Tea: Handmade Pure Orchid (手制素心兰)
Type: Charcoal Roasted Wuyi Rock Oolong
Harvest: Spring 2025
Roast Type: Light-Medium
Producer: Liu Qing 刘清
Region: Wuyi Mountain, Fujian, China
Tasting Notes: Wild Orchid, Cream, Rock, Violets, Butter
The Pure Orchid, Su Xin Lan, is a rather rare cultivar selected overtime from the local caicaha or heirloom tea bushes of Wuyi Mountains. Once almost phased out of production entirely, the few bushes that have been preserved are seeing a resurgence in popularity as the lighter style of yanchas become more popular. This tea reminds us heavily of a Qilan, but is even more on the floral side of the spectrum, while Qilan has a little more rock and mineral rhyme. As we love dancong oolong, this tea is our bridge between the highly fragrant oolongs from down south and the rock and roast focused yancha of northern Fujian.
This tea has also been entirely handmade, which is very rare in the region. The handmade production involves the classic yaoqing or shake wilting, kill green in an electric wok like is done for the green teas of Zhejiang, Anhui, and Jiangsu, hand rolling, and of course careful roasting over tempered charcoal. Liu Qing is a meticulous master that oversees every process directly and only produces what can be made by hand in his small mountain-side facility.
When the dry leaves are placed in the warmed gaiwan, we are met with fragrances of sweet cream and violets with a dollop of honey in the background. This tea has been properly roasted and rested for over a year, so the flame has had time to settle into the leaves creating a balanced session. That said, after a few sessions, the wet leaves begin to give off their orchid fragrance at last, even when left to cool, there is the unmistakable wild orchid flower fragrance.
The brew is a light amber that tingles the tongue with a mixture of sweetness and mineral notes. The cream we smelled in the warm leaves comes across thick and buttery on the tongue coating the mouth pleasantly. The fragrance of the leaves has been expertly conveyed into the brew itself causing us to pause as we lift each cup to mouth to inhale again the orchid fragrance rising off the tea soup.
There are three peculiarities in the way we tend to brew Yancha:
First, we observe the Huanhun Tang 还魂汤 the return to life brew. This is when we pour the first infusion into a separate gongdaobei and drink it cool at the end of the session. This helps us remember what the tea was in the power of its youth.
Second, we enjoy brewing for longer intervals than we would in our other gongfu sessions. This menpao 闷泡 or long brew, gives more body to the infusions and shows the true nature of the tea, but it can also create a powerful session that usually has us sweating, best not done on an empty stomach.
Finally, and our yancha makers may cuff us for saying this, but we like to brew yancha at a lower-than-usual temperature, even using water as cool as 80 degrees Celsius. This creates the opposite kind of session to the menpao, but brews the tea sweet and creamy and is highly enjoyable.
