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What-Cha Thailand Sticky Rice Khao Hom Oolong
Origin: Doi
Mae Salong, Chiang Rai province, Thailand
Harvest: April
2015
Cultivar:
TTes #12 (Jin Xuan) cross between Ying Zhi Hong Xin and TTES #8
Elevation:
1000m
I really
should start sampling teas in the order I received them, I still have quite a
few teas to try from my previous What-Cha shipment and I am already digging around
in my latest. I decided to try this because I found out Alistair retired a
rather interesting Jin Xuan from Fujian that I rather liked (luckily I still have a bit left over!) and I
was in the mood for a nice milky tea. I’ll admit this tea scares me a little
bit it seems so unlike anything Alistair has sourced so far, from the name
alone it sounds more like the kind of a certain tea store infamous for their
teas blended with feathers and nails than any of the teas from What-Cha.
Nevertheless I decided to take the plunge and order 50g. What-Cha describes
this as:
Has a creamy texture and
sticky rice aroma, imparted unto the tea during processing by heating the
sticky rice plant's leaves along with the tea leaves.
Sticky rice scented tea is a specialty
of northern Thailand, although traditionally green tea is used, Jin Xuan Oolong
produces just as good if not better results.
Produced in Northern Thailand
in what was once the hub of the 'Golden Triangle', the farmers in 1994 turned
their back on opium production and switched to tea, importing a range of tea
plants from Taiwan's famed tea producing region Alishan.
Despite
my reservations I love Khao Neeo Mamuang and the idea of a tea that tastes like
sticky rice is amusing.
Dry Leaves: The tea is very irregular which I am taking to be a good
sign, I tend to have good luck with oolongs that are not perfectly uniform. And
the aroma is amazing! There are tons of toasted rice smells, as well as the
smell of slightly burnt rice (like the smell of rice at the bottom of a rice
cooker that has started to brown). There are some fruity notes, but the toasted
rice is too strong for me to distinguish anything else
First
Steeping
Temperature:
176oF
Brewing
Time: One Minute
Aroma: Sticky
Rice
Flavor: Sticky
Rice, Toasted Rice and Popcorn
Tasting
Notes: Oh my god this is amazing! It tastes pretty much exactly like sticky
rice, although it desperately feels like it is missing something. From what I
can infer from the description this is a scented Jin Xuan and I feel scandalous
for saying this, but what if this was coated in tapioca powder? While this does
taste and smells very much like sticky rice it is missing the tapioca sauce
commonly served with Kaho Neeo.
Other
than the amazing tastes and aroma, this has a wonderful buttery mouthfeel, it
feels much nice than a tea grown at 1000m should feel!
Second
Steeping
Temperature:
180oF
Brewing
Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Sticky Rice
Flavor: Sticky
Rice, Toasted Rice and Popcorn
Tasting
Notes: Pretty much everything is the same as last time, although the strength
of the flavors are a little different. The primarily sticky rice flavor is a
little stronger, while the toasted rice is weaker.
I’m in
love with this tea! While it does feel a little one note, it is absolutely
amazing.
Third
Steeping
Temperature:
185oF
Brewing
Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Sticky
Rice and Floral
Flavor: Sticky
Rice, Popcorn and Fruity
Tasting
Notes: The toasted rice flavor disappeared
entirely and the popcorn flavor is waning, although the sticky rice notes are
as strong as ever. There is a new fruity flavor which I suspect is the base tea
coming out. The sticky rice flavor stays around for a couple more infusions,
but after this infusion I feel that the base tea’s flavors start to become very
apparent. I feel pretty confident in saying that the base tea before it was
scented was on the greener-floral side and slightly vegetal. According to
What-Cha’s description Sticky Rice tea is traditionally made out of a green tea
rather than an oolong and while that does sound interesting, I rather enjoy
this and going to make an uneducated guess I probably prefer a Sticky Rice
Oolong over a Sticky Rice Green tea because of how long I can continuously brew
an oolong.
After my
first experience with this tea I did experiment around with it a little, mostly
changing how long I brew this for although I did mess around with how hot of
water I use to brew this with since the recommended starting temperature is a
little low for an oolong, but I think the aroma comes out better when using
water below 190oF. Nevertheless I loved this Jin Xuan, even more
than the Fujian Jin Xuan I wrote about last year although in an ideal world I’d
love for this to have a tapioca flavor as well as a mango flavor, but I am
perfectly content with this as it is. At the time of writing this What-Cha is
selling this tea for 50g at $7.50 and that is an amazing deal for this tea. I
am a sad to say that What-Cha has retired the Fujian Jin Xuan I liked so much,
but I think this is a nice replacement for it.
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