Qi Bombing or the 1985 Shui Xian

What a difference a few days can make from spring sunshine to winter wonderland.   I am excited to try this tea. Rumors of this tea’s potent Cha qi abound.  Qi being my main focus when drinking aged tea or any tea for that matter. The fact that it tastes delicious is a serious bonus.  Seven grams of this leaf where generously included  with my last order from Essence of Tea.  As I have mentioned before my yancha pot is bigger than I would like at 125 ml. So wanting to maximize the experience I take a chance and decide to brew this in my 70ml mature sheng yixing. I hope that this does not hurt the teas performance to much. I precede on given Nada’s note that the tea’s flavor and aroma are not exceptional this being a tea drunk for the qi. He also notes that “the leaves are quite fragmented”. I find that my sample the leaves appear to be in pretty good condition better than the 95 rou gui and certainly good given there age.

     I decide not to rinse the tea. Not wanting to waste anything this tea has to offer. The medicinal aroma fills the air as the tea is poured out of the pot. The liquid has an oily sheen across the surface. The flavor is intensely medicinal reminding me of mature old leaf pu-erh. This could be an effect of using my pu-erh pot. though I really don’t think so as the pot has been in use for less than two months. I feel that the proprietor of Essence of Tea may have down play this tea’s flavor as it is not what one would normally expect from an oolong. Yet I must say this tea’s flavor suits my tastes quite well.

Wow the qi is heavily narcotic. I become completely present and can no longer take notes on this tea.  This is why I drink tea.

     This session is a real treat. I have only experienced qi of this type in tea’s older than this. The tea initial has a very similar if more medicinal flavor profile to the 70’s loose leaf DaYi pu-erh available at EOT.  I actually start to think there might have been a mix up, and was given that tea by mistake. One look at the leaf tells me I’m in correct.  But as the infusions move on more of its rock tea roots shine through. Though initially if this where a blind tasting I would have guessed this to be a pu-erh. There is a nice (if a bit short lived) huigan.   With extended brewing this tea goes into day four .Tasting more like a nice aged pu-erh than an oolong. The qi in the later extended infusions isn’t as powerful it still makes its presence felt. I also feel I should mention that the qi was very comfortable at no time was I made uneasy as sometimes teas (rock tea especially) with strong qi can be a little rough.

By the evening most of the snow has melted but the tea is still going strong.