King of Qing Xin "The Potion" Jade Oolong Tea - Winter

[Winter 2017 harvest]

It might be because it’s more than one year old by now, but the aroma of this tea is very weak. It does kind of make up for it in the aftertaste, which is strong and interesting.

The flavours are mostly vegetal with light bitterness in early steeps and floral notes developing in later ones. There are notes of grass, dandelion flowers and spinach. The aftertaste is sweet, spicy and very comforting, definitely the highlight of the session for me. It induces a somewhat tingling sensation in the throat. The liquor texture is between silky and creamy, but not very thick.

Even though it’s not a bad tea at all, I cannot recommend it because of the high price.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFtRq6t3jOo (listening to her after the sublime concert last night)

Winter 2017 harvest.

Forgettable is how I would describe this tea. I was excited by the flowery description on the website and positive reviews, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to the hype. It’s fairly vegetal throughout with some honeyed notes and a mouthfeel on the thin side. By playing with the brewing parameters, I did manage to coax out some florals and little buttery flavor. It peaked around the 3rd steep and then tasted like an average green oolong.

For a high mountain tea, it had little to no depth of flavor. I don’t know if something was lost with age or what, but overall it tasted mediocre and kinda bland to me.

This is Winter 2017 harvest. The dry leaf has a sweet, pungent, and intoxicating aroma of flowers. In the preheated gaiwan a sort of fruity, buttery aroma joins the flowers. The taste is much like the aroma: very floral, fruity, citrusy (like lemon meringue pie or lemon cookies). Thick, buttery, and lubricating mouthfeel with a long lasting aftertaste (of lemon pie). This tea was amazing, probably the best oolong I’ve ever had, but I feel like just knowing how expensive it was made me keep thinking: “I paid for the name of the mountain, not the tea”. Which is probably true, but I’m happy to be able to experience such a rare gem in the world of high mountain tea.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhumhB5hCHk/

This is a really tasty tea. It was one of the best oolongs I have ever had. I would have to describe it overall as sweet and buttery. There were some floral notes to it but no real vegetal taste. There was a fleeting bitterness in steep one that was gone in steep two. This one was outstanding. As close to perfect as I have had recently.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml Yixing Teapot with 7g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

I noticed the extended forecast for dreary with a capital D for this weekend and I planned accordingly. Make some Thai jok and have this tea alongside.
First the jok (AKA congee). 6 cups H2O, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp brown sugar, 2 kaffir lime leaves, 1 bruised stalk of lemongrass. Bring to boil. Add 2/3 cup cracked jasmine rice, lower heat and simmer 20 minutes stirring often. Meanwhile toast 2 inch ginger and 3 fat cloves of garlic, both julienned, in neutral oil till brown and add to jok. Crisp up some Thai sausages, cut into chunks and toss in. Slice some snow peas and add at last minute then serve with bean sprouts, fried garlic bits and cilantro. Oh and the tea.
Now for the tea. In the bag it is just a run of the mill green oolong, just enough perfum to set the juices flowing but not extreme. Then I pour the first brew and oh dear, I’m having one of those very special tea moments. The wafting notes of floral bouquets and exotic fruits abound. Then the sip, man oh man, it immediately opens up on the tongue with gobs of thick honey, buttery, gardenia, star fruit and more I can’t describe. This is the best Jade I’ve ever had, ever. Full bodied and long lasting a well structured tea.
Onto the pairing. It was definitely as the weatherman said it would be, 36° and raining. When its like this oatmeal, congee and jok are my go to breakfasts. I can cook and my hubby likes something in his belly before yoga. So the stage was set. The combo of the jok with the lemongrass and lime leaves along with the meat and veg meeting the jade oolong is a top ten culinary experience for me. The flavors all complimented and balanced each other so much I didn’t want it to end.