Gong Fu Sipdown (606)!
I’ve been craving Yancha a lot lately, but I wasn’t really feeling the few options I had in my stash so I asked teachat for some suggestions – James/shredsofmetal suggested this sampler, and I couldn’t remember having ever had anything from this company so I figured why not – it would get me several different kinds of Yancha, and I’d get to explore a new company’s offerings.
Rou Gui is probably my favourite kind of tea from Wuyi – it’s just got such a nice overall profile, and even the somewhat mediocre quality ones still aren’t that bad tasting. This one REALLY blew me away though – and if it’s any indicator what the rest of the teas from this company are going to be like that I am in for a really enjoyable experience!
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Buhw4m3F3Ye/
Ten infusions total – only ending because it was getting late, and I wanted to police my caffeine intake a little bit. This was delicious from start to finish though: the first two or three steeps were very heavily roasted with loads of mineral, charcoal, and roasted nut flavours, but even with those first steeps there was still this underlying sweetness that made me think of roasted walnuts/hazelnuts (arguably two sweeter types of nuts), as well as whisps of maple. The mouthfeel was thick, and lush.
Later steeps started to ease up on some of the heavier roasted notes (without losing them entirely), and progressed into this deeped and more complex profile with quite a bit more of a layered richness and sweetness. The maple was more pronounced, and became this sort of thick, creamy maple butter note, and some of those beautiful stonefruit notes started to emerge that I personally deeply love in a good Rougui. Caramelized peach undertones, for sure – with some nectarine notes as well. Maybe a little bit of molasses/brown sugar. Long lingering finish; like pancake syrup on the tip of my tongue but denser.
Final infusions were shifted more towards the peach, but still a very cooked down peach; fruity but not bright/acidic. Some warming cinnamon, as well, in the body.
I thought that this Rou Gui was surprisingly pretty sweet – but never cloying, and still with an immaculate balance of complex flavour notes. I was swooned! Swooned!
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzTK811f0_Y&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=11&t=0s
(Really beautiful cover of this Imogen Heap song; though hard to not associate it with the meme…)
