Wu Yi Shan "Qi Lan" Rock Oolong Tea * Spring 2016

I jumped at the chance to leave work a bit early so quickly that I forgot to save my note for this. ::sighs:: I remember the experience, so I’ll just recall it as best I can.

The dry leaves have a mineral-y smell. Kind of like salt mixed with rocks. The moment the hot water hits them, I can smell how roasted these leaves are. The aroma of the medium dark liquor has a slight hint of sweetness that the leaves lack on their own, but it tastes just as roasted as the leaves smell. When I swallow, I get a sensation in my throat as if I’ve just swallowed something salty or otherwise mineral-y. The tea itself doesn’t taste salty, of course, and I don’t really get a mineral taste in my mouth, so I find it interesting how it manifests. I find the experience of this tea to be fairly stable through subsequent steeps—roasty, smooth, interesting mineral-y notes. I’m going to have to give myself some time to get more familiar with it and experience it over more steeps.

I have a hard time getting in to charcoal roast teas. That being said this one isn’t too bad. The roast profile was not too strong. A strong roast profile to me is just meh. This one was only moderately strong. I’d say it was noticeable for about four or five steeps. I won’t say this tea turned into something really sweet because Wuyi oolongs in my experience are not like that. It did improve over the eight steeps I gave it. I think that people who really like Wuyi oolongs might find this phenomenal. To me it was just ok, not great.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 6.1g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. I could have gotten a few more steeps out of the leaves if I wanted to.