Mountain Stream Teas

I found an unsuspecting little bag of some ball rolled green oolong today. After a little inspection, I decided it must be this tea that I received a 5g of from derk some time ago. I thought I have already drank it without realizing that’s what the tea was because I couldn’t find it. Anyway, into the gaiwan it goes. And I haven’t had breakfast yet, oh boy.

As derk mentions, the tea comes accross as an introvert. The aroma is light and nondescript. The liquor looks somewhat watery (especially in the first few steeps) and translucent with a light greenish colour. The taste is definitely not pungent, but I notice this is not your standard Taiwanese green oolong. It reminds me of the Wild Cultivar Oolong, also from MST, but this one is mellower with a grassy taste. There is the same fenugreek flavour, just more agreeable. Mouthfeel is nice, but I can’t really place it.

After drinking the first two steeps the session ramps up though. My eyelids are heavy and my body feels super relaxed. I am worried that I may drop some of this teaware I’m using to make further infusions, but nothing like that happens fortunately. It’s a funny feeling, I can choose to alter between a defocused state and a more or less fully conscious one.

The aftertaste now presents itself as well, and it is pungent. The main note is some floral sweetness. My throat feels like after eating some chillies, but no such sensation is present in the mouth. Late steeps have quite a thick and coating mouthfeel. I find that it’s impossible to overbrew this tea, even with fully boiling water and long times it never gets astringent or bitter.

As I finish the session, I let myself enter a fully defocused state and get enveloped by the music. It feels like a dream without a dream. I mean there’s very little in the way of hallucinations, but I experience reality as if were a dream. After the album finishes, I stand up and function normally, just like that. As if I just woke up. As I am recalling this, the whole session sits in my my mind as if were a dream from last night. Maybe it was.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7bxyzFbC4

Thanks for the sample derk :)
This is a very nice one, robust and tart with an expansive, strong and spicy aftertaste. At two years of age, it sits in an interesting spot and the profile is a mixed bag of minty/floral and fruity/tart. There’s also various mineral and woody notes as well as some malt and cinnamon in the aftertaste. I think it would have been interesting to track its progression and I think it could age pretty well too.

As much as I enjoy the flavours of this tea, I have to say its aroma and mouthfeel are somewhat underwhelming. It’s still the best tea from MST that I have tried though.

edit: In the end, I got 13 steeps out of this with several infusions being overbrewed. That’s a very good longetivity for a white tea with not that many buds I’d say. Also drinking this tea made me think that it could be interesting to press a cake of white tea from this cultivar. I wonder if anyone has done it.

Of the Mountain Stream samples I’ve tried so far, this one is the most memorable. The scent is a toasted grain breakfast cereal, and the tea has an unusually calming effect. I haven’t tried many GABA’s yet, so can’t compare, but certainly compared to non-GABA teas, there is a noticeable difference. There isn’t much longevity to the flavors, but you end up not minding because it’s such a unique experience.

Maybe 25% oxidation is too low for me. I have tried many 고산차’s at this point, and most of them are just ho-hum to me given the expense. It’s easy to see why the category is appealing for many, but I seldom crave this sort of high mountain stuff. I don’t dislike it. It’s just not something I’m going to seek out.

I was underwhelmed by this one. I am not into oolongs that wish they were black. It is hard to say why this one was so meh for me, but of the oolongs I’ve tried at this price point, it is one of the most forgettable.

This was as advertised, with prominent honey notes and some complexity as the steeps progress. I’m going to put this firmly in the “good, but not my style” category. I prefer a more roasted flavor, and ultimately do not care for oolongs that are like blacks with high oxidation. This one is at 80%. The honey scent lasts a while, but in the end it just feels like a nice black tea.

This is a great GABA oolong. Thank you Derk :).

I didn’t try last year so I can’t compare it to that but I can compare it to other GABA oolong that I’ve tried, and this one is quite different. I would definitely put it up at the top especially if you’re into fruity tea.

Overall, It’s a sweet and fruity, not too floral oolong… Not too floral is always a plus for me. On the first few steeps (gaiwan), I got some strong fruit notes., mainly dried fruit notes, like raisins, prunes, berries with baked bread notes. It was malty and rich… And comforting, calming energy. It remained sweet throughout most of the infusions. It wasn’t stagnant, it changed from raisin bread to stonefruits throughout the infusions. In the end, it wasn’t as fruity sweet but yam sweet, then to slightly but pleasantly tart, spices, and some nuttiness as well.

I really enjoyed this sample. I wonder how it compares to the release from last year. Highly recommended if you like GABA oolong as I do.

One of the first things I did when I moved to California was buy an orange tree for the patio. I was taking a drawing class when I lived at that place in San Jose so I’d sit out on the patio in the sun getting intoxicated on orange blossoms and sketching them. When I moved to San Francisco, I gave the tree to my current housemate who lived in a climate more favorable for oranges than in the city. I think the freeze got it one year, so I was unable to reunite with the orange tree when I moved up here. That’s ok. We have a an out of control lemon bush and a young satsuma for me to bury my face in.

I bought this Spring 2017 Orange Blossom oolong on a big discount since it was past its prime. It’s held up ok. The orange blossom is a little sharp on the nose and I’m not getting any milkiness from the jin xuan cultivar but the tea is all sweet orange blossoms with a touch of bitterness and light vegetal flavors. Medium bodied and viscous. Looking forward to this year’s round of citrus-scented oolong!

Received a sample of the Spring 2018 harvest with my latest order, thank you!

I hate to write another dissatisfied review about Mountain Stream Teas but I think perhaps this tea is stale like the Shanlinxi Milk Oolong. The Lightly Roasted Jade Oolong does have the roast going for it, though, keeping a quick decline in quality at bay.

Dry leaf smelled mostly toasty with light burnt sugar and maybe some floral and vegetal tones. Warming the leaf brought the floral to the forefront, turning perfumey in nature. Rinsed leaf smelled of toast, cookies and peach.

First steep was light, grassy and vaguely fruity with a hint of rancid butter. Medium bodied, light aroma, drying. After the second steep, the leaf smelled like almond oil, seaweed and cherry. Liquor tasted of generic fruitiness, osmanthus, soap in a bad way and dry grass. At least there was a decent peach aftertaste. Third steep was dominantly grassy with osmanthus-cherry-pine, a little butter and very light toastiness. The toastiness became more pronounced in the fourth steep and I ended the session on the sixth steep when the floral perfume became the dominant note.

Overall: unimpressed. Clunky, too toasty for a tea lightly roasted, hints of rancid butter and soap, floral perfume. Longer gongfu steep times bring the toastiness out in full force.

Spring 2018 harvest shouldn’t be stale, but it is. The rinse gave me a clue when sour milk hit my nose, grape nuts cereal, vegetal. No liquor aroma. Drying. All steeps tasted like spoiled salted butter and tropical fruit that moved between passionfruit and guava. Shame it’s stale because I’m always surprised by those elusive tropical fruit notes in Taiwanese oolong. Rare that I throw away a tea but the last 5g met their fate with the compost instead of boiling water.

I’ve been feeling longer steep times with the teapot the past few days, as opposed to shorter infusions in a gaiwan. This tea… hm. I think it liked it, too.

5g, 100mL, 212F, rinse plus 6 steeps at 30, 40, 45, 60, 75, 120s

You know those iconic images of bristlecone pines — gnarled, twisted and thick growths that are generally seen clinging to boulders? So old and weathered, perhaps denuded, that you question whether they’re really among the living.

This tea is one of those strong and silent types. A slow-mover. Its poetic power took me by surprise. There’s not much in the way of looks, lumpy mishapen nuggets. There’s not much in the way of aroma, a diffuse cloud of white flowers. There’s not much in the way of first impressions on the sip. It’s vegetal and grassy with a light body, but as it passes over my tongue, the body thickens and the liquor leaves a dry finish with something vaguely fruity — candied lime? Butter slowly blooms in the aftertaste. After the swallow I notice how highly mineral the tea is. My mouth feels cleansed.

The tea slowly reveals its strength. The sip becomes rich yet fleeting with umami and I experience an interesting, diffuse bitterness along with a taste of cooked dandelion greens. My whole mouth is tingling. And I’m stoned? I’m a goddamned bristlecone pine. (I tell my housemate and he yells “You ARE a hippie!” And you’re a misfit jazz percussionist mechanic. Whatever.)

I’m tired and old, weighted with the years longer than any animal traversing this earth has experienced. I’m weary. Flipping through my music I find Warren Zevon’s cover of “Back in the High Life Again” but my shoulders and my mind slump when I hear the downtrodden voice. Warren Zevon was a goddamned bristlecone pine, among other things. I need something more uplifting. How about the original artist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ollyGgvGkU Yeeup. That’s it. Let’s get some life pumping through these limbs. I pick up my napping (now healthy and happy) cat, prop her on her favorite perch, my shoulder, and we stroll around the garden in the backyard, both of us alert to the breeze and the robins hopping along the wooden fence. Hey kitty, hey girl. Love you. Forever.

Anyway, I come back in to finish the tea. It continues to get thicker and fuller-bodied and only a hint milky, finishing with butter and transitioning into a candied citrus aftertaste, a mix of lime, lemon and orange that is reminiscent of that fruity, milky puddle at the bottom of your finished bowl of Fruity Pebbles. I’ve never tasted this in tea. A very potent sugarcane returning sweetness presents. The fruitiness finally moves out of the aftertaste and into the palate on the last steep, still thick and a little buttery.

This might be my most long-winded and least tangible review. I think it’s appropriate for the way the tea made me feel. Qi to the center of earth. Miles and miles. This tea has depth and strength and a bright interior. Take the time to sit with this one. Let me know how it makes you feel. I’m curious if it will have a similar effect on others.

The only other thing I have to say is the tastes and body and energy are like some curious mix of sheng, oolong and green tea. Leaving it unrated for now. Honestly, a number feels inappropriate at the moment.

I’m willing to send off the remaining 5g to an adventurous sipper. Please message me if you would like it. —Update: the 5g is accounted for.

Only had three Ruby 18 Blacks, but this was my favorite, since it toned down a little of this cultivar’s craziness and harshness, but kept enough to make it very different and interesting.

if you like the cultivar or looking for something different you should definitely get a sample.

This is a relatively simple tea, but VERY effective.
The way I see it, this is what every standard commercial tea would like to taste like.
And it’s not that expensive, and a joy to drink WS or GFS.

Actually, I don’t understand how this is the only one of it’s kind that I’ve had, seeing that it’s exactly a “next level Lipton!”(product page).

(Brewed it by the recommend parameters in the product page)

If you like scented teas and Taiwanese Oolongs you should try this tea, as it is good, and naturally scented. It and their Orange scented one are the Best scented/flavored teas I’ve had, not-including high quality jasmine teas.

As I’m not a fan of scented teas, I can’t help but compare it as a green Oolong to the other teas on the site, which it does unfavorably (the un-scented oolongs there are really good).. it only makes sense, taking into account the work put in to scenting.

(Brewed it by the recommend parameters in the product page)

This tea tastes like a combination of green Oolong and green tea, since that’s exactly what it is.
The flavor is mostly good milky Oolong (JinXuan), but you can feel the green processing in the mouthfeel and also a little in the taste, which makes this tea different enough to have around..

I like it

(Brewed it by the recommend parameters in the product page)

I’ve had both this and last year’s Old Master Black, and enjoyed both immensely.
If you are interested in uncommon and unique Blacks this is well worth the (not low) price.

Highly Recommended

(Brewed it by the recommend parameters in the product page)

This was a pretty mediocre tea. It’s one of those dark oolongs that tastes more like a black tea than an oolong which isn’t necessarily bad if the flavor is there. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here. It started off with with roasty, malty, tobacco-like flavors. On the nose I got notes of resin and sweet potato. The next steep tasted like an dry pile of leaves. On the third steeping, there’s tobacco, a mushroomy earthiness, and a shou puerh like flavor. The last steep tasted like a generic black tea. I stopped here because I couldn’t stomach any more of it.

Overall, I was bored by this tea. It had little to no aroma, no sweetness, and lacked the warm toasty goodness of a normal baked Taiwanese oolong. Fans of heavier oxidized tea might like it, but I’ll take a humble dong ding over this any day.

I had this a few nights ago. I wasn’t expecting much considering a Taiwanese oolong vendor sells this and he was most likely fibbed to about this tea’s origins as explained in the product description. I wanted to try a 25g sample for educational purposes.

It’s a very simple, one-note sheng. Barbecue. But not overwhelmingly so. Very light-bodied and lacking any depth with only a hint of bitterness and sweetness and no astringency. Interestingly, for a young sheng, there is a bit of an aged floral aroma and taste and the leaf is kind of dark. I’m guessing low quality material that was fired longer to make up for it? Or it was processed in damp weather and needed more fire to dry out the material? Or? And I’m wondering if it was wet-stored for a short amount of time? I’m not armchair-experienced enough in puerh processing and storage effects to say, so for now I question. So much to learn.

I’m glad I have enough of this tea to play around with leaf amount and will leave a rating after I finish the sample. My initial gut rating is 50.

Addendum: bitterness definitely increases with more leaf and the liquor numbs the tip of my tongue which I’m not too keen about. There are also flecks and very small grains of some kind of shiny gold substance in the cake that settle to the bottom of the brewing vessel and cup. Because of that, I’m not going to finish my sample. Rating: even lower

Followed MST’s parameters, using 5g, 100mL, 195F, rinse followed by 6 steeps of 30/45/60/70/?/??s

The dry leaf had a faint aroma of honeyed brown toast, red plum and rose. Warming and rinsing released notes of brown sugar and hints of cream and pear. Light liquor aroma. The taste was a little stronger than the aroma, mellow with notes of brown toast, honey, plum, raisin, persimmon sweetness and faint cinnamon and rose. Later, the toast turned into barley and malt, the sweetness turned more toward turbinado sugar and some very light butter and wood presented. Aftertastes and texture were also quite light with only a hint of astringency. Toward the end, I did notice some waxiness lining my tongue.

Overall, I found this to be a very mellow, unfussy tea. It didn’t strike me as being exceptional in any way, nor did its Alishan provenance stand out. One thing I did appreciate was the lack of any overpowering lingering flavors from the roast. I would recommend this tea to somebody looking for a daily drinker roasted red oolong.

Something more exciting than my opinion of this tea — my motorcycle caught on fire. Luckily it was just in the driveway being worked on and there was no damage at all to the bike but I did rip some fingernails in the process of trying to access a fire extinguisher. Also luckily my friend put out the fire with a water hose so I didn’t have to clean up any nasty extinguisher powder. I’m looking forward to getting this old girl running again and going for a day ride along the cheese trail.

The snow pick is least like a green tea among all 4 of them. together with the fall pick, they have the thickest mouthfeel. It is the most reminiscent of Tie Guan Yin. I find it to be very complex, although maybe not as tasty as fall.

There are a lot of elusive notes, the likes of vanilla, sugarpeas, spaghetti squash, milk, lime, coffee, blueberry leaves. The taste is very delicate and crisp, with mostly sweet, floral and vegetal qualities. On top of that, there is a light alcohol character of the aftertaste. Apart from the complexity, the smooth, velvety is the highlight.

Once I also tried a 20 min long simmer at the end of the session. It was not spectacular, but interesting for sure. It smells like stewed kale, butter and a cake of sorts. The taste is lighter than I expected, but it has new notes of menthol and lettuce. The mouthfeel is lubricating and thick with no astringency.

I ordered the whole Pear Mountain sampler with 4 different harvest times and drank them all today. This one is my least favourite I’d say. The dry leaf smell is very similar to the fall pick, but I find it sweeter and greener. The wet leaf has more of an artificial, sweet gum aroma. Taste is kind of like a green tea, but more floral. Overall, it is not too interesting though. Aftertaste is more intriguing. There are notes of cinnamon, cream cheese, nuts and minerals. The mouthfeel is quite thin, buttery, watery and slightly drying.

And lastly, the fall pick. I find it to be the most enjoyable of the 4, although it’s not as delicate and complex than the snow pick. It has a stronger aroma than the spring pick, with a nutty, floral and vanilla notes. There are a lot of florals in the smell, most notably osmanthus I think. The taste is strong from the very start of the session. It is quite multi-layered, delicate and mineral. The flavours include ones like custard, cream, grass, orchid, brown sugar and apricot pits. Mouthfeel is lubricating and body is medium I’d say.

The spring pick is more interesting than the winter one, at least it has been earlier for sure. Over time, it got a little bit more bland and is now closer to the winter pick than what I remember. In the cooling smell I noticed aromas of stonefruits and egg shells. The taste is quite light, sweet and tart. There are flavours of freshly cut grass, umami and herbs. In the aftertaste, notes like spinach, guava appear. Over time, the aftertaste gets mostly sweet, of the molasses kind I think. Mouthfeel is fairly thin, powdery and soft.

Why was I compelled to buy a tea that has such poor reviews? Because sometimes I’m stupidly curious and I’ve never had a piss poor oolong that’s gotten terrible reviews.

Spring 2018 harvest. To start, these are some giant nugs and they’re shades of green I’ve never seen in unroasted oolong. They smell like roasted walnuts, crispy rice, green cardamom, deep vegetal, violet? and toasted marshmallow. Wut. A few notes I’ve never experienced before. Warmed in the teapot then rinsed, they release aromas of spinach, sugarcane, sake, rice, herbs and cardamom. Very vegetal, savory and sweet.

Five grams of leaves in my 100mL teapot produces 5 steeps at 30/45/60/70/90s. The liquor starts off strongly with spinach, herbal medicine, sugarcane, and lemon water, retaining those notes throughout. A penetrating bitterness comes in on the second steep along with bold, savory sake without the alcohol. That clear, light yellow liquor is producing an unexpected intensity in flavor. After I’m done with the second cup, a strong returning sweetness hits the back of the throat and comes up up up, like ‘Hey, lemme out here!’ Later, some aftertastes of butter and rice appear. The texture is smooth but drying, not thick or thin or anything else. I suppose it’s just there. The bottom of the cup smells like a medicinal sake and also like some sencha I’ve had before.

This is certainly a different oolong and one I’m actually really glad to have experienced. I can see it being appealing to a very small subset of seasoned oolong drinkers looking for a change of pace or even sippers with a taste for the burly but this Wild Cultivar is definitely not for those looking for a refined, floral experience. That said, I might be in that small subset. I won’t order this batch again but I’ll have no problem finishing off the other 5 grams. If MST ever offers this Wild Cultivar again, I’ll buy another 10g sample.

Oh yeah, some of these giant nugs unfurl into leathery GIANT LEAVES. The biggest tea leaves I’ve ever seen in my life — some pushing 15cm in length. I feel like I should dry them out in my plant press and mount them.