2020 Ruan Zhi Oolong Tea, USDA Organic

Want to try a Taiwanese Oolong variety that is nearly impossible to find in Taiwan? Thailand provides this opportunity.

We are talking about hybrid Ruan Zhi (Chinese for ‘Soft Stem’), which received the number 17 at the Taiwanese research experimental station (TRES #17).

Ruan Zhi is a completely independent hybrid, which is often confused with Qing Xin (Chinese for ‘Green Heart’). Many people mistakenly consider them the same cultivar.

Here is Ruan Zhi hybrid formula

TRES #17 = Tainon-355 (TW) × Tainon-1958 (TW) = (Dah-Yeh-Oolong (TW) × Kyang(IN)) x (Hann-Koou line(CN) × Bair-Mau-Hour(TW))

As you can see, Ruan Zhi cultivar has a complex composition and does not contain Qing Xin at all. While Qing Xin is a landrace variety, and the humans didn’t participate directly in its creation.

In Taiwan, Ruan Zhi hasn’t become widely used, apparently due to the difficulty of its cultivation. Qing Xin, Jin Xuan and Si Ji Chun are more in use there. So you are unlikely to be able to order a hybrid TRES #17 from Taiwan, it is not available on the international market.

But here, in Thailand, Ruan Zhi is very popular. It is quite capricious and not very fruitful indeed, but farmers are trying hard on it, because its taste is sweet and multifaceted.

What can it be compared with? Our experienced customers from different countries, without sharing their reviews with each other agreed that this oolong is very similar to the high-mountainous Shan Lin Xi, but still differs in its own motives.

The taste of this Ruan Zhi is dense, bright and incredibly oily. Perhaps this is the most oily oolong in our range. The oil and aftertaste remains in the throat for a long time.

In the foreground, here are creamy, caramel, and fruity tones. In the background, barberry and oily fruit pit with a light piquant bitterness, like of a peach or a plum. This has already become a trademark for Thai oolongs.

USDA Organic certified.

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