Orchid Aroma Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong Black Tea * Spring 2017

Okay, here is another June sipdown before I call it quits for the evening. I think this one came from the middle of the month when I was transitioning from Yunnan black teas to Wuyi black teas. I know it was either the first or the second of the three Wuyi teas I drank during the month. Anyway, this was a very good Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong. Yunnan Sourcing usually does a really good job of sourcing teas of this type. I often find their Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong to be more rewarding than their Jin Jun Mei.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 5 seconds. This infusion was chased by 17 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 7 seconds, 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 produced aromas of orchid, honey, pine, cedar, cinnamon, baked bread, dark chocolate, and peach. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of roasted peanut, roasted almond, and malt as well as a few subtle grassy scents. The first infusion brought out aromas of red apple and straw. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of orchid, straw, honey, pine, cinnamon, baked bread, red apple, and malt that were backed by hints of roasted almond, oats, dark chocolate, and cream. The subsequent infusions introduced aromas of tangerine zest, lemon zest, pear, caramel, juniper, butter, sugarcane, green olive, and violet. Stronger and more immediately noticeable impressions of oats, cream, dark chocolate, and roasted almond appeared in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging notes of cedar and roasted peanut as well as hints of peach and grass. I also picked up on impressions of minerals, butter, lemon zest, tangerine zest, caramel, earth, plum, green olive, juniper, pear, sugarcane, and violet. As the tea faded, the tea liquor emphasized mineral, malt, tangerine zest, lemon zest, cream, baked bread, and pine notes that were balanced by hints of butter, plum, sugarcane, dark chocolate, orchid, red apple, cinnamon, juniper, grass, and straw.

This was a ridiculously complex and enjoyable Wuyi black tea. Had it not faded a little quickly for my tastes and had some of the flavors not expressed themselves in a way that felt somewhat rushed and muddled in places, I would have no problem with scoring this tea a 90 or higher. As is, though, it was a very good tea that fell just short of excellence for me. I have no doubt that others would enjoy it more, and that is fine.