Immortal Prayer Oolong Mini-Brick

Thanks so much for this one, Cameron B! I was really missing fresh oolongs when I woke up this morning, seeing as I have been trying to rein in the ridiculous tea stash and not buying fresh teas. I think I have been doing fairly well the last few years — but I don’t know if it’s just the volume of tea packaging that is necessary for just the one serving remaining of tea I tend to leave around, it’s like the volume of tea never seems to decrease. Oh well! One day the stash will be down! And I will certainly know which teas are necessary to have around. I have only had a couple of these oolong bricks in the past. This one seems bigger than the other oolong bricks I have tried, but also seems to use bigger leaves and isn’t quite as compact as they have been in the past. The flavor is light on the first steep. But by the end of the session, the huge leaves are bursting from the basket infuser. Possibly this one shouldn’t be used for mug steeping, but the flavor was never too harsh. It’s actually a hard oolong for me to describe. Nothing really stood out here, in flavor profiles. Where are the flavors for me that derk noticed?! And it was those super nuanced and distinct oolongs I was missing this morning. oh well. I certainly don’t fault the very elaborate packaging here — this one should have definitely maintained the flavor with it being wrapped in three different wrappers. hmm
Steep #1 // 29 minutes after boiling // 7 second rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 2 min
Steep #4 // just boiled // 3 min
2024 sipdowns: 9

Sipdown, as I took my last brick to a class I’m taking this week. I steeped it grandpa for the morning. Unremarkable brewed this way — initial steeps were too strong, and later steeps very weak. In a narrow metal tumbler, I just didn’t find much to appreciate beyond the fact that I’m happier when I’m drinking tea than not.

A swap from Kawaii433. I think I still have few teas of yours mixed into my stash!

My brick was 9 grams so I split it in half and brewed it in my porcelain pot. Like other zhangping shuixian oolong, I opted for longer steeping times.

The dry leaves smell like I’ve buried my face in a narcissus bouquet studded with orchids. Lots of juicy green pear and a bit of malt. The warmed leaf was bright with honey, orange blossom and peas? The first steep brought out light toastiness in the wet leaf.

The first steep of 30 seconds at 190F left me thinking “Is this bad tea?” It had a nice orange blossom and sweetgrass aroma but there was an almost… you know that fresh mold smell? I could taste it. So I figured why not up the temperature and just roll with it — I see no mold in the other half of the brick. And maybe a higher temperature would thicken up the texture.

I went up to 205F with even longer steeping times and yeah, it was good. Orange blossom, dry grass, honey, lots of mineral tingling and salivation, slight baked bread. Honey aftertaste and a slight opening of the sinuses with something akin to spruce forest that had me breathing easily after a few more steeps. The body did become quite a bit thicker and a citrusy quality like mandarin zest presented. Bottom of the cup smell of honey and sweet almond. The aroma changed a bit into something soft like powdered sugar dusted flowers as the taste became even deeper with honey and ripe peach. A light gripping astringency in the throat was there early but otherwise the tea had no more else to show. Honey-sweet, floral, mineral, fruity and grassy with a medium-thick body.

Not going to rate it for now. I’ll try the remainder of the brick grandpa style with 205-212F water. I get the feeling this oolong might be well suited for that preparation.

[4.5g, 205F, 100mL porcelain pot, no rinse, longer gongfu steep times starting at 30s]

Book pairing: Intimacy: Trusting Oneself and the Other by Osho

Zhang Ping Shui Xian, grown on Wuyi mountain in Fujian but so different from the roasted Wuyi Rock Oolongs in that it’s not heavily oxidized or roasted. I think it’s one of the few, if not the only, oolong that is compressed into shapes. It’s in a 10-gram compressed square, vacuumed sealed, and each in its own package. The pretty dry brick smelled like bread and orchids. It was easy to break apart. I split mine in two. This time gongfu and next time grandpa style. The liquor is a bright orange gold-ish color and has a floral aroma with a strong floral taste, a little sweetness of honey. It has a clean mouthfeel, no slickness present but has a smooth texture.

I don’t particularly like too floral oolongs, but if you love floral oolongs, this one is for you. It’s very fresh, bright, refreshing. It begins as a mild and light taste but then progresses to a stronger floral & honey tea.

Yixing teapot, 195˚F, 110ml, 9 steeps: 5s rinse, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 55s, 60s