We are so happy to share with you this nicely matured masterpiece from 2023. As you might know, the famous Jin Xuan or “Golden Lily” cultivar is renown for its "Nai Xiang" or natural milk aroma and creaminess. Over the years we've shared many very different Jin Xuan varietal teas, and this one is totally different from all of them.
Here we get the pleasure of seeing what happens when you gently, masterfully, roast this amazingly creamy varietal. Gone is the light, creamy floral milk oolong and in comes a very deep, delicious and seductive, sweet and creamy full-flavored roasted oolong with notes of cocoa and jackfruit.
The leaves come from an organic plantation in Pinglin and were processed in the stripped style of baozhong. They were harvested in March 2023, masterfully roasted in August 2023 and left for the roast to settle until now.
While it is true that nowadays, in the vast spectrum of semi-oxydyzed oolong, Baozhong is usally all the way on the left with the lightest oxydation of all oolongs. Curiously, this wasn't always the case as in the past this tea was typically oxydyzed traditionally like the Fujian oolongs that inspired it. This tea isn't as roasted as baozhongs of the past but it's certainly not the lightly oxidyzed type.
You may also find it interesting that the word baozhong translates as “wrapped” or “packaged”, referring to the fact that it used to be commercialized wrapped in paper folded into a box, like traditional Dan Cong oolong and some wuyi oolongs. The leaf itself is open and striped the way Wuyi Oolongs and Dan Cong oolong are.
Enjoy this amazing tea!
Origin: Pinglin, New Taipei, Taiwan
Harvest: March, 2023
Color of liquor: golden orange
Aroma: roasted, wood, sweet roasted almonds, baked dark bread
Flavor: milky, lightly roasted grains, BBQ corn on cob, nutty
Temperature: 100º c
Steeping Time: 1min; 1min; 1,5min; 2min...
