Although I haven’t been drinking much oolong lately, I do love wuyi oolongs and have a pretty nice collection of them. My neglect is not for lack of love, but for lack of time. I don’t really like to bring them out to play unless I have time to load up the yixing & savor cup after cup of wonderful nuance. But lately I’ve been thinking about them more, like dear friends I don’t see often. Sometimes my feeling that I don’t have enough time to drink certain teas is probably just a figment of my imagination. I mean, I’m self-employed, I’m home most of the day, unless I have a gig somewhere, and although I’m usually busy with one project or another, they are a perfect afternoon tea for me, especially when I have students coming and going, with the short steep time, the smaller cup, & the wonderful wonderfulness.
I like to preheat my yixing & then let the leaf sit in there for a minute to really release it’s aroma, and I was not disappointed from the moment I opened the lid & sniffed. ahhhh….
Tart like hibiscus, sweet, tart & juicy but slightly under-ripe stone fruits, but this tea also has a bass note that really appeals to me, because I tend to favor bolder teas. Kind of a dark unsweetened chocolate with a hint of coffee.
I started with 7G + yixing 5/8/11/15/20/25/30 seconds, then the flavor started to lighten, so I went to minutes 1/2/3 /5 Overall the flavor stayed the same throughout, just building layers & then fading down, until by the last steep, it was a mineral rich soup, with a pleasant chocolate bitterness & a little tanginess remaining.
Ensemble: Upright Bass, Bass Clarinet, Cello, Clarinet, Viola, Flute & Oboe & some high brass, sparingly. And Harp, of course! :)
any sweetness to the tart?
yes, especially in the earlier steeps :)