Wild Lishan High Mountain Oolong Tea, Winter 2023
Season: Winter 2023
Elevation: 2100m
Origin: Lishan
Tree Variety: 青心乌龙 QingXin Oolong, wild cultivation from 2020-2023.
Oxidation: 20%
Roasting: 0%
Grown at an elevation of 2100m, the tea picked from this garden has been growing wild for the past three years. The owner of the garden was stuck outside of Taiwan at the time of the Covid outbreak and termination of international travel between Taiwan and the rest of the world. As a result, the garden sat untouched, essentially abandoned, until this year. As a result, tea bushes were not treated with any fertilizer or pesticide. The result is a high mountain oolong picked from the Qingxin Oolong variety of tea bush that has been left to grow wild, totally organic without any interference from man. This is a very rare occurrence in the tea mountains of Taiwan, where land is very limited.
Lishan High Mountain Oolong is some of the highest quality oolong available. Lishan has all of the sought-after characteristics of a good high mountain tea - refreshing yet rich flavour, smooth, sweet honey aroma, and thick mouthfeel.
This tea was hand-picked in winter 2023.
BREWING METHODS
Kung Fu Brewing
Warm the teapot or gaiwan by adding hot water and then pouring it out.
Add around 5g of tea for every 150ml of water. Begin by adding the loose tea to the teapot or gaiwan.
We recommend using water between 95-100C. As soon as the water has come to a boil and settled, it can be added to the teapot.
Tea can be rinsed quickly with hot water. This first rinse helps to open up the tea for its first brew. This first rinse is optional.
The tea can be steeped multiple times (at least 5-6 times). We recommend the following steep times per brew, but we also recommend extending or shortening the brewing time depending on preference for a stronger or weaker brew.
Steep Times:
1st :50s → 2nd: 45s → 3rd：50s → 4th：50s → 5th：60s
Western Method
We recommend using a large coffee mug and a tea strainer or a thermos with a tea strainer for this method. Add 1 tsp of tea to the strainer and place it into the thermos or mug.
Pour hot water into the vessel. We recommend using water between 95-100C. As soon as the water has come to a boil and settled, it can be added to the mug or thermos.
The tea can be steeped 2-3 times. We recommend beginning by steeping for 2-3 minutes and then extending steeping time if desired.
Cold Brewing Method
Add 1 tsp for a 500ml thermos.
Add cold or room temperature water to the thermos.
Seal the lid and place the thermos in a refrigerator. We recommend leaving the thermos for at
least 4hours. Thermos can be put into the refrigerator to steep overnight.
If refilling, we recommend topping up the water before the volume falls
half-way to keep the tea flavourful.