Wu Yi Shan "Qi Lan" Rock Oolong Tea

[Spring 2018 harvest]

I am still not a huge fan of yancha, but this tea is just so easy to enjoy! The complex aroma, comforting taste, thick and bubbly texture, and a strong, defocusing cha qi make up for a very rewarding drinking experience.

The aromas display notes of nectarines, fruit tree flowers, marzipan, coconut before the rinse and coffee, truffle, kumquat, sugarcane afterwards. At least, those are the ones that came to my mind – there is a lot to uncover here. Furthermore, the empty cup has a honeydew scent.

The taste is sweet, smooth and nectar-like with notes of resin, almond and coffee, turning into apricot, vanilla in the aftertaste which is a bit more savoury overall. The liquor has a soft and viscous texture and induces a cooling sensation in the throat in opposition to the strong body warming effect.

I have the Spring 2015 harvest, and this is almost a sipdown already but I’ve been drinking and loving this tea so much especially in the past year now that the flavours have fully developed.

Dry leaf: Powdered cocoa, sweet passionfruit

Liquor: Smells divinely floral, like sweet creamy gardenia or orchid. The tea tastes sweet and tangy, tangy like coffee or fruity Madagascan dark chocolate, with the typical Yancha notes of chocolate but less pronounced ones of mineral and wet rocks. Amazing.

I remember when I visited Tea Drunk in NYC and the cheapest Wuyi oolong on the menu was this Qi Lan, so I thought of it as an “inferior” Wuyi. How wrong I was! While my favourite Wuyi oolong is probably still Da Hong Pao, Qi Lan is a gorgeous lighter, floral alternative on days when you don’t want something so heavy or roasty. I like the Qi Lan even more than the Shui Jin Gui and Rou Gui varietals I’ve bought from Yunnan Sourcing, but since it has been a while I should revisit those to see if they’ve aged as beautifully as the Qi Lan has.

This note is for the 2016 version.
Nose; osmanthus, slight roasted green chili, slight cedar, peach, allspice, lilac.
Palate; peach, allspice ( peach pie yum ), mineral note, slight malt, very nice balance.

Delicious! Lots of honey flavor and a nice balance on the roast. Rich and a little bit coffee-ish.

I drank this tea last night. That was a mistake because I couldn’t get to sleep until 4am. Not a mistake in terms in how much I enjoyed it, however.

This tea just reaffirms my continual realization that I LOVE roasted oolongs. The roasty, coffee like flavor is just right up my alley. I wish this would have lasted a bit longer but overall this was a really great tea.

This is my favorite rock oolong to date. There’s a restraint about its character that pairs so well with the complexity. The roast is perfectly light, melding with a floral character that makes this tea sweetly intoxicating. Nectar-like aromas swirl in as well. The flavor is crisp with just a tiny hint of drying character after the fact. Overall this is a very clean, high quality tea that is a pleasure to drink steep after steep.