Qi Lan (2017)

Spring in a cup. For Easter.

I had some 2017 Qi Lan gongfu this morning while watching service so I didn’t take notes. It was good but nothing that blew me away.

Right now I’m drinking the last 3.5 grams western and I like it better this way. It tastes like a specific Easter candy — those small, candy shell coated chocolate eggs. Like those are mixed with roasted almonds and a touch of caramel, sitting on the damp mineral soil and overgrown tender grasses in one of our raised beds. And of course, orchids. Those are in my backyard, too. Gentle tangy-fruity, creamy aftertaste. Some bitterness. Tea oil coating, tingling. Not necessarily sweet tasting but rather dry with sweet aromatics. That’s what I like about a lot of Wuyi yancha.

Like the 2016 Qi Lan from Old Ways Tea, still too green/floral for me to go crazy over but today it makes me happy and that’s what matters.

Folks, here is my final review of the day. This was another of my July sipdowns. Some of you may recall that I was extremely impressed by the 2016 version of this tea, and once I dug through my sample stash to find this offering, I was excited to try it. Well, I am happy to report that I found this offering to be even better than the one from 2016.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 5 grams of loose tea leaves in 3 ounces of 203 F water for 6 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 8 seconds, 10 seconds, 13 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 produced aromas of roasted almond, rock sugar, cream, char, pine, raisin, and dark chocolate. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of orchid, blueberry, and raspberry as well as subtle scents of grass and baked bread. The first infusion introduced a slightly stronger baked bread scent as well as a subtle blackberry aroma. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of orchid, cream, char, blueberry, baked bread, blackberry, roasted almond, pine, and rock sugar that were balanced by hints of grass, butter, raspberry, smoke, raisin, and black cherry. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of orange zest, roasted peanut, cedar, rose, black cherry, butter, banana, cinnamon, and roasted grain. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of raisin, grass, butter, and black cherry came out in the mouth alongside very subtle hints of dark chocolate and slightly amplified raspberry notes. Impressions of cedar, roasted peanut, minerals, plum, rose, orange zest, and pomegranate also appeared alongside subtle roasted grain, cinnamon, banana, and nutmeg notes. As the tea faded, the liquor emphasized lingering notes of minerals, cream, grass, butter, roasted almond, roasted peanut, roasted grain, and orange zest that were underscored by hints of pine, char, rock sugar, raisin, black cherry, blueberry, orchid, and pomegranate. There were also some hints of popcorn that came out late.

This was a tremendously enjoyable Qi Lan that yielded a liquor with a smooth mouthfeel and incredible depth and complexity on the nose and in the mouth. Fans of the cultivar should find a lot to enjoy in this tea. Considering that Old Ways Tea is batting 1.000 with their roasted Qi Lan oolongs, I cannot wait for the 2018 and 2019 versions.

Old Ways Tea has been impressive, and I’ve greatly enjoyed all of their teas, this one especially. I got this one picked by the owner’s smart discretion to compare it to the unroasted one, and I got it with a sample of a good Shui Xian. Actually, a very, very good Shui Xian…I still like this type of tea more.

It is was you can expect from a good Qi Lan Yan Cha. I could drink it western or gong fu with very little effort, but I could had to go light grandpa style because it could get bitter if oversteeped..but the results were still nice with 3 grams in 12 ounces of hot water.

The charcoal roast was prominent, but very well balanced with the equally present orchid florals. Rinsing it made the florals pop out, adding some notes that smelled vaguely like violet to me amidst the orchid. Tasting it was much the same, and the roast made the notes border on chocolate orchids in overall taste. It was almost like drinking mineral water at the beginning of the sip that rose into the chocolate orchid, to the violet hint, and then to peach, butter, and finally, the roast combining with the other notes altogether into a sweet profile that reminds me of honey buns. The roast was more prominent in earlier steeps at 20 seconds or two minutes, and lightened up to a charcoal background into increasingly floral and lighter rebrews adding 15 seconds or a minute each time.

Overall, I do prefer the Qi Lan that I have from What-Cha because it’s got that jasmine note I really love, but if you want to know what a good Qi Lan tastes like, this is an awesome standard that really is not that expensive. I would very easily pick this up again and I recommend this company period. Also: you have got to try their black teas.