2021 harvest.
Powerful aroma that spans floral, woody, grassy, fruity and baking-spicy. First steeps were silky smooth swallowing juicy with tastes that spread across the tongue and coated. After that, it developed such a full, creamy oats mouthfeel that I found it distracting, creamiest I’ve had from Wuyi hongcha.
The florality is probably the second strongest characteristic. The tastes scream apple, tea rose, chamomile, orchid, yellow cedar. Vibrant golden flavors. Hints of barley malt, leather, dried fruits and apricots soaked in brandy and honey, rosewood, mineral, grass, lemon, lemon zest, cooked vegetables in no particular order of prominence. Camphor in chest, along chin and jawline.
Stronger and more complex aftertaste than the 2020 counterpart I had recently — apple, chamomile, apple flowers; then cinnamon, tea rose and rosewood. Another Old Ways Tea hongcha with great longevity.
The mouthfeel was a little too prominent for my liking, so if that’s something you seek in a floral-heavy red tea, I’d highly recommend this. On my preference scale, I give it a 88; on a snoot scale I’d go as high as 96.
Flavors: Apple, Apricot, Black Currant, Brandy, Camphor, Cedar, Chamomile, Cinnamon, Cream, Creamy, Dried Fruit, Floral, Fruit Tree Flowers, Grass, Honey, Leather, Lemon, Lemon Zest, Malt, Mineral, Oats, Orchid, Rose, Rosewood, Smooth, Tangy, Thick, Vegetables
