Friday, September 25, 2015
The grace of Fall High mountain Oolong
Cultivar: Qingxin Oolong
Harvested by hand on September 5th, 2015
Origin:Qilai mountain
Elevation: 2000 meters
The summer and fall seasons usually produces lower quality fresh Oolong, because the weather is too hot. The leaves grow too quickly, which means few buds, and less fine aromas. However, at higher elevations, the climate conditions are quite similar to spring: the nights are cool and the days short.
I'm glad to brew this excellent example of fine autumn Oolong. The leaves are very well processed and come from a recent plantation on the lesser known Qilai mountain.
The clarity of the brew is excellent. Being very fresh and top quality, it's very easy to mistake these leaves for spring Oolong if you are not told in advance. The difference is subtle.
And the taste is simply wonderful. Sweet and lively. Very fine taste and long aftertaste. Lots of very freshness and lightness with a hint of fall aromas. That's the inspiration for this Chaxi: lightness and purity with hints of fall colors.
This Qilai Oolong and another Fall top qualtiy Oolong from Lushan are available on my boutique!
Have a wonderful Mid Autumn Lunar Festival this weekend!
What a beautiful Chaxi!
ReplyDeleteGreat article Stephane! Is this year's fall harvest in the high mountains particularly special (due to environmental conditions)?
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Sara!
ReplyDeleteRyan, I think the conditions were very good (dry and sunny, but not too hot), but not special. What also helped is the great skill of the processing.
This article is on Tea Weekly subscription http://tea-weekly.com/issue/25
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