Chun Lan Wuyi Oolong

Taken quite a fancy to the heavily oxidized oolongs. Verdant does an amazing job with all the tea they procure. And this is definitely up there with my favorites. Dark leaves. Longer oxidation. Dry aroma, light muscatel notes. It has a drying sensation similar to what you would experience in the dry heat of the desert. Hairs on the bag. Oh little trichomes, how I adore you. Full twisted leaves. A frenzy of flavors. Sweet but woody. Fruity in the beginning with tropical flowers. Mineral. Wet rocks. I’ve run out of water. Sad panda.

Having a go with the tea this morning. It is interesting that in my previous note I did not mention the charcoal notes. With this steeping I am finding them to be quite heavy. Charcoal bricks with charcoal in the after taste.

210 Degrees F, Gongfu, 20 seconds + 15 seconds infusions

Wooo, the smell of those leaves, yummy! Sugar, honey, lots of stone fruits. I went off of the Verdant tea website’s recommendations and increased time by 15 seconds every infusion, haven’t really brewed like that before. Its usually a 5 or 10 second increase at the most. It made each infusion really consistent and might’ve actually gotten a little stronger each infusion until number 5. I was still getting excellent flavor through infusion 7 though. I really enjoyed brewing this way. The tea was great, I like heavy roasted oolongs with a good amount of honey sweetness and fruit and this was a great tea session. The fruity notes were rather unique as well. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what fruits I was getting though. An interesting, delicious heavy roasted oolong. I love it! Will reorder. 8 Infusions.

Season: Spring 2017
Cultivar: Wuyishan
Origin: Fujian, China
Picking: Up to 3rd or 4th leaves
Elevation: 600 M

Eyes – Dry Leaf: Heavy roasted, dark dark browns and blacks, twisted, large leaves
Nose – Dry Leaf: Mmm, honey, very fruity, heavy peach preserves, maraschino cherries, so much fruit!
Nose – Wet Leaf: Granulated sugar, Honey, Still lots of fruit but not necessarily peaches, mustiness, thats all I’ve got.
Eyes – Liquor: Amber Brown
Mouth – Texture: Medium
Mouth – Taste: Heavy on the floral notes at first, orchid, then rounding out to a fruity cherry sweetness and a light charred wood finish. Not quite as sweet as I thought it would be.
Nose – Empty Cup: Burnt sugar
Mouth – Finish: Smooth, slightly drying
Eyes – Wet Leaf: Dark olive green
Body sensation: Mood uplifted, I am in a great mood right now.

Getting close to the last of my 5g Verdant samples! First ever Chun Lan. Spring 2017 harvest. 5g, 100mL gaiwan, 205-212F, short rinse followed by 9 steeps at 7s/10/12/15/20/25/35/whoops#1/whoops#2

Dry leaf is very fragrant, tough to pick out scents beyond the roast which was not overwhelming. Warmed leaf smelled strongly up front of amber and orchid with chocolate in the background. Rinsed leaf aroma was geranium, orchid and warm dark wood.

This tea started off strong, quickly! The liquor was fragrant. The taste was very floral, of which I often have difficulty identifying different types. What I did pick up on was geranium (thanks to Verdant’s notes), amber, warm dark wood, orchid, mineral and a light roast which disappeared after the first steep. It was rather bright tasting like an orange and remained so despite the flavors fading slightly after about the third steep. There was a pleasant fruity and floral aftertaste and a persistent sugarcane sweetness in the back of the mouth showing up around the fourth steep but I don’t recall it lasting into the end of the session. Oversteeping in the end gave surprisingly tasty cups. The tea remained brothy throughout, thickening up midway then thinning slightly. A light astringency was present from the beginning and built up over the course of the session. Some light bitterness showed up here and there.

This tea seemed pretty balanced despite my inability to identify a lot of what was going on. It was floral, bright and fruity, warm with amber, woody and had a slight vegetal undertone. It possessed a good mouthfeel, fleeting bitterness, a light aftertaste, some returning sweetness and good longevity, but the growing astringency kind of detracted from the experience. Despite the astringency, I’m impressed with this Chun Lan. I see it’s currently on sale and I think the price warrants giving it a try, especially if you’re looking for a bright and warm floral-forward yancha.

This will be my last Verdant sampler tasting before I give Verdant a break for a while to focus on the What-Cha samples I just received.

This tea basically reaffirmed grandpa style as my brewing method of choice for yanchas. Steeped in a tumbler, I got a smooth blend of chocolate, cinnamon, woodsy notes, and wet rocks. Gongfu brings out some of these flavors as well but these were too aggressive for my taste. There was lots of wood spice and black licorice. The texture also became very thick and oily. I feel some of its subtleties of the tea are lost by steeping it gong fu.