Phoenix Village "Mi Xiang" Shui Xian Oolong tea * Spring 2016

An excellent choice for a daily drinker Wu Yi. It is packed with flavor and comes in at an unbelievable price of $6 for 50g.

The charcoal roast is present, but arrives as a roasted nut and dark caramel sweetness. Nut flavors arrive with mineral notes, with a chocolate and spice base. Citrus and berry flavors arrive in aftertaste.

Good longevity, giving multiple infusions with solid flavor. Really nice balance of mineral, nut, sweet, and fruit flavors.

Overall, a great experience at a great price. As it stands, this is currently on my list to buy in bulk for my next YS purchase. This is easily one of the best Wu Yi buys out there.
*
Dry leaf – chocolate, roasted peanut, warm baking spices; hints of red currant, tart raspberry, and blackberry coulee. In preheated vessel – charcoal roast flavors come out, dark caramel, fruit flavors

Smell – chocolate, roasted peanut, raspberry, blackberry, dark caramel, some hints at charcoal roast

Taste – wet rock minerality, peanut shell, heavily roasted nut, warm spice. Chocolately finish. Aftertaste of tart raspberry, and orange peel citrus notes, hints of brown sugar and almond. Some orange-chocolate and hay notes arrive later in aftertaste.

I reached for this tea every day so 100g went very quickly.

A Shui Xian oolong which delivered a taste of honey and minerals, nice mouth feels that lasted many infusions.

The 2016 production has sold out but the 2017 will soon arrive.

Similar to many oolongs this tea has a very strong smoky character. For me personally it doesn’t open until the 5th steep. I really enjoyed the underlying sweetness which YS described as honey, but I get more of a raisin/sticky rice character. This oolong steeped into its 7th steep for me before losing more of the notable accents while keeping its color. I live at about 1600 meters and was unable to get the water to reach the classic 99 C. I think it developed nicely at 90 C and will make it a get up and go tea for days when I need a BIG jump start in the morning!

BREWING RATIOS, TIMES AND TEMPERATURES

WASH
90 C for 1 to 3 seconds

CHINESE STYLE
5 g/100 ml (1/2 cup) 90 C (194 F)
Steep: one 20 seconds, two 25 seconds, three 30 seconds, four 35 seconds, five 40 seconds, sixth 45 seconds, seven 50 seconds

WESTERN STYLE
1 Tbsp/1 cup (2 g/240 ml) 194 F (90 C)
Steep: one 2 minutes, two 2.5 minutes, three 3 minutes, four 3.5 minutes,

SCORING
85/100 or 4 STARS

NAME
Phoenix Village “Mi Xiang” Shui Xian Oolong tea * Spring 2016
(“The Magic” Water Sprite)

PRODUCTION
Spring 2016

VARIETAL
Shui Xian (60 year old tea treas)

LOCATION
Phoenix Village, Wu Yi Mountains, Fujian Province, China

PICKING AND PROCESSING
Up to third or fourth leaf

ELEVATION
500 meters (1640 ft.)

DRY LEAF APPEARANCE
Medium/large leaf, broken, a few stems, raisin brown color

DRY LEAF AROMAS
Charcoal, cedar, sweet sticky rice/raisin, with a hint of mineral salt

WET LEAF AROMAS
Charcoal, cedar, dry leaves with raisins

TEA COLOR
Sherry brown

MOUTH FEEL
Dry and salivating begin and smooths out at the 5th steep

TEA FLAVORS
Mineral and sweet sticky rice

AROMA (BREATHING OUT AFTER A DRINKING)
Charcoal and cedar

WET LEAF APPEARANCE
Medium/large leaves broken, partially open with seaweed and red/brown color

This is a very good oolong… not as sweet as some, but with a full bodied feel, very apparent mineral taste and notes of honey, as per the description. The smell of the dry leaves is very strong, and somewhat surprising, but this does not come through in a prominent way when infused. The leaves are large and pleasing, and the tea lasted for many infusions without losing appeal. . . in fact, as the initial stronger flavors faded, a mellow sweetness did indeed come out.