2015 Medium Roast Ben Shan Oolong - Fancy Grade

As one of our regulars told me today during our morning rush, "I may not know about art, but I know what art I like." To some extent, that is how I feel about tea. I'm constantly learning - for this weekend's upcoming "Drunk on Darjeeling" tasting, I've been pouring over old and new texts, websites, and drinking LOTs of tea. Yet, when I read something new I throw up my hands and exclaim - "I don't know anything!"

Perhaps that is why Camellia sinensis is so fascinating.

So, in prep for the Darjeeling tasting, I thought why not drink a Ben Shan Oolong?!? No, really, I've had so much Darjeeling I had to switch it up. I really like Yunnan Sourcing and their teas, and as I was digging around for what to drink this afternoon I settled on their 2015 Medium Roast Ben Shan Oolong - Fancy Grade. I bought this tea last year for the cafe, and it went over really well with customers. Roasted for 10 hours, this Ben Shan has a nice, complex aroma of chestnuts with fruit - perhaps peach or some other summer fruit. The flavor of the liquor is not at all to roasty, and the orange color sets it apart from a Tiequanyin.

The tightly rolled leaves before being touched by water.

I would bet that most people could not differentiate between a Ben Shan and a Tiequanyin if both were roasted to the same level and came from the same county or province. I know I couldn't - or at least not yet. However, there are a few things that one can use to help distinguish the two: the leaves of a Ben Shan are often coarser or thicker than those of a Tiequanyin; you often don't get quite the orange liquor with a Tiequanyin that you do with a Ben Shan; and historically Ben Shan was a greener oolong while Tiequanyin was a darker oolong (although now and in this case, it is the other way around).

During the third steeping, the leaves being to finally open.

This year's Medium Roast Ben Shan Oolong is basically the same as last year - delicious. I'm hesitant to go into descriptors because there are too many variables involved: the water, my mood, my constitution, and so forth. Like my friend told me earlier in the day, "I know what I like." And really, is that not all that matters?

6 steepings in and this Ben Shan is still delivering. It could probably go a couple more steepings, and over the course of the afternoon I will continue to enjoy it. Really, though, the point of this post is not to review the tea - I don't believe I have the qualifications for that - but to share and ruminate on this variety of Se Chung Oolong. It is very good, and makes me aware of how much more I have to learn!

 Still delicious after 6 steepings...

A Ben Shan leaf unrolled.