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“Stumbled on an old Hou De blog post about brewing aged oolongs. This one isn’t as old as the ones mentioned there, but anyway, adapted those parameters a little with excellent results. Will try to...” Read full tasting note
This tea was an unexpected and surprising find on this years Malaysia trip. Originally made by Fu Quan Tea House in Penang (a famous city down north of Malaysia), which closed in 2000, this tea is hard to come by – but luckily we found some from a collector in Penang.
Penang has a big population of Chinese immigrants, most from Fu Jian and Guang Dong province. The Fu Jian Malaysians enjoy drinking oolong – Tie Guan Yin or Cliff teas, while the Guang Dong Malaysians enjoy drinking Puerh or Liu Bao.
Fu Quan Tea House wanted to best serve the tastes of the local people, so they imported Cliff tea and Tie Guan Yin from China (Fu Jian Provence). Then they processed the tea again in their own style to create a flavour that the local Malaysian Chinese tea lovers would enjoy.
We found a small quantity of this 90’s Shui Xian made by Fu Quan Tea house, marked from Tian Xin Yan – 天心岩 (famous cliff in Wuyi Mountain). It has stamps marked Zhen Cong which signifies ‘real bushes’ from Wuyi Mountain. The red stamp on the left side is “福泉茶庄- Fu Quan Tea House”.
This tea is medium-strong roasted. The original roast was a bit lighter when arriving to Fu Quan Tea House from Wuyi Mountain, but became stronger once the tea shop roasted it for a second time in their own local style.
This extra roast was done with great skill, as the tea still looks, smells, and still tastes really lively – and not over roasted at all. I also think the purpose of this second roast was not just for flavour, but to protect the tea from getting too wet in Malaysia’s weather as well.
The collector stored this tea in sealed metal tins, creating an ideal dry storage for Cliff tea and preserving the roast profile. The liquid is smooth and rich, it has nice aged woody and fruity taste. The roasting flavour has nicely aged, with warming and comfortable mouth feel and body feeling as well. It’s a nice rare 1990’s aged Cliff tea.
This tea has been hand packed in a traditional style called “pillow pack” which is around 125g, but it has been ageing for more than 20 years now, so the weight might have reduced a bit naturally.
Company description not available.
Tian Xinhua Fu Lao Cong Shui Xian
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JK Tea ShopStumbled on an old Hou De blog post about brewing aged oolongs. This one isn’t as old as the ones mentioned there, but anyway, adapted those parameters a little with excellent results. Will try to stick to these going forward for older oolongs.
5.4g, 90 ml ZZZ
Leaves in prewarmed pot: caramel, plum
Wet leaf: roast, inky sweet. Lid has the empty cup smell of a roasted oolong
1. 30s: tea has sour plum and medicinal in the cup. A bit bitter medicinal in taste and sweet grassy roast/smoke/plum in the finish w a strong celery/mineral note that I usually get w apparent zhengyan teas. Lingers in the throat
2. 35s. Sour plum aroma. Bitter medicinal taste and some sourness. Some aftertaste lingering smoky mineral
3. 40s. Mostly plummy. Not as much aftertaste as steeps one and two, but some sweetness on finish that builds into the lingering notes from those
4. Forgot about it but prob 1 min+. Lightened. Finish has shifted into mushroom-y and tire smoke
5. 2 min. Plummy hint
The first time where the cold remainder of the first cup didn’t actually taste chocolate-y or that great. But, over the course of steeps, the aftertaste continues to build and linger and is really lovely. A cursory glance at my notes on EoT offerings probably makes clear that I have a general indifference towards most of the teas I sampled from there, i.e., not terrible, but not worth chasing down. Happy to report then, that though this is pretty pricey, the tea is quite pleasant. Am I going to buy the full pillow pack after sampling though, probably not. One can dream about winning the lottery, but not healthy to do so too often.
Thermos’d (500ml) the rest for 2.5 hr. Was a solid but not outstanding cup the usual roast oolong thermos profile. Warming feeling that I didn’t feel during the active brew session, but tbf my apartment is sort of cold bc winter heating costs are borderline outrageous.
Simmered the rest for 10 min or so. Mostly dead but is the sharp floral of oversteeped light roast oolong w barest hint of plum on finish
