Fujian Rain

Guess what I am doing? If you guessed playing Minecraft on my new Xbox One then you are totally correct! My beloved Ramble is now monstrously huge, with many Ocean monuments, Ice Spike biomes, jungles, and fancy roofed forests. I am very pleased with how the terrain generated on the rest of the expanded world, lots of potential for epic build, and of course lots of mountains, because Ramble wouldn’t be the same without a ton of extreme hills. I only have one complaint, there is a glitch that I assume will be fixed in the next bug fix that makes map walls totally unusable, this saddens me because the first thing I did was fill all the maps and make a map wall at spawn.

Today I am looking at a tea from Adagio Teas, a store I have a great nostalgic fondness for since they were the first tea company to show up on the blog, and the first online shop I ordered from. It was scary at first, being so used to going to Wegman’s (which is a distributor for Ito-En) and selecting based on sight and sniff, moving away meant I needed to bite the bullet if I wanted a steady flow of tea. So in a way, Adagio Teas is to thanks for my raging out of control tea stash! The particular tea I am looking at is Fujian Rain, their name for Shui Xian (or Shui Hsien, Water Sprite, Water Narcissus…so many names!) one of my favorite of the Wuyi Rock Oolongs. The aroma of the dark curly leaves is pleasantly smoky, like a campfire that has gone to smolder and not a raging smoke belching fire. There is more than fire to this tea, there is also sweetness with notes of molasses, figs, dates, and a gentle spicy nutmeg and cocoa. At the finish there is a gentle, almost too faint to notice, hint of orchids.

Into my Yancha pot the leaves go, the aroma of the soggy leaves is sharp and mineral, blending wet slate, woody stems, tobacco, and smoke with a tiny hint of cocoa at the finish. The liquid is a sweet blend of cocoa and woody tobacco with a slight hint of nutmeg and char at the finish.

The first steeping is pretty light in both taste and mouthfeel. It starts with a gentle blend of honey and tobacco and moves to char and cocoa with a hint of nutmeg. The finish is a delicate and lingering mineral and light distant flower note that wavers between lily and orchid.

Second steeping time! The aroma is a bit more floral this time, along with woody tobacco and gentle char, also a nice mineral burst at the finish, like dropping water on hot coals. The taste did not change much from the first steep, the main difference is the stronger notes of tobacco and mineral and less sweetness. If I did not know this was a Shui Xian before, I certainly do now!

Third steep, the aroma is woody tobacco and char, with a strong mineral finish and a touch of cocoa. The taste is milder this time around, primarily woody tobacco and char, with cocoa and a strong mineral finish. Wet slate and hot coals linger as the aftertaste. This is a decent Shui Xian, I wish it were a bit more potent or unique, since this is very similar to the much cheaper Sea Dyke brand that I get at my local Asian Market, but if you lack access to a super cheap everday drinker, this is a good option.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/adagio-teas-fujian-rain-tea-review.html

This is sooooo good. I absolutely love roasted oolongs. I just adore that mineral shale flavor and the taste of embers. It makes for a very natural and ancient feeling gongfu ritual. The dry leaf consists of long curled blackened crimson tendrils. These charred remains smell of char and blackberries. I brewed these up in my ceramic kyusu. Its beginning to crackle and is looking beautiful. The warmed leaf smells of roasted nuts. I washed them once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves smell of charcoal and roasted peaches. The flavor was very unique and amazing. The initial sip tasted of cherry wood and minerals. This flavor was very dry, but it ended with a sharp sweet tone. This sweet tone reminds me of white grapes that have been over ripened. This brew stood up well against multiple steepings. The liquor kept a consistent rusted orange. This was a perfect brew for an early morning gongfu session.

https://instagram.com/p/4E1YmqzGd6/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Good flavor but very weak. The first steep will make you wish you could better taste the mineral notes. The second steep is not worth drinking.

This is a tea that I’m learning to love. The leaves have a very earthy scent with hints of smoke and roasting. It smells a little bit like a hojicha
—-edit, not sure where the rest of my review went?

The liquor is a medium amber color with a clean taste. It’s very mineral-y, but ends with a clean oolong finish that leaves you wanting more. It’s a complex cup but very relaxing and enjoyable. Future steeps reveal sweetness after the mineral taste dissipates.

Wow! This is an oolong? So bright, lots of nice too notes. I don’t get that darker smokey oolong-y taste in used to getting. Very nice.

I’m new (today!) to oolongs. Mainly I’m getting a toasted rice [edit: as I tasted more oolongs, that flavor diminished on my palette). It’s got some sweetness to it, maybe even a little roasted nuts. Way at the end of the lingering flavor, I could see describing it as a rocky taste. It’s not vegetable flavored, it’s not woody or fruity or malty or flowery… so yeah, a tiny little spice and a tiny little rocky among the toasted rice.

Since the color was halfway between raw cashews and raw hazlenuts, I had a handful of nuts. This really opened up my tongue to tasting the mineral right away when sipping. And it’s not something I’m enjoying right off. But, I could see developing a palette for it. I think the flavors are just too new to me, and I’m spending too much time thinking about it.

Edit: Like most oolongs, once I doubled the tea quantity and shortened the initial steep, I started enjoying it A LOT more. I ordered a huge bag of this. For the price (about 8 cents per gram) I found it to be an affordable investment. I’ve bumped up the rating too, based on a few factors. (1) ease of dealing with company, fast shipments, rewards through website (2) aroma and flavors (not too smoky) last multiple steeps. Right now I prefer a greener tie-guan-yin, but I like this one too. Not transcendent, but I enjoy it. So I’m giving it a high rating for my own enjoyment and overall experience with the tea.

Edit #2: Oh man, there’s some figgy/raisin fruit notes at the end of this first steep today, hits me right in the spot in the back of the top of your mouth where sweet-tarts stimulate… I must have brewed it JUST right. Boiled water in electric kettle, wait 1 min, slowly pour over leaves in infuser mug (two heaping perfect scoops for 12 oz water mug). Wait 2 minutes. Since I don’t always get this flavor, I guess the tea is a bit temperamental to coax. But wow.

Very good tea.

I got this as a sampler from Adagio’s website, in a quest to try out different types of tea and expand my palate. I probably used a bit more water than I should have with this tea, probably making it a bit lighter than it could.

The flavor is very nice, matching the woody smell that comes from the cup. The flavors are a bit light, but they are very nicely balance. The flavor is toasty and slightly like rice, which is more pronounced in the after taste.

I definitely wish to try another cup of this tea.

This is a good everyday oolong for me. It is definitely fruity combined with a mineraly taste, and it holds up well to multiple steepings. Oolong is my favorite tea to have unflavored, and I am glad to have found this one for my day to day oolong fix!

Brad – fairly heavily roasted. I liked it.
Sarah – didn’t really like.