ORGANIC CHINGJING HONG SHUI (RED) OOLONG SPRING 2018
Today, I blew through the sample of this Hong Shui I purchased at the SF Tea Fest. This was my first time tasting a Hong Shui and I’m finding it difficult to pin down. In some ways it reminds me a lot of the Taiwan Amber GABA Oolong I love from What-Cha, especially with its rock sugar sweetness. This tea though, has more of an understated nutty, grainy, baked or dried stonefruit vibe than roasted pear and apple. Maybe a little nut/grain milky quality? The liquor is thin and silky and leaves a surprisingly full and warm feeling in my throat and chest but remains cooling in the rest of the mouth and body; strangely refreshing for a roasted oolong. Long dried fruit/floral aftertaste. Complex and beyond my focus today. Perhaps I’ll come back for a rating after I try the other two Hong Shui in my cupboard.
Seems to do better with higher leaf:volume and short gongfu infusions.
87-90+
Flavors: Dried Fruit, Floral, Fruity, Grain, Mint, Roast nuts, Stonefruits, Sugar
