Presenting 2021 Charcoal Roasted Wild Oolong! Harvested in Spring 2021, this is a tea very close to our heart. We made the first batch in 2019 and it has been a steep learning curve since. It was interesting to fix the roasting process which led to the delicious Spring 2020 batch, this year, we have paid a lot more attention to the plucking and the wonderful old trees surprised us again. The old tree oolongs from Manipur have been full of energy, making you feel awake and alive from the first sip. Usual experience suggests that if we pluck the topmost leaves, this feeling would intensify and the Qi would be even more intense. Well, the 2020 Spring Wild Black Tea and now this batch prove us wrong. Whenever we have used finer plucking, the infusion and its effects have become more comforting instead of intense. Of course that is our opinion of it and it would be wonderful if you could share yours as well. 
 
This tea is withered in the sun and then in shade after which it undergoes yáo qīng(process of shaking the leaves to bruise the edges) for 5 mins each hour overnight, the leaves are then pan fried for 15 minutes and handrolled on a bamboo tray. After the hand rolling comes the process which makes this tea so unique, it is ball rolled inside cotton cloth and left like that for at least 2 hours giving it the distinctive twisted leaf appearance. Upon completion it is oxidised for 3-4 hours. After the oxidation, it is sun dried and finally charcoal roasted.
 
We have rested this tea for around 6 months this year and we feel it is a good time to launch it. The dry leaf has a caramel and honey like sweet essence with an earthy and woody touch. The wet leaf has a stronger honey note with hint of wood chaff, there is also a cranberry like sweetness to it. The honey and caramel note translate the best into the first infusion but with the earthy undertone, it makes for a completely different profile compared to previous years' batches. The second infusion has more of the earthy profile, with notes of damp forest floor. The third infusion has hint of cranberries and there's a spicy finish to it. All the earthy infusions are similar to the smell of earth after rain, yes, petrichor. The fourth infusion has that more intense, partly due to increasing the brew time. Fifth infusion onwards, the sweetness opens up better with wild honey and caramel note, the woody and earthy profile turns into something resembling old books, another nostalgia inducing note. This continues until the finish with the profile staying more of less the same. The liquor is medium thick for this tea and strikes a nice balance with the taste. This tea will definitely evolve in the coming months and years and we hope you age some at your beautiful place of living as well! It is always interesting to learn how teas develop differently in different kind of environments. We thank you for taking time to read through this heartfelt note about this tea and we wish you share a similar experience with it! 
 
Appearance : Dark Yellow
Taste : Wood, wood chaffs, earthy, wet forest floor, wild honey, caramel, cranberry, petrichor, old books
Steeping Time : 3-4 minutes western style, 25 seconds gongfu style adding 5 seconds every subsequent steep
Leaf to water ratio :  1.5 gram per 100ml for western style, 3.5 grams per 100ml for gongfu style
Recommended Steeping Temperature : 90°C
Recommended Steeping Method : Works amazing gongfu style