Tea from Taiwan

Having yesterday’s steeps 4 & 5 iced. Steep 3 was a horrible experience because of mouthwash (and my own stupidity) but the leaves still smelled good so I brewed more up and stuck it in the fridge.

The taste is very strong actually – stronger than I was expecting for a green oolong iced (which usually seem to need to be warmed up to have a lot of taste) and for being later steeps. Very green tasting, floral – a higher, sweeter floral that I was getting from it last night. The overall feel of the tea is a bit thin but that thinness doesn’t carry over into the taste. All in all, a surprisingly good tea iced.

No brewing directions so I’m just using my general oolong parameters. I know it says this is ideally suited for gaiwan brewing, but honestly? I’m too lazy to do it right now. Western(ish)-style it is! I’ve got almost 8g in this sample so I’m going to split it about in half which means I get to try this heavy on the leaf. Should give me hints of gaiwan possibilities.

This smells so good. The dry leaf is sweet, fruity, buttery, a hint of something spicy. Maybe a dark floral? It makes me think of a milk oolong crossed with a pouchong. Brewed up it smells sweet and light and floral but there is a tickle of a dark, rich scent underneath.

Taste-wise, I was expecting something more like a light floral Tung Ting oolong but it has a slightly darker taste, more like some Ti Kuan Yin I’ve had. But at the same time not. There is a buttery flavor in there that reminds me of a good Ali Shan I had from Red Blossom. This is really hard to describe because there is so much going on – the base flavor is that of a less delicate green oolong. But there is an under-note of a rich, buttery and green thickness. And a top-note of spicy floral sweetness with almost a hint of fruity sharpness that makes me think of the Fuiji apple I had at lunch.

This tea has lots of depth to it, which I find is not always true of lighter oolongs. This is borderline delicate but I think falls ultimately on the rich side, not the delicate side. It’s not quite a sip-it-quietly-and-contemplate-beauty tea for me. More like a mmm-guzzle-it-down-and-wish-I-had-made-a-bigger-cup tea.

Second steep @ 2:00. The lighter note is not really there on this steep but the rich flavor is a bit more present. The tea feel silky as I swallow. Mmm.
3.9g/5oz

The leaves are ugly and broken with rather long stems poking out. Each time I brew this, I just don’t expect much. But the taste does certainly deliver. Sweet with a faint nectar/floral honey top note and an almost nutty bottom note. Why can’t I remember the tastiness of this tea when I’m not actually sipping it?

Still recovering from yesterday’s migraine so while I have Maeda-en’s Sen-Cha Fukamushi Reserve sitting on my counter, crying out to be made, I need something softer. So I made a big cup of this up.

Making it up in a cup this large (and with an in cup filter, not in my tea pot) seems to have made the taste a tad murky. But it’s not bad at all. My cup got emptied very quickly so I’m not going to complain. Well, not about the taste or drinkability. Can I just take a moment to complain about the leaves?

There are stems in my leaves. Huge, two or three inch stems. And broken leaves. And they all look unshiny and unhappy. The leaves disappoint me each time I see them. But, the taste that comes out of those leaves? Pretty good. Very drinkable.

Overall, not a fancy tea but a good daily type tea. Shines a little more in a smaller cup.
6g/12oz

These leaves are pretty sad. A bit broken up, lots of long twigs, a bit older looking than what I expected even for something that is admittedly a bit old. But as I poured the tea into cups, I got a nice whiff of fresh, buttery greenness. So fingers crossed.

The taste is pretty nice actually, much better than I was expecting/fearing. One of the best baozhong/pouchongs I’ve had was thick and rich, almost chewy and definitely buttery. This one isn’t that intense. But it’s floral, green, soft, tropical, fresh and very sweet.

Aside from the depressing little leaves, there’s nothing wrong with this tea. Sure, it doesn’t hit my baozhong perfection of thick, rich, make-your-mouth-water-buttery. But this is still a really good daily tea. I’m pleasantly surprised, especially based on the sad leaf. When I opened the package, I was afraid I’d have to force myself to drink through the 75g I got but now I don’t think I’ll have any trouble finding the bottom of the tin this tea is now in.

ETA: Oops, forgot to rate it. And…
2nd steep @ 2:30 – the floral has transitioned a little from light floral to a faintly spicy floral.
6g/12oz

This is a dark oolong, plenty of toasty fragrance overlaying an orchid-y, fruity sweetness in the dry leaves. I got 4 steeps out of this, one minute duration each, by the 4th it was getting pretty ordinary so I don’t think I’ll bother with a fifth. Orchid flavour in the first and second steeps, and for some reason ‘melon’ popped into my head as well… mellowing out to toasty, new-leathery and woody flavours in the 3rd and somewhat in the fourth steeps. This is a great tea for a grey, cool and rainy day which is what we’re having in Melbourne today (not that I’m complaining after the heat we’ve had the rest of the week).