This was another of my sipdowns from early in the current year. I wasn’t really sure what to expect of this tea when I set out to work my way through what I had of it. I was not all that familiar with Xiong Di Zai (I’m still not), and I had been a bit perplexed by the spring 2017 version of this offering when I tried it around two years prior. I was expecting a challenging, complex tea that offered hit or miss drinking experiences, but I didn’t get that. I found this to be a very pleasant, soothing tea, one that was far smoother and more approachable than anticipated.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a standard 10 second rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 fluid ounces of 203 F water for 7 seconds. This infusion was followed by 16 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 9 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves presented aromas of roasted almond, plum, pomegranate, vanilla, and nutmeg that were underscored by a much fainter baked bread scent. After the rinse, I discovered new aromas of grass, cannabis, candied orange, and orchid. The first infusion then introduced aromas of violet, wood, and sugarcane. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered up notes of grass, cream, roasted almond, orchid, candied orange, pomegranate, violet, and wood that were chased by hints of sugarcane, cherry, baked bread, vanilla, nutmeg, butter, peach, plum, and cannabis. The majority of the subsequent infusions gradually added aromas of peach, nectarine, butter, steamed milk, butterscotch, pear, coriander, white grape, and lemon zest. Stronger and more immediately apparent notes of butter, cherry, sugarcane, and peach came out in the mouth alongside mineral, orange zest, pear, earth, steamed milk, white grape, coriander, lemon zest, and green apple impressions. I also found hints of cinnamon, nectarine, spinach, and butterscotch. As the tea faded, the liquor continued emphasizing notes of minerals, grass, wood, cream, steamed milk, lemon zest, roasted almond, green apple, pear, and white grape that were deftly balanced by lingering hints of coriander, orange zest, peach, baked bread, spinach, cherry, sugarcane, butterscotch, and vanilla.
This tea should not have worked in theory. It produced a tea liquor that was very buttery, creamy, and milky but also full of tart, acidic fruit notes and pronounced earthy, woody, and vegetal qualities. Somehow everything worked well together and never clashed. That was a marvel considering that the tea’s sweet floral qualities faded quickly. I was expecting this to be one of those teas that wowed me with how well it integrated seemingly sharply contrasting elements before steadily coming unglued, but that never happened. Even as the middle infusions added what should have been increasingly incompatible aroma and flavor components, the tea remained pleasant and balanced. Also, while many Dancongs can turn sharp, slick, and soapy, this one remained smooth, thick, and creamy throughout my time with it. Overall, this was a truly impressive tea. I wish I had gotten around to trying it sooner.
Flavors: Almond, Bread, Butter, Butterscotch, Candy, Cannabis, Cherry, Cinnamon, Coriander, Cream, Earth, Grass, Green Apple, Lemon Zest, Milk, Mineral, Nectarine, Nutmeg, Orange Zest, Orchid, Peach, Pear, Plum, Pomegranate, Spinach, Sugarcane, Vanilla, Violet, White Grapes, Wood
