A friend recently sent a few interesting teas to try, including a 2019 Wuyi Origin Rou Gui.
I wrote review notes before looking up what he said it was, beyond remembering it was Rou Gui, and it probably is the same version I used for this water type testing back in 2019, or maybe it's not. Not much comes of looking back to compare character; it sounds similar, but that was focused on minor differences between using Volvic bottled water and filtered local tap water for brewing.
It's interesting that this isn't the fruitier style of Rou Gui I have tried more of in the past. They make and sell both versions; I'm not sure what that difference relates to. It would seem that it would have to be a slightly different plant type variation, that they couldn't use processing differences to cause that much of a main aspects range shift, or that terroir input would cause that particular change. Or maybe that's completely wrong, and it is more related to one of those inputs. Cindy has mentioned before that the exact same plants can be especially fruity some years, which they can notice even when picking the leaves, from the scent of fresh oils on them, so for sure growing conditions each year play a role.
Wuyi Origin sells a 2023 version that seems likely to be similar, citing all they say about it here:
Location: Qing shi yan (青狮岩）
Harvest: 2023.May.3rd
Cultivar：Rou gui cultivar
Roasting level: Medium Roasting ( 3 times charcoal fire roasting )
The first time : 20th of June
The second time : 24st of July
The thrid time : 10th of September
This cinnamon is in Qingshiyan Zhengyan Mountain Farm, and the tea garden is on the flat ground. The sunshine shines from morning till night, and there is plenty of sunshine time. The unique growth environment makes this cinnamon have a very direct and sharp cinnamon. The first infusion is full of fragrance. Cinnamon aroma is flamboyant, strong and lasting. Cinnamon fragrance always exists from beginning to the end, and there is no any fertilizer and pesticide using in this tea garden
Medium charcoal roasting, stewed this tea has ripe fruit flavor, its tea soup is fragrant and pure, and its taste is mellow, thick and sweet.
This Rou Gui was hand-made the totally steps We made it by hand from picking fresh leaves, Oxidation, and then the last Maocha sorting . The tea strip is very compact and complete. The raw fresh leaves is from Qingshiyan garden ,it is part of Zhengyan Farm in WuYi National Garden Park .
Highly recommended, this is a very standard taste of the Rou Gui Cultivar with "spicy " and "ripe fruit" fragrance.
The Feature of this tea is quite direct ,you can get it easily .
Suggestion: 7-8g / 80 ml gaiwan or Pot . 100C
I last reviewed a Rou Gui that was supposedly from the Zhengyan park area in September (and I think it was), a sample from a local Chinatown shop, from Jip Eu. It wasn't on this quality level. That doesn't necessarily mean that the origin area was mis-represented; just being from a famous origin area, where conditions are generally quite favorable for growing those plant types, doesn't mean that a tea will achieve a certain quality level. That tea was really good, clearly better than the medium quality re-sale outlet version I compared it to in that post, but this version is the next step up.
It's a little early to be getting into conclusions but this website version--not the one I'm tasting--sells for $15 for 25 grams, not discounted when buying more volume as their site is set up.
There is some room for improvement in the version I'm trying; it could be slightly more complex, or refined, with slightly extended aftertaste experience.
But all of those aspects are already so positive that it wouldn't necessarily be easy to notice that improvement; this contains no flaws, and all the positive aspects are pretty far up the scale. And I suspect that aging (this being a 4 year old version) has muted the higher end / more aromatic flavor range, bringing out more smoothness and depth, so part of what I'm saying could be more intense relates to a difference in tea type instead, to how somewhat aged versions vary from newer ones. Then it's down to what people value most in tea experience, whether that's an improvement or it's not as good.
Review:
first infusion: that's heavier on cinnamon than Cindy's Rou Gui usually are. Somehow there are two different styles or versions of them, with one quite fruity, including citrus, or even peach, and the other the more familiar cinnamon. Per an input from a local Chinatown shop owner it's even similar to a specific version of cinnamon; as I recall one type is regarded as true cinnamon and another a related variation. Maybe he said similar to Vietnamese cinnamon? That would probably only be a confusing form of reference to a secondary plant type. Anyway...
This tastes like cinnamon. Maybe there is some fruit tone included, but it's really mostly that, with some warm mineral base. It's clean, and balanced; pretty good Rou Gui (with "pretty good" used here in the understated sense). Oxidation level must be a little higher than I'm accustomed to in their fruity style Rou Gui, or I could easily be mixing up a roast input, or it could be both.
This comes across as balanced and complex for one flavor note standing out so much. The mineral tone includes an ink sort of character, not uncommon for Wuyi Yancha, but a marker for better versions. That effect can be interpreted as leaning towards a liqueur or cognac nature.
second infusion: cinnamon gets even stronger; interesting. It includes so much earthiness and warmth it's on to folding in some tree-bark range. I get it that cinnamon is tree bark, but I mean how more common tree bark smells, aged or cured versions of hardwood stored for firewood. Hickory wood has a nice rich smell; maybe like that. I grew up in the forests of PA and spent a lot of time cutting firewood but I'm not claiming here that I could actually identify cut wood by smell; that's just a guess.
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trees, snow, and wild turkeys at my parents' house |
This is so interesting and pleasant that I'd like to add more, but that's it; it tastes like cinnamon, a specific wood tone, and mineral base.
third infusion: I tried this brewed faster to see how aspects would vary but it's mostly just lighter. Brighter cinnamon flavor and sweetness stands out more, so a vague hint of citrus seems more intense, but it's still pretty similar. For me optimum intensity is more medium; that bright character is nice, and aftertaste is still pronounced, but the strong hit of balanced and intense flavor is nicer.
fourth infusion: warmer tones pick up, probably more from brewing this slightly longer than a natural transition cycle. It's great the way a simple range of flavors comes across as so complex and intense. In between the cinnamon and mineral depth, separate from the supporting fruit range, there is flavor range tying it together, along the lines of other spice or tisane. Then a pronounced aftertaste extends the experience, makes it longer and adds a sensation of depth. This is really clean in character too; it's hard to describe how the complete absence of flaws and great balance work together.
The roast level in this is so perfect that it's easy to lose track of that even being an input. I wonder if it's not aged a couple of years? That would settle a roast input, leaving behind positive transition while smoothing over rougher edges. [later edit: it's 4 years old, so sure, that input changed it a little].
fifth infusion: it's changing slightly, but not enough that it's going to be easy to describe, not in terms of identifying separate flavors. The spice input seems to shift from straight cinnamon more onto root spice. A light touch of citrus might be getting heavier, moving from fresh orange peel to dried orange peel.
It's still quite pleasant; it's not changing in terms of losing intensity, balance, or appeal. I went with a high proportion, brewing all that Bruce sent me, which has to be around 8 grams. That's a lot to brew at one time in a 90 to 100 ml gaiwan, even though that is my standard approach. For someone using a more typical 5 or 6 gram proportion this would probably transition faster, since infusion times would probably be a little longer, unless someone likes their tea wispy light. It works for that; it was fine in that very lightly brewed round.
Conclusions:
I drank more rounds but it continued on in a similar way.
I'm curious what this is, what it was sold as by them. The Wuyi Origin lists a separate now sold-out version they describe as "boutique," that had sold for $32 per 25 grams instead of $15, for twice as much. Material quality and potential can vary quite a bit, from year to year, or location to location, depending on what the plants experience that year.
From how vendors and producers often market teas it might seem like one main lot of given year and season's tea is produced but really it's not like that. Teas are harvested and processed in batches, and in cases where a vendor is trying to make a uniform and consistent version from year to year they might mix batches to arrive at a certain effect, a certain balance of aspects. That would align with yearly named-type branding, how teas are sold. Tea from a higher level specialty producer is something else; it would be produced and sold as different versions like this.
Which leads back to me not knowing exactly what this is, how it was presented. It's clearly quite good, but it might be that it was a more standard offering 4 years ago, sold as a more ordinary type. The balance of oxidation level and roast input seem very favorable, so by ordinary I mean truly exceptional but sold as their more moderate priced range, possibly even selling for less than 50 cents a gram 4 years ago.
Then to me the fruity range style versions can be even more distinctive, because for Rou Gui with cinnamon as the dominant flavor aspect it either balances or it doesn't, either including plenty of other complexity and refinement or not. But fruity Rou Gui can be completely novel, expressing a set of flavor aspects that you'll only experience in that one version that one time. Unless it comes up in a similar form again, but it's usually not like that; peach, citrus, floral tones, or whatever else can balance in a unique way.
Well-balanced and high quality cinnamon-dominant Rou Gui is still very nice, a pleasant experience. It's a tea quality range that one might never get around to experiencing, depending on the sourcing approach they take. This may have lost some intensity across the four years; it may not be as good as it was two years ago, per my preference. For heavier roast levels aging really is a positive input, even across 3 or 4 years, but surely this was moderate in roast level earlier on, not low, but not beyond medium. All that is just guesses though.
This is still truly exceptional tea, so I'm splitting hairs here a bit, comparing it to as good as I think Rou Gui character could possibly be. This is relatively close to that, for this style, perhaps with some limited range for improvement.
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