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This was Oolong B in a blind tasting set of three high-mountain teas. I steeped 6 g in a 120 ml teapot at boiling for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

In the warmed teapot, the leaves smell like honey and spring flowers. The first steep has notes of apple, lilac, honeysuckle, sweet pea, dulce de leche, butter, and (sigh) ethereal mountain air. The aftertaste is mineral and floral. I’m huffing the floral/sweet aroma left behind in the cup. The second steep is apricot/nectarine, heavy florals, and balsam. The tea is fuzzy and thick with a grassy and herbaceous aftertaste.

Steep three has complex fruity notes, maybe apricot and honeydew melon, plus buttery sweetness, florals, and balsam. If “unctuous” weren’t such an off-putting word, that’s what this tea would be. The aftertaste has a distinct hint of grass clippings, but you can tell it’s expensive grass. The fourth is a greener version of the third with a few more floral notes. The next couple steeps go back to apricot/peach with a thinner body and a mineral, grassy edge. The tea fades gradually to minerals and veggies, but the florals hang on faintly until the end of the session.

Wow! This was the best oolong I’ve had this year, hands down. I was positive it was the He Huan Shan, but nope. If you like over-the-top fruity oolongs with nice longevity, you’ll probably enjoy this. It convinces me once again that Shan Lin Xi provides the best quality-to-price ratio for high-mountain oolongs.

Welp, I fell off the no-tea-buying wagon. On Reddit, which I really shouldn’t visit if I don’t want to buy tea, I learned that Floating Leaves was having a blind tasting of three of their spring high mountain oolongs, Alishan, Shan Lin Xi, and He Huan Shan. I had some high mountain oolongs from this company in 2016 and was incredibly pleased with them, but the $15 shipping to Canada made me reluctant to order from them again. Still, they were offering 16 g each of three pricy oolongs for $10, and would be revealing which was which in a couple weeks. My inner tea addict reminded me that an ounce of each of these things would normally cost $33, so of course, I bought two sets for $35!

It was actually well worth it, as all three oolongs were amazing. I have waited to post my reviews until after the big reveal.

I steeped 6 g of this mystery oolong, which was called Oolong A, in a 120 ml teapot at boiling for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is an intoxicating blend of orange blossoms and other flowers. The first steep has notes of orange blossoms, orchids, violets, cream corn, butter, and grass. The corn becomes more apparent in the second steep, and there are hints of citrus and herbs. By steep three, there’s a nice balance of flowers, citrus, corn, cream, cotton candy, balsam, and minerals. It’s hard to tell what’s going on because this tea is so complicated!

The next three steeps remain sweet and floral, with a honeydew-like fruitiness replacing the citrus. The flavours become more subtle as the session progresses, but even the final steeps are enjoyable.

My guess for this tea was Shan Lin Xi because of its smoothness and strong corn and balsam notes. This was an unusual and understatedly elegant oolong that is definitely high quality. I don’t regret my impulse purchase at all!

Lishan is among my favourite oolongs, and if it weren’t so darn expensive, I’d drink it a lot more often. Thanks to Fong Mong for the sample. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 190F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry leaf smells promisingly of heady flowers and stonefruit. The first steep is mild, with notes of brown sugar, orchid, herbs, grass, and butter. A soft fuzzy peach emerges in the second steep, along with stronger grassy and balsam notes. There are also hints of spice. The next couple steeps have a great balance of peach, apricot, spices, balsam, and veggies. As the tea fades, the vegetal and balsam notes take over, though it doesn’t become overly astringent.

This is a lovely fruity Lishan with decent longevity. I particularly enjoy those peach/apricot flavours, which, along with tropical fruit notes, are the Holy Grail of my oolong quest. Given its price point, this tea provides amazing value.

What can I say? It’s a bug-bitten oolong, so I had to try it. Because it was heavily roasted, the owner recommended that I get a 10 g sample instead of a full 50 g. (Thanks for the good advice.) I steeped 5 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot in boiling water for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry leaves smell like honey and charcoal, but the first steep is honey and grain. In the second, the charcoal becomes apparent, along with tangy honey, grain, and walnut shells. The third and fourth steeps have notes of honey, nut shells, burnt toast, and wood. The liquor is very drying. The next few steeps are a cross between a honey oolong and a Dong Ding, with little to suggest that it was originally a green Alishan. The final few rounds still have honey and cereal flavours, with minerals, tobacco, and wood in the background.

In its favour, this tea is long lasting and keeps its honey, nutty, and toasty character till the end of the session. However, it’s drying and a little too roasted for my liking. Judging from the other teas I’ve had from this company, this is a well-made Mi Xiang; it’s just not something that appeals to me. For this reason, I’ve decided not to rate it, although I still recommend it and TheTea in general.

For someone who loves floral oolongs, I don’t drink many flower-scented teas, maybe because I had a few in my early tea discovery days that tasted like they were drenched in cheap perfume. Thanks to Fong Mong for letting me give these teas another chance. I’m actually surprised that others haven’t reviewed this jasmine oolong before (or maybe it’s under another name and I can’t find it in the database).

The 6 g sample I received presented a brewing quandary. I have no medium-sized vessels, only small gongfu teapots and large 355 ml mugs. I usually use at least 4 g of leaf for these mugs, which would have left a measly 2 g for another, probably disappointing session. Instead, I opted to brew the whole shebang in 185F water for a number of short steeps: 1:30 minutes, 2:30 minutes, 4:00 minutes, 6:00 minutes, and 8:00 minutes.

The first steep hits me in the face with its fresh jasmine aroma, and the taste follows through. Although I get some creamy and vegetal notes, the main impression is of heady jasmine. The tea is not in the least astringent. The second steep is very similar, though perhaps not quite so floral. By steep three, the fact that it’s an oolong is becoming more apparent. Steeps four and five reveal more grassy and vegetal flavours, but the fragrant jasmine is still very evident.

This is a highly refreshing tea that would be excellent iced. The jasmine seems real and not overly perfumey, although it does overshadow the oolong almost completely.

So does this mean I’ll seek out more of these teas in the future? Maybe, though I still like the complexity of straight oolongs. Nevertheless, I’m glad I got to try it.

I thought I had posted a review of this tea before, but either Steepster ate it or I was wrong. I bought this in my mammoth Tao Tea Leaf order a few years ago. I’m not sure I’d call it Golden Needle, although the dark leaves are indeed punctuated with lots of fuzzy golden buds. Maybe Golden Curls? I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 200F for 7, 10, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

Prior to steeping, the leaves smell like malt, sweet potato, and barnyard. The first steep has notes of malt, sweet potato, hay, earth, and tannin. Even at 7 seconds, there’s some astringency; I can also, perhaps only in my imagination, taste the fuzzy trichomes from the buds. Steeping the next couple rounds at 195F gives a more caramelized sweet potato flavour and cuts down on the astringency somewhat. It’s still unmistakably a burly Yunnan tea, though. Steeps five and onwards have not altogether pleasant flavours of cardboard, wood, tannins, and minerals, with a bit of sweet potato bravely hanging on in the background.

This is a slightly above-average Yunnan black tea that I’ll have no trouble finishing. I think lower temperatures are definitely the way to go here and I might even try it at 190F.

I bought 25 g of this tea, along with two others from the Shan Lin Xi area, in the winter of 2017, and thanks to vacuum sealing, it’s still fresh. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry leaves smell like honey, custard, and flowers. The first steep offers notes of vanilla, custard, sugarcane, grass, honey, apple, honeysuckle, and other florals. As might be expected, it’s quite sweet. Citrus and orange blossom notes emerge in the next couple rounds. By steep five, the tea becomes more vegetal, although the honey and floral sweetness persist for the next few steeps.

This started off with a profusion of flavours, but faded quickly. If only these oolongs would last longer!

This is the 2018 spring harvest. I know, I can’t believe I’m drinking a tea that’s less than a year old! I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 203F for 30, 20, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus two long steeps at the end of the session.

The dry leaf smells like heady lilacs and orchids with a hint of citrus. The first steep is highly floral, with lilacs, gardenias, jasmine, and orchids, plus a vegetal backbone, maybe some parsley, and strong citrus hints. The mouthfeel is a bit oily and the aftertaste is like exhaling perfume. (This is a compliment in my books.) The second steep is more herbaceous, with a saline quality that I noticed because the website pointed it out. If I had to compare it with anything, it would be the Man Lou Xiang from the same company.

The next couple steeps become slightly more vegetal, though still heavily floral and citrusy. However, it’s starting to slide into green tea territory. Steeps five to eight have softer florals, less citrus, and a more saline, vegetal profile. I steeped the tea twice more because I didn’t want to let go, and while the steeps were quite vegetal, they were still tasty.

I highly recommend this tea to anyone who likes floral, slightly fruity oolongs. I can see myself ordering it again.

My cupboard cleanout continues. This is a second flush Assam from 2015. I steeped about 4 g of leaf Western style in a 355 ml mug at 200F for 3, 5, and 8 minutes.

This has all the usual suspects for Assam: malt, raisins, prunes, dark wood, and hay. Either due to its age or because it was a high-quality tea, the liquor is smooth and has little astringency, although it’s unmistakably an Assam.

This didn’t wow me, but it was good and has aged well. Solidly average.

Spring has sprung, which means that everyone on Steepster is rushing to finish their older green teas. I’m no exception, though this one, from 2015, is older than most. I steeped my remaining 5.5 g in a 120 ml pot at 175F for 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 70, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep has notes of bok choy, spinach, and broccoli. The second steep is much stronger, with the flavours of cruciferous vegetables I tend to avoid like broccoli and brussels sprouts. The third and fourth steeps are more beany, with a bit of creaminess and a sweet aftertaste.

Note: This tea does not go well with chocolate. All I can taste in the fifth steep are bitter veggies.

Whether because of the chocolate or because the tea is fading, the rest of the session is similarly vegetal and the liquor becomes more astringent near the end. It’s possible I used too much leaf and am paying for it.

Despite its age, this was a strong green tea that was pleasant to drink. However, I’m happy to have finished it.