Que She (雀舌) (pronounced a bit like Chweh Shoa), which translates to sparrow’s tongue is named for the small pointed shape of the leaves. While the origins of the cultivar are unclear it’s understood that the original plant was a seed collected in the 80s from one of the original Da Hong Pao mother trees. This tea batch of que she won a local prize in Wuyi for it’s quality. Another name for this tea is 不知春 or unknown spring as it matures late and is actually picked in the first weeks of summer, making spring unknown to this tea.

Wuyi oolongs or yancha (rock tea) are picked from April to May and withered outside on bamboo trays, the duration of withering is very important and the leaves and the weather are closely monitored, sometimes the trays will be brought inside into a more controlled environment, when the leaves are flexible enough and deemed ready the next stage begins, they’re shaken vigorously causing bruising that encourages oxidation, once thoroughly shaken they move the bamboo trays to shelves in a temperature and humidity controlled environment to oxidize. Once the tea is suitably oxidized it will be fired (sha qing) to seal in the right level of oxidation, next the leaves are immediately rolled and kneaded using machines, and finally roasted over wood, gas or charcoal. Since que she leaves are quite thin it is a particularly tricky tea to roast, making moast roasters just give it a light roast. This particular batch however benefited from good rainfall and thus thicker leaves and was much easier to roast than usual. It was roasted to a medium level over charcoal.

The dry leaves have an excquisite, heady, sweet, chocolatey, fruity aroma that remind me of some kind of decadent rich pastry. The empty cup and gaiwan lid smells are more traditional, subtle grassy floral oolong fragrances. The tea warms you up slowly but not in an overbearing way, it wasn’t a drawback even on a hot day. The headfeeling hit on the 2nd infusion pretty hard but then mellowed out only to appear again after brewing was complete. There was some bitterness in the first infusion with milder flavours hinting at many layers of complexity, from the second infusion the bitterness dissipated and savory, fruity notes came through, these continued onto the 3rd infusion with a little bit of smokiness, while the 4th infusion the roasted exterior flavours started to fade and the taste of the leaf underneath crept out.