Shui Xian Lao Cong Wu Yi Oolong

I was left to my own devices today regarding entertaining myself. So I went downtown and met a wonderful, knowledgeable woman who shared some tea with me. She brewed this in a gaiwan and I couldn’t believe how good this tea was. Amazing oolong.

Beautiful yellow liquor, so aromatic. I could have sat there the entire afternoon just drinking the tea. I do have to say I have never seen oolong leaves so big. Huge. Good luck measuring with a teaspoon. I can’t wait to have more. Tao Tea Leaf is the bomb. Good thing Dexter3657 talked about it so much or I would have never tried it. I guess I’m falling off the wagon. Where’s that hiatus thread?

If you’re not drinking Tao Tea Leaf you’re missing out. I was.

I had this earlier in the day and it was fairly unremarkable to me. I’m not a huge fan of wuyi oolongs, so that’s likely why. It was a nice enough tea but not the tea for me.

This is another fabulous sample sent to me from the amazing scribbles. I’m really having a good time with the Tao Tea Leaf teas that she so generously sent me. I’ve already placed an order to get more of a couple of them and to try a couple more.
This is a really nice oolong. It’s more woody than most of the ones I’ve tried – in my world that’s a really good thing. It’s easy to drink and was forgiving with my strange steeping parameters re being at work. This is not as mineral tasting as some other oolongs are. I really like it. Thanks scribbles for introducing me to this tea company.

My cat woke me up (for a second time) this morning, earlier than I was planning to get up. I wear an insulin pump with tubing that runs to an infusion set on my abdomen, a continuous glucose monitor sensor on my upper arm, and a medical alert bracelet for type 1 diabetes. These medical accoutrements have become targeted by him. This otherwise pretty sedentary 20-pound lug gnaws enthusiastically and mercilessly at one or all of them when he doesn’t feel he’s been fed quite recently enough. I preferred his chewing on hair phase, to be honest. Anyway, at a certain point it ruins the indulgence that was meant to be “sleeping in”.

So, I thought I would make the most of it and get up and enjoy the morning. I had my gaiwan and setup already out ready to go, so I went for the heap of Tao Tea Leaf samples I still have from a couple months ago, thinking any of them would be a sure thing.

Unfortunately, I’m having an odd experience with this one. I botched the first two infusions by not realizing I only had the Zojirushi set to 175. The leaves had a slight roasted, woody scent, and the liquor came out rich and orange-brown, but I wasn’t getting much from it. Only a slight mineral taste. I heated some water to 195 separately, for the next three infusions, but had only a slight improvement. It was a little more smokey-tasting, but still very underwhelming. Is it me? Is it the tea? Is it my water? I don’t know!

I drank too many dessert tea’s today (but too lazy to log all of them) and really needed something either salty or roasty to cut into all that sugar. This was the choice, and it was perfect – roasty with mineral notes.

I’ve been neglecting my oolongs since being on a black tea and dessert tea binge. I love oolong. I don’t know why I’m not drinking them up.

Lao Cong Shui Xians are usually known for their strong aromas and mellow flavors. This tea had an extraordinarily strong woody, toffee/honey aroma that filled my entire room when I brewed it. The sample batch I got had an overwhelming roasted/burnt flavor and I wasn’t able to detect the signature refreshing “cong” flavor (丛味). Overall still a good full-bodied oolong that’s fun to sip on.

I prefer this tea as a casual brew rather than a focused session. Unfortunately, it is not priced as a daily drinker.

Today I drank it while working so no detailed notes this time. However, I can say that it is quite balanced and refreshing. There are no obvious drawbacks. The smell is nice and strong, it has a decent body and is tasty for sure. A good dessert tea I would say. It’s just that none of its aspects really caught my attention when doing a focused session.

Found this in stash swap box (I had to make one, isn’t it an awesome idea?) and decided that a dark oolong sounded great at the time. I was right, it was great at the same and maybe at all times.
This brewed dark and had a nice brisk taste. My favorite part of it would be the after taste. Smooths out and taste semi sweet on the tongue which is odd for a darker oolong, my experience that is.
The only reason I rate this down is the infusion itself being compared to some of the 2015 oolongs that I have received fresh make it easy to spot out that this one isn’t as fresh as it once was.

What a delicious brew! I love rock oolongs! I wish I had just a little more of this, so I could have brewed in my yixing. I guess my gaiwan will have to do.

Oh lord this tea…. Wuyi rock oolong, you do rock!

Beautiful leaves, they render a warm golden amber brew.

So fragrant!

It tastes like grilled honey peaches and almonds.

So sweet, juicy, nutty and toasty!!

A real treat tonight. I won’t be able to save this for special occasions, no I won’t.

I will have it again tomorrow.

Oolongs are just amazing!!

Pics of tonight’s session:

http://instagram.com/p/yyKWXCQh3m/

http://instagram.com/p/yyL3MyQh5t/

http://instagram.com/p/yyNoNoQh8V/