Wild Tea Qi Organic Green Jade
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: jade green, lots of buds Ingredients: green tea Steep time: 2 minutes Water Temperature: 180 degrees Preparation Method: glass teapot Liquor: very pale gold Wild Tea Qi’s selections have consistently impressed me ever since I first met them at a tea festival several years ago. Not only are their teas unique but the quality is outstanding. This one was no different. Green tea is admittedly my least explored category so I was excited to jump into this one. The leaves were beautiful both prior to steeping and afterwards. Consisting almost entirely of buds, they were quite plump and fresh looking. The way they floated vertically in the…
Wild Tea Qi Mengku Rich Valley Raw Puerh
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: dark, long and twisted Ingredients: puerh tea Steep time: 30 seconds Water Temperature: 212 degrees Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan Liquor: gold I’ve been on a major puerh kick lately and the selections that I’ve tried from +Wildteaqi have been a big part of that. This one is unusual in that it was a raw loose tea, not pressed into a cake as you might expect. I was immediately struck by how aromatic the steeped tea was. My mother even took notice and she usually only comments on strongly flavored teas. The taste was sharp and vegetal but not overly astringent. Woody notes dominated and a sweet lingering finish kept…
Wild Tea Qi Wild Rock Oolong Tea
Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: dark, long and twisted Ingredients: oolong tea Steep time: 30 seconds Water Temperature: 212 degrees Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan Liquor: brassy gold The liquor of this tea was such a beautiful brassy gold that I couldn’t resist snapping the Instagram picture below. Although the taste started off very mellow, the third infusion brought a sudden explosion of floral notes and a lingering sweetness. I wouldn’t quite call it earthy but there was a darker vegetal undercurrent throughout each sip. These leaves definitely had major staying power. I completely lost count of the number of rounds I went but that alone should tell you that it was a…
Wild Tea Qi Ancient Baked Heart
Photo: Wild Tea Qi Country of Origin: China Leaf Appearance: somewhat dark with scattered silvery tips, twisted Ingredients: green tea Steep time: 30 seconds Water Temperature: 180 degrees Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan Liquor: gold This tea starts out with strong floral notes and a pleasant toastiness that led into a lingering sweet finish. It was vaguely vegetal, reminiscent of asparagus. There was a bright astringency that left a refreshing cooling affect. In the book Wild Tea Hunter the founder of +Wildteaqi, +Jay T. Hunter, writes about the differences between wild grown teas and those that are commercially farmed. It seems a bit too much to believe until you taste a tea like this. There was a…
Wild Tea Hunter by JT Hunter
When I first heard that +Jay T. Hunter of Wild Tea Qi was writing a book, I could not wait to get my hands on it. I highly recommend getting the actual paperback rather than the Kindle version because the color photographs are beautiful. It was a fairly quick read. I finished it in one day but I’m a bit of a speed reader and I have a long commute. Jay tells the story of how he discovered tea and started Wild Tea Qi while also giving an inside view of the dark side of the Chinese tea industry. I love finding a book on tea that surprises me and this one certainly did. A…
Tandem Tea Tasting: Wild Tea Qi Ancient White Bud Bar
Some of you might remember that back in April I did a virtual group tasting, dubbed the Fleece Feast, with a rowdy group of tea friends. It took us a while but we finally came back together for another group tasting. This time around our focus tea was the Wild Tea Qi Ancient White Bud Bar. I previously reviewed this tea and it has been one of my favorites for some time. There were some giggle fits but we managed to stay a bit more on topic. Despite some technical difficulties a good time was had by all. This was a tea that the group seemed to struggle with a bit. Being a…
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