Wuyi Hype

[Sweetestdew]

I've been thinking about old trees yan cha recently.

Recently I saw a video from a guy who was drinking an old tree yan cha and talking about it like old tree yan chas are better. This has been the opposiute of my personal expirence. When I go to Wuyi I often get shown old trees - Lao Cong- with a deal of excitement from the maker. To date though Ive never found a lao cong that i thought was better. They all seem lighter and more fragrent but lack texture or body. I feel like there is a bit of band wagon hoppping in terms of old tree from the pu er world, but it doesnt really apply the same way to wuyi teas.

That being said, it may just be me. The high roast shui xian on my website which i love is an old tree is considered to come from old tree via wuyi standards. (60 year old bushes). I had this tea commissioned and the maker said he'd use old trees and while I was hesitant I trusted him it and it turned out awesome. Since I never cared for old tree I never mentioned it in the description. Neldon though, who many of you should know, immedietly could tell it was old tree by tasting it. That shows there is something to the old tree flavor.

parts of this also tie back to the roasting conversation

[Sunyata]

I've been thinking about old trees yan cha recently.

Recently I saw a video from a guy who was drinking an old tree yan cha and talking about it like old tree yan chas are better. This has been the opposiute of my personal expirence. When I go to Wuyi I often get shown old trees - Lao Cong- with a deal of excitement from the maker. To date though Ive never found a lao cong that i thought was better. They all seem lighter and more fragrent but lack texture or body. I feel like there is a bit of band wagon hoppping in terms of old tree from the pu er world, but it doesnt really apply the same way to wuyi teas.

That being said, it may just be me. The high roast shui xian on my website which i love is an old tree is considered to come from old tree via wuyi standards. (60 year old bushes). I had this tea commissioned and the maker said he'd use old trees and while I was hesitant I trusted him it and it turned out awesome. Since I never cared for old tree I never mentioned it in the description. Neldon though, who many of you should know, immedietly could tell it was old tree by tasting it. That shows there is something to the old tree flavor.

parts of this also tie back to the roasting conversation

Ceteris Paribus, old tree yancha is better in this regard - if you long steep it, it won't be as astringent and drying as younger tea, is smoother, and more durable. Texture wise it also is more full-bodied and round creamy. However, there are many reasons why we shouldn't over-index on tree/bush age in Wuyi. One, the increase in demand is such that the yield must keep up and many older bushes get replanted, fertilizers are added, and hard-to-grow varietals like various xiaopinzhong and mingcong are replaced by Rougui and Shuixian. If you look at Niulankeng and Wuyuanjian, both are now mostly Rougui. Rougui is sought after for its show-off fragrance and comes from younger bushes; exposure to lots of sunlight also ensures they give very aroma-forward profile, rather than body/texture.

Secondly, there are other sought-after characteristics of good zhengyan that come from both terroir and processing - kengjian wei (sub-terroir), yun (terroir), fermentation (processing) and finally the roasting (processing). There is a trend towards less shou, less ripe style of processing in oxidation/fermentation (less like red tea) BUT more rou-nian (more like red tea) to produce more xiang/fragrant teas. The converse is what a "traditional" style is - though the consumer market preference has inevitably shifted so far that almost every producer now sees no need to produce heavy-roast which won't sell right away, and the quality will only be more apparent a few years ageing and tui-huo.