Aged Wenshan Baozhong

I was lucky to visit Red Blossom tea company back in 2007. One of several treasures that I purchased during that trip was their Aged Wenshan Baozhong oolong tea. I was told that it was made in the "early 80's."

I was curious to know if they still had this exact tea in stock so I emailed their customer service department. I quickly received an informative response from Red Blossom's Peter Luong.

He wrote:

"When we made the original purchase of the 1980's Aged Wenshan, there were two distinct batches. They were similar age range and from the same source. The appearance of the leaves were slightly different but nearly identical in character/taste/aroma. I think we were working off the first batch when you made the original purchase, and have gone on to the second batch."

So it sounds like you can't actually buy this tea that I'm about to review. Oh well. I'm going to write about it anyway.

I filled my small gaiwan ~half-full of dry leaf and gave it a 3 second rinse with boiling water. The fragrance off these damp leaves was breathtaking. It smelled earthy and roasty with luscious brown sugar and raisin notes.

I was surprised by the dark color of the liquor. It looked a little bit like a cup of Da Hong Pao oolong.

The richness of this tea was deep and mystifying. As I sipped, I felt soothing energy spreading down through my shoulders, arms and hands. It presents subtle wine notes like oak, plum and blackberry along with fire notes such as wood and charcoal.

This tea is complex, full-bodied and slightly sweet. It is very much what I'm drawn to these days.