Long Feng Xia (Shan Lin Xi)

The return of an annual favorite and our sixth year offering this tea, the Yung family's high mountain oolong is a treat for the senses as always. Cooling, thick, rich, herbaceous, and mellow, this tea delivers a 頂級 dǐngjí top tier oolong experience, and the most amino acid (umami-tasting) rich tea of all our high mountain offerings. The Yung family was part of the first wave of 5 core families to settle the higher climes of 杉林溪 Shān Lín Xī at a now prestigious area known as 龍鳳峽 Lóng Fèng Xiá ("Dragon Phoenix Gorge") in the early 1980s. This area is well-aspected due to elevation (1850 meters), crosswind activity, and latitude for growing exceptional high mountain oolong. Morning winds push clouds up the gorge to enshroud the highest slopes with a thick cloud cover almost all day, subduing the growth of the leaves, producing thicker cell walled, mineral-rich, sweeter leaves with notable resiliency to strong brewing. The Yung family like to naturally fertilize with fermented dairy products like yogurt to express more of the milkier cooling tones of their high elevation tea. The nearly perpetual mists attenuate photosynthesis so amino acids like l-theanine are not as readily converted to catechins, making for a dense, mellow, umami soupbroth that won’t give way to bitter flavors with astringent action in the mouth and throat. To render these leaves into their buttery cloud nectar form you have to have serious skill. Because of the consistent moisture in the cloudcover, the most advanced withering-agitation step regimens we’ve ever come across are being practiced at the top of Long Feng Xia. If the excessive moisture isn’t gently shepherded out of the leaves by multiple, specifically-timed steps, the batch will spoiled. Masters of these techniques, the Yung family allow us to taste some of the choicest high mountain teas the greater Shan Lin Xi area can produce. The peak across the gorge called 草坔 Cǎo dì (1900 meters), the only place higher in Shan Lin Xi than the Yungs 17 acre operation (at 1850 meters) where I took this photo sufficient gentle agitation 浪菁 Làng jīng was an all day affair, and was considered successful when the leaves no longer smelled vegetal, but smelled sweeter and fruitier, like green apple.