Qilai Shan High Mountain Oolong

Another very nice tea from WFT. One of my last samples. It’s okay though because I have more coming in the mail ;). This one is great, but is overall not as complex as some of their others. Certainly a nice intense flavor that lasts ~7 infusions, though.

Minimal to no sweetness. No bitterness or astringency. Mouthfeel is creamy. Aftertaste is citrusy and lasts awhile.

Harvest: Spring, 2023
Location: Qi Lai Shan
Elevation: 1900 m
Cultivar: Qing Xin

Dry leaf: vegetal
Wet leaf: vegetal, barley
Flavor: vegetal, barley, lemon, cream.

I’m nearing the end of the green oolongs I bought from Wang back in 2021, and I have to say I’ll be sad when they’re gone. Most of the previous Qilai Shans I’ve had have been very floral and not that memorable, but of course, I couldn’t resist picking up one more. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus several long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of orchid, pineapple, and grass. The first steep has notes of orchid, pineapple, mung bean, and grass, and there’s a little bitterness because it’s the last session’s worth of tea in the bag. The next steep adds peach, lemon, and other unidentifiable florals. Steeps three and four give me peach, apricot, pineapple, lemon, cream, and orchid, but are not particularly sweet because the tea is quite vegetal (beans, lettuce, spinach, grass). The vegetal notes get stronger during the next couple steeps, with the fruit diminishing into grassy florals. The pineapple and orchid last the longest, leaving a not unpleasantly bitter vegetal impression as the session winds down.

As with all of the green oolongs I’ve tried from Wang, this Qilai Shan conveys clean, simple flavours very well, with the added benefit of having unexpectedly fruity notes in some sessions. Its longevity is also great, as is the fact that without the tea bits, this vegetal tea doesn’t actually get bitter. It’s a little unpredictable and slightly more vegetal than I’d like, but I’d highly recommend it!

I’m having a hard time uploading the pictures. Anyway, this was another favorite that I did not write about for some reason last year…before last year. Spring 2019. I’ve mentally combined 2020 and 2021. Man is that nuts. Almost two years ago. It was an early sipdown, and therefore…this is an old backlog. I wish I wrote something down because I remembered tasting all kinds of changes in the finish in each session.

I followed the guidelines of 55, 45, 55, and longer and longer, along with other sessions with less water, shorter times of 30 sec, and grandpa sessions. Green bean is pretty good for this one, but it bears a lot of similarities to Lishan and Cuifeng, especially in the alpine mountain air category. Sometimes, it reminded me of dew. I remember the 2019 season being fresh, and in the category of vegetal done right. The mental justifications of this tea being more than vegetal were lemon verbana and lime in hints. Sometimes, I got more marine qualities and pineapple, though vaguely. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it’s the impression I remember on top of the sweet finish and the refreshing clean quality of the tea. Only thing is it’s a little pricey, so I save for the other hard hitters Wang Family Tea has as I go through “I must try all the teas before I go back to civilization” Covid phase.

Random reflection: I’m extremely contradictory on vegetal teas and whether I like vegetal notes like Goldilocks. I’ve used the same notes for teas that I’ve been bored with, nevermind I was enthralled by this one. It was super well balanced, and I think the experience was enhanced by the fact it was the beginning of a better school year than my first year teaching.