93

Starting with oolongs again today. This may be the new normal.

This one is fascinating and wonderful. I don’t think I’ve had anything like it before.

It’s also pretty surprising, starting with the smokiness of the dry leaf. The typical sharp, roasty dark oolong note is not present at all, but a definite smokiness is.

I steeped in the gaiwan, five steeps in five second increments starting at 15 seconds after rinsing.

The first steep was lighter in color than the others — a light yellow, while the others were a more medium golden color.

The tea is smoky, not roasty-toasty, and it is sweet. It starts sweet in a floral sort of way and since it is named rare orchid, I’m going to say that’s the flower.

On subsequent steeps, something fruity appears, but it’s not the woody-fruit flavor of some other dark oolongs, what I think of as stonefruit because it reminds me of sucking on peach pits. This is, instead, the fruit itself, and I am having a hard time putting my finger on which fruit. I want to say peach, or maybe a sweet melon. There’s still some smoke, and still some nectar-like sweetness.

I went for a fifth steep with this and I could have gone more. Toward the end, I started to get something confectionary, like almond pastry. I must emphasize that for me, there is no toastiness here but there is smoke.

Fascinating, surprising, and delicious. Too bad Andao is no more.

Flavors: Floral, Melon, Nectar, Orchid, Peach, Smoke

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C
Daylon R Thomas

That sounds like a nice Qilan.

__Morgana__

If that is what it is, I will be on the lookout for others!

Daylon R Thomas

Probably. Qi lan means “rare orchid” in Chinese.

__Morgana__

Oh cool, I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info!

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Daylon R Thomas

That sounds like a nice Qilan.

__Morgana__

If that is what it is, I will be on the lookout for others!

Daylon R Thomas

Probably. Qi lan means “rare orchid” in Chinese.

__Morgana__

Oh cool, I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info!

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I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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