it’s all I got so its ok.
The dry leaf looks nice, big, dark, twisty, pretty typical looking black leaves. I’m brewing at the verdant recommended 98C, so here we go.
This is the most expensive black tea I’ve ever tried. (I think)
The dry leaf smells a little smokey and really mushroomy
Okay in the warm pot, it’s .. very powerful smelling, still mushroomy, but like.. barbecue sauce and uh definitely like smokey wood, but in a pretty classy way, not like aggressively smokey, just pretty balanced, it’s quite nice smelling, very powerful. excited
After the rinse, aroma of burnt meat, more like a campfire, but sweeter
It’s starting to smell just like their lapsang souchong.
The colour of the brew is on the yellower side, with a hint of orange
OK it’s really thick feeling, after 2 sips, my whole throat is feeling coated, it tastes a lot like their lapsang souchong right now, but super thick with this cooling sensation, and seriously it feels different to swallow now, what is this stuff?
Anyway okay the first steep is really sweet, a bit of cocoa, almost some dandelion, sweet smokiness, there’s definitely more florals there way behind everything
Second steep: very active on the tongue, still smokey aroma, definitely still some florals, still so thick, but it’s also kinda zesty
3rd: kinda tastes a bit like my supposedly-orange-flavoured-vitamins, smoke is mostly gone which is nice, there’s some fruitiness that I’m not sure what to call.. it’s slightly orangey or grapey or uh I dont know honestly. There’s some tingle on the back of the tongue.
4th: mmm that fruitiness has started coating the front of my mouth in this sweet, slightly sour thing that is spectacular. The tea has the very odd effect of even though it’s hot, it feels kinda cold in the mouth, the fruitiness has become a metallic feeling on the back of my teeth by drinking enough of this steep. This is so weird.
5th: the smokiness is definitely completely gone now, it’s just sweet, thick, weird fruit now.
6+ kinda milk flavour, weird fruit, and some mango, tangy blueberries, its so fruity mmh. It only lasted like 9 steeps, the last one wasn’t very drinkable. I fed some of it to my piggy pet.
So weird tea. I don’t know how I uh.. There was a bit of a qi that I noticed at the end. I don’t think it’s worth $17/oz. But it was really good. But it was weird. That’s how I feel about it..
