50g Lao Cong Shui Xian 老欉水仙

Lao Cong Shui Xian (老欉水仙, Lǎo Cóng Shuǐ Xiān, "Old Bush Water Immortal") - Shuǐ Xiān is one of the ancestral oolong breeds. Lore has it that it was the progenitor of all 10 of the original Phoenix Oolong xiāng xíng 香型 ("fragrance types"). It is also one of the most cosmopolitan oolong breeds, famously grown in Zhang Ping near Anxi, where it is pressed into Zhāng Píng Shuǐ Xiān, as well as being a classic and celebrated tea grown in the Wuyi Mountains. This version of Shuǐ Xiān, grown from hundred-plus-year-old Wuyi plants, is distinct from both the Phoenix and Zhang Ping styles due to the high oxidation and heavy charcoal roast of the Wuyi processing style. Lǎo Cóng 老欉 ("Old Bush") refers to individual plants of advanced age, which are prized throughout the Chinese tea-growing world for their depth, complexity, and strong Qi. This tea exhibits hints of almond and vanilla overtop a woody base flavor, all girdled in the classic minerality associated with Wuyi Yán Chá 岩茶 ("Rock Tea"). These old plants have had more than a century to accumulate the minerals of the Wuyi Mountains, which give it its idiosyncratic flavor known as the yán wèi 岩味 ("rock taste"). It has a deep, forward-moving Qi, seeded in the solar plexus.