Tea Tasting: Yu Qilin

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It's amazing... THREE tea sessions in a row! This is the last of the tea from Box #5 from Old Ways tea, Yu Qilin.

The qilin (or kirin) is somewhat of a chimera of Chinese mythological animals. It's part deer/ox/horse/giraffe/dragon and has been equated to be the "Chinese unicorn", but its mythology is a bit more complex than the European unicorn.


There are a LOT of depictions of the qilin, and each one of them is a slightly different take. I'm not sure how this particular tea became associated with the qilin, but it's definitely a unique taste among other rock oolongs.

Tea Information

  • Type: Wuyi Oolong
  • Vendor: Old Ways Tea
  • Recommendations: n/a
  • Cost per gram: Part of the Tea club
Description from Company:
This tea is from a friend I met at a university, who is from Wuyishan.

Yu Filin is a fairly rare culture said to originate from the Zhengyan area. This tea is known for spice & incense characteristics.

She has an info page on Yu Qilin, if you're interested. https://oldwaystea.com/tea-info/yu-qilin

For this tea session, I'm choosing my Jingdezhen "高白泥" Porcelain Teapot, only because I haven't used it in a while, and all things should be used.

Tea Session

  • Teaware: Jingdezhen teapot
  • Water Amount: ~ 135
  • Tea Amount: 7.99 grams
  • Brewing Temperatures: 180-202
  • Time (seconds):  15seconds, add 10+ 
  • High notes of the aroma:  Smoke, mild scents of wood, hint of sweet & fruit (like jackfruit). Nothing overly sweet
  • Low notes of the aroma: Smoke, fire, and fire wood
  • Leaves: 
  • Broth: 
    • 1st Infusion: 202F @ 15-20seconds -- At first sip, this is very smokey with a lot of woody flavor. There's an astringency at the end. (I wonder if this will be like the Jiu Jiu Shui Xian)
    • 2nd Infusion: 198+ @ 20seconds -- This steep is not as woody as #1, but still has that astringency at the end. I might have steeped this for too long. It's a "robust" tea with darker notes and somewhat viscous.
    • 3rd Infusion: 180F @ 30seconds -- This broth is a much milder & more balanced tea at this temperature. There's less astringency, but still as viscous as #2. It's not as "robust" or has darker tones. It's gotten "brighter" in flavor, and very pleasant.  
    • 4th infusion: 178 @ 60 seconds -- A milder wood flavor with the astringency at the end. It's not robust, but that characteristic wood/astringency is there.
Figure: #1-2 infusions

Summary

This tea is VERY interesting, and takes on different characteristics depending on the temperature! It has characteristics of wood at the forefront and a mild back-of-the-throat astringency at the tail end of the sip.

  • For a "darker tasting" tea, definitely higher temperatures @ extremely short brew times works. You get dark wood & smoke, but the shorter times to cut back on any astringency
  • For a milder/balanced tea, cooler temps @ slightly longer short brews. You still get wood, but no smoke with slightly more brighter notes.
The two temperature differences is like having two types of wood: a dark mahogany versus a nice light cedar; the tea still has a "woody" flavor, it's just whether you want it dark or light.

It'll be VERY interesting to try this in a Yixing pot in the future to see how it changes....




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