Farmer Chang's 30 year aged oolong

Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company stated everything accurately in their notes regarding this tea, but there may have been some attempt to “bury the lead” regarding the degree of storage flavor onboard.

Now, I’ll be perfectly honest here. I don’t have the most experience with the traditional or “wet” storage teas, so perhaps I’m a bit oversensitive. But if I had opened the pot lid after a few steeps and a kappa, a naiad, and a water elemental sprung out, the only surprising thing would have been the culture clash.

The early steeps, insofar as I could detect any other flavors, tasted like a smoothie made of turnips and a bit of raw radish. I’ve never had such a smoothie, so you may be wondering about the aptness of this comparison. Well, so am I. If you try the tea and have a better one, please do drop me a line, I’ll be curious to read it.

I have read in various locales that bought some aged oolongs and some wetter stored teas may have durability issues. This tea laughs at such reports, as I can say to my palate the storage taste was finally mostly off after a rinse and a mere ten steeps, but continued to produce reasonably thick and incredibly smooth brews for some time thereafter. The tale of a long, smooth steep out the website claimed was not exaggerated.

I’d say this is a tremendous educational tea, as it exhibits something I would call “clean wet storage”, which to some folks probably makes less sense a tall midget or a caring politician. I also found it a deeply soothing tea to drink, once it had progressed past the point of me wondering if swamp water was safe to ingest.

I intend to air the remainder out for some time. If the storage clears, I suspect this is a bargain at the price. If not, then those with a taste for such things should still enjoy it. I found my enjoyment increasing the more I drank, but whether that is relative to accustimization to the flavor profile or merely its lessening will require at least one more session to determine.

However, in what is perhaps a final telling arbiter in my overall thoughts, I look forward to that session.