Tea from Taiwan

Sipdown!

Reading my previous tasting note, it seems that I am definitely enjoying the last of this sample much more than I did the first cup! I used the remaining ~half of the sample in about 8 oz. water, and gave it my standard oolong treatment (3 min in just below boiling water) and the result is creamy (but not milk oolong creamy), sweet vegetal, and absolutely delicious! I’m really not sure what went wrong last time; I would definitely love to drink this again, although I think the price point may be out of my range.

Thank so much to Tea from Taiwan for this sample! Hopefully I will eventually be able to make a delicious oolong order, and pick up some of this and the other oolong I enjoyed.

Thanks to Tea from Taiwan for this lovely sample, which I picked up at the post office today after they attempted to deliver it to an empty house yesterday. I decided to start with this tea as I want to compare the two milky oolongs (my other samples), which requires a bit more time.

The balls of tea here are probably the hugest I’ve seen! There’s a sweetish, oolongy aroma to them, which is intensified in the brewed cup.

The flavour is not as sweet as I would have expected, but falls into the category of sweet, vegetal oolongs. I really don’t know how to divide green oolongs up into different categories (i.e. milky, sweet, vegetal, etc.), or what the different names mean, but this is certainly the type of oolong that I enjoy! I feel like it might be a touch oversteeped (somewhat astringent and drying), but I didn’t have any parameters to go by, so just went with my standard 3 minutes for oolongs, which was perhaps a bit too long.

Ok, back to the tea. Trying to be more precise than “sweet and vegetal”… but I’m really not sure. It’s a boiled veggie sort of vegetal, not green and fresh and the sweetness is rather caramelly, although not overwhelming like it is with some teas. Quite a nice combination. I do wish that the astringency wasn’t present, as I’d enjoy this cup more, but overall, I’m pretty happy. However, looking at the price, I have got to say that a tea this expensive is probably wasted on me, as I typically brew western-style and don’t seem to catch nuances that other people do. That said, it was great to get the chance to try it! Thanks again, Tea from Taiwan!

Yum, I’m starting to realize that I really like green oolongs and this one is no exception. Light and floral, with a bit of fruity sweetness, and a surprising underlying darker spice as some others have mentioned. This was really enjoyable for me. Thanks Tea from Taiwan for the sample!

I begin the sip with out additives. While hot, like yesterday’s oolong, the flavor starts very light. Then, I think butter, no wait; it’s more complex than that. As a child I would do stupid things, like put my tongue on the aluminum window frame. I know, I know. Anyway, the sensation I get when tasting this is like the aluminum frame but with butter. Actually this is way better than it sounds. As it cools, the aluminum disappears and is replaced by a more traditional green oolong floral flavor. The aftertaste is lightly floral and not as noticeable as the previous samples from Tea From Taiwan. A nice cup.

Now I add my Splenda. Oh, wow! Definitely add sweetener to this if you don’t object to the practice. This has come alive. It’s alive! It’s alive! Now the flavor is much fuller. It is lightly nutty and floral, but the main difference is a very prominent spiciness. On one sip I think this reminds me of apple crisp. On the next, I believe it is nutmeg. Whatever, it is just good. The aftertaste is also stronger and more joyous, though not nearly as long lasting as many oolongs. This is now a really good cup. At this point, I grabbed a brownie from the break room. The flavors blended like they were meant to be together. Awesome.

I used 15 pieces, each brew was made with 4oz of hot water (somewhere between 160 and 180* F, i guessed at the temp because that is the temp that usually comes out of the hot side of my water dispenser), each brew was for 1 minute.
Pre infusion- 10 seconds, smells alittle fishy. tastes fishy.
1st infusion- clear, has a strange but interesting flavor.
2nd infusion- very pale clear green, leaves are really starting to unfurl. they are actually pretty big! :D the tea has a stronger smell, tastes a bit like veggies… almost like watery spinach… but its not unpleasant.
3rd infusion- still smells like veggies, tastes like salty veggies now. a slightly perfumy aftertaste.
4th infusion- lost the funny smell, tastes “better” and sweeter, still green liquid, has not lost any color yet.
5th infusion- still green! now it has a jasmine floral smell. less veggie taste and a much more floral taste (but not unpleasant, very soft).
6th infusion- still floral and same as 5th.
7th infusion- same as 5th, no change or weakening of flavor
8th infusion- supposedly last infusion. very floral, sweet very vegetal, and has a faint jasmine flower smell to it but it does not show up in the flavor.
At this point i had run out of hot water as i had been using a very large glass tea pot of o hold the hot water so i would not have to get up to get more water. I refilled the pot with hot water from the water dispenser for this infusion so the water is probably a little hotter than in the last 2-3 infusions.
9th infusion- yep. decided to keep brewing it. the flavor is too strong to give up yet! :D the flavor changed, its very different almost like a completely different tea!! has a floral smell, but it lost its floral flavor. the taste is strong but pleasant, I can’t quite place the flavor though. its familiar yet nothing specific comes to mind.
I brewed a 10th and 11th infusion, but by this point I was sweating profusely and my stomach full of tea.
10th infusion & 11th infusion- I got bored and stopped drinking the tea. It has a new flavor and smell. Its good. but I don’t know what it is….. very very interesting. I ended up dumping both infusions on some plants in my garden. I put my wet tea leaves in a sealed cup in the fridge so that i might try infusing them again this evening. I want to know what that third flavor is!

As an after thought from my notes: I looked at the description for the tea. It says it has a fruity flavor and now that i think about it… that is probably the flavor i was experiencing. that is some freaking good tea. I have never had a tea infuse so many times with out tasting like hot water. why have i never had this type of tea before?

I do not own a gofu set so i used a small english tea pot and cup plus 2 japanese tea cups (4oz each) to measure water and hold the hot tea until it was cool enough for me to drink without getting burned. I left the tea leaves to float freely in the water and only used a strainer to catch the leaves when pouring into my cups. All fallen leaves were replaced into the tea pot for more brewing. The leaves are actually quite big once they fully unfurl. I saw twig pieces attached to the leaves as well. I can identify some of the leaves as being the “three” top leaves (one good sized leaf and 2 smaller bud leaves). very interesting to look at the leaves.

Backlogging from my blog, How did I miss steepster the past few days WTH???
Shan Ling Xi Oolong Tea by Tea From Taiwan
This tea has a sweet vegetal smell before steeped and after first steep the leaf has a sweetcorn green/green bean vegetal smell, it steeps up a pale golden color that is very pretty.
1st Steep The taste is sweet and floral with slight astrengency and it has a nice velevety, almost buttery mouth-feel.
2nd steep is still a nice golden yellow color and has a sweet floral aroma. it has a very green oolong flavor still very floral with some astringency and the same velvety mouth feel.
4th Steep (I skipped the 3rd because it was consistent with the 2nd) is very Floral less green and quite naturally sweet very enjoyable. The sweet flavors are like some other oolong I had so I hate to use it agai but almost like the sweetness of huneysuckles.
6th steep (last steep skipped again for same reason) taste is slightly floral more deppend less greenish and the velvet buttery mouthfeel is back.The color is slightly darker Golden Yellow than the first few steeps.
Steep 7 was consistent with 6 enough.
Steep 8 was almost as consistent but with out the velvet buttery mouthfeel.
Steep 9 The coler is a lot paler and the and the flavors are still pretty good but I can tell its fading out so I call it quits and clean up.
This was a quite enjoyable tea, not of of my faves but very good, I’d drink it anytime if it were offered :)

Photos on my blog
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/shan-ling-xi-oolong-tea-by-tea-from.html

I begin this tasting without additives and the disclaimer that I normally add Splenda to my hot teas, although I almost never sweeten my iced teas. While hot, the best I can describe this is to compare it to a swell effect on a guitar. Once the strings are strummed the sound starts tiny and swells in volume until it fills the room. Being unaccustomed to unsweetened tea this starts very light, almost watery and swells to a crescendo in the floral aftertaste. The breath is left cool and fresh. The taste of this first cup is similar to a tiguanyin but lighter.

Adding Splenda brings out nutty or plant notes that change to a light coppery taste only momentarily before fading into the floral aftertaste. I can’t say whether this is better with or without sweetener. It is neither. It is just different. It does turn lightly buttery as it cools. Maybe it would have done that anyway had I waited. The cooler it gets the more I like it. Room temperature it develops a sort of cinnamon note.

Sample provided by Tea From Taiwan.

annd I forgot to drink this tea yesterday, which I drank a couple steepings of 2 days ago. EEEP!!!!

So, I steeped the leaves western style for like 5 minutes. Might be kinda crazy waiting 2 days, but ehhh. Flavor is okay, a little light, but still kinda vegetal and kinda sweet.
Goes very well with my Okonomiyaki which I made with my husband’s homemade bacon!

I decided to sip down my sample!

I drank 3 steepings – all light, buttery and vegetal. Now I’m full of caffeine, like I feel my eyes are huge but almost tired. I wanted a nice oolong before dinner, maybe this was a little too much before dinner!

Well, hopefully I’ll do another couple steepings tomorrow morning. Very tempted to have them right now, but I’ll be going crazier than normal at jiu jitsu tonight!

TY to Tea from Taiwan for offering free samples!

All my teas came kinda vacuumed sealed, about 3tsp or so.

I follow these steeping instructions from their site http://www.teafromtaiwan.com/Brewing_Tea
doing short steepings x lots of steepings.

DRY: Hard to see, but the tea is in tight grassy balls.

STEEPED: light yellow tea – the more steepings, the tea unfurls. Interestingly it looks like the tea is still attached to stems.

TASTE:
First steeping – Very light, naturally sweet, slightly milky and buttery.
Second steeping – more milky, vegetal and buttery. Trying to pick out the vegetal flavor that is now coming out. Green bean?
Third steeping – best steeping, yum! Full flavor, buttery, mellowy sweet and lightly vegetal. Very fresh and refreshing taste here.
Fourth steeping – starting to get dryness here. The flavor is pretty similar, slightly buttery.
Fifth steeping – The leaves are huge now. The tea is taking sweeter, no milky or buttery taste this time. Moreso reminds me of green tea here as it’s more grassy vegetal now. Dry aftertaste.
Six steeping – more astringent / dry taste for the whole sip.

COMMENTS:
I’ve had a milky oolong before purchased off a farmers market in LA. This milky oolong is less astringent, more milky and quite fresh tasting. I like the butteryness and sweetness. The milkyness is light and present in the early steepings – overall pretty nice. Though, I’d love more floral, but that’s just personal taste. A good tea for someone who wants a light milky oolong.

I’ll add my vote to the “this smells… interesting” camp. To me, it is kind of like fish rolled in graham crackers. Not like… old fish and not fishy in the way that pu erh can be, just like I walked into a fish market. Pu erh makes me feel like I’m on Canal Street in New York when they hose the sidewalks down from the fish cleaning. This is more like a costal fish market in Massachusetts. … plus graham crackers.
The color is absolutely gorgeous – the closest to gold I have ever gotten in a cup of tea.

The taste is rather baffling to me because I can’t identify the flavors. Very very very velvety and smooth, fairly buttery with the vegetal notes hiding behind something that isn’t quite orchid flavor. This has some green characteristics in terms of the astringency and the nature of the vegetal flavors.

I really like this and I do consider myself a tea snob. I am so picky I am really almost down to just a few teas that I think are great, and yet I really like this. So are we tea snobs that like this, or tea snobs that hate it? Or perhaps this is just a really divisive tea!

At any rate, I had a splitting sinus headache, so this was just perfect for today. I don’t know how tranquilized I feel but I am really sensitive to everything, so I’ll have to update this if I feel any significant effects!

I recently received this tea as a free sample from Tea from Taiwan. So thanks for the opportunity to try it!

I realized I forgot to do my exhale-inhale scenting of the leaves! I think I was so wrapped up in figuring out how to brew it. Tea from Taiwain doesn’t give very exact instructions, so I googled for others and found a thread on TeaChat where people were posting how they brewed Taiwanese high mountain oolongs. I read a number of posts and was intrigued by a method in which they had no rinse, a long first steep (90 seconds), then dropped back to 30 seconds and built from there. I sometimes feel like I am washing away some of the delicious stuff with the rinse, plus I often like the first steep best, so I decided to try this method on this sample. I used all 7g in my 6oz teapot, and approximately 200°F water, which people also suggested.

Underneath the lid, smells floral and buttery, and that is present in spades in the scent of the liquor, which is just barely colored enough to look different than the light green of my ru kiln pot. It smells amazing, incredibly buttery and even a bit cookie-ish. The flavor is interesting, more like asparagus or snap peas than I expected, with a buttery undertone. Definitely like crisp, blanched veggies.

I can’t say that I believed a 30 second steep after a 90 second steep would be very strong, but even just looking at the liquor, it is a much brighter green. The flavor is pretty similar, though with ever so slight floral notes this time. And a subsequent steep at 1 minute was basically the same, but also getting more green and less buttery. Then I stopped steeping it because I kind of lost interest.

This tea was pretty good but not really my style, as I am realizing that many Taiwanese high mountain oolongs are not quite my style. Very light and fresh, and it smelled amazing, but too much vegetable in the flavor and not quite enough butter or florals. Still I appreciate the chance to taste this tea!

Everything K S said I agree with! Right down to the geranium note!
This almost reminds me of a genmaicha with its toasted popcorn flavor.
This is a keeper!
Too bad the sample is gone.
And yes a HUGE THANK YOU to Tea from Taiwan for this sample.
Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 24th of November.

I sipped this without additives and it is the single most buttery almost popcorn flavored tea I have tried to date. Really exceptional. By mid sip it blooms with a short floral blast. It literally comes out of nowhere. Just as it almost reaches a point where it would concern me it just disappears, fading into something akin to the smell of a geranium plant mixed with the taste of dandelion. The aftertaste is lingering green oolong and floral. Ok, the more I sip the more I am sensing a spice flavor. I believe it is nutmeg or something that I associate with squash pie. What a ride!

I added sweetener so see how it would respond. I must say this is the exception to the rule as far as my tastes go. It actually tastes so delicious without the additives that I wish I hadn’t tampered with it. Trust me, that seldom happens. I love my Splenda but not with the first cup of this wonderful tea.

Almost forgot – sample provided by Tea From Taiwan. Thanks!

I was really excited to try this tea, since I’d never tried an aged oolong. Also, it’s pretty weird to drink something that’s older than I am. I guess you could say I have a bit of a “thing” about old/vintage things. There’s a kind of power/stateliness to things that have been tucked away for years, that have been held and used by people years ago.
Not that this tea is THAT old, but for a tea it certainly is. :)

Dry leaves: The dry leaves have a bold, musky aroma of roasted chestnut, hickory, and musk. The leaves are small, dark, and silky and looking; rolled into small, tight pellets with a chocolaty brown color.

Brewing: When I poured water over the leaves for the rinse, they released a strong aroma liked meat being cooked on a wood-fired smoker. This tea needs to be steeped longer than most oolongs until it turns a nice red-brown color. When wet, the leaves a dark black and slick looking. They unfurl just slightly and truly look like “black dragons.”

1st steep: The tea has an strong but smooth and elegant smokiness not quite like normal smoked teas like gunpowder/lapsang. It tastes of oak, camphor and cinnamon with an underlying coconut note. The taste is rich, stately, and slightly reminiscent of whiskey.

2nd steep: The second steep has much less smoke, but is otherwise similar to the first. This tea is very buttery. There’s no detectable amount of bitterness or astringency.

3rd steep: The third steep has a savory flavor like slow roasted meat. There are strong notes of oak, with a new piney and milk chocolate flavors. The mouthfeel is smooth and heavy like coconut oil. This steep is slightly sweet.

4th steep: The forth steep remains similar to the previous, but reveals a deep, pu’erh-like sweetness.

5th+ steeps: Later steeps remained similar and gain more and more buttery smoothness. Around the eight steep, I need to increase the brew time all the way to about two minutes, but the tea remains strong. It begins to fade around eleven.

Reminds me of: The first time I played my violin, which belonged to my great great great grandfather. Like the tea, it was something completely new to me (I had no idea how to play it), but I could feel the beauty and power of the instrument. Its exciting to hold something completely foreign to you, yet so old and beautiful.

Thank you for my sample of this tea :) As promised here is your review.

Upon opening the pack this oolong was beautifully dark green in colour and it oozed a milky/creamy/sweet floral fragrance. Now this has been rinsed just before my initial first steep it’s exuding a strong green and fresh smell, one of the strongest oolongs I have experienced so far.

So I will do 7 steeps with my gaiwan for this oolong for the following times: 25s,35s,45s,55s,65s,75s,85s. Also note this is with just under boiling water and with 7g of tea which works out to be a whole sample.

First steep – 25s – The tea is honey coloured with a gentle floral scent. The taste is stronger than the smell, it’s very floral and a little fruity with a toasted tang. It’s also sweet and fresh tasting, a lovely example of a stronger oolong.

Second steep – 35s – Slight more floral now in fragrance. Again the same lovely fruitiness and strength but it’s sweeter than the first steep. It’s a dark sweetness similar to molasses but more subtle and fresh.

Third steep – 45s – Now this smells like toasted fresh flowers and has darkened slightly but still remains virtually honey coloured. The green flavour has increased and reminds me of raw broccoli, also the sweetness is being a little overwhelmed by the toasted flavour but the floral notes keep it fresh.

Fourth steep – 55s – Same toasted floral smell. Same colour. Perhaps a little dry and nutty could be added to the aforementioned flavours. Still fairly strong and very nice.

Fifth steep – 65s – The broccoli elements have more or less gone now and the floral tastes have come back into play with more sweetness. Also just a note about the tea, the oolong itself has now expanded in my gaiwan to reveal dark brown and dark green long twirled leaves.

Sixth steep – 75s – More subtle now than the last few steeps. Floral and sweet once more, similar to the first and second steeps. No real toasty flavour or nutiness other than for a second in the after taste.

Seventh steep – 85s – Pale yellow now in colour with very subtle floral fragrance. Very gentle and light but keeping the floral tones and sweetness.

Overall this was a very nice oolong that whilst not committing to full strength was still fairly strong and flavourful. Very fresh and pungent. Suitable for people that love strong oolong or floral tea.

What a lovely Oolong! I selected this as one of my three samples because I don’t recall ever having tried a Da Yu Ling, and today as I read through the whole description of the tea, I see that it grown in the Li Shan Mountain, so perhaps this is similar to a Li Shan or an Ali Shan. I don’t know, I fear I’m not as knowledgable about the tea growing regions of Taiwan as I’d like to be.

But, I will say that while there are some similarities to some of the Li Shan Oolong teas I’ve tried, this one seems different. It has a crisp, fresh taste to it, very light and floral, almost perfume-y, but not in a chemical perfume kind of way but more like the flavor of the air when you’re walking near a field of flowers … specifically, I taste orchid. Perhaps also some lily. The flavor is sweet and exotic and very enjoyable.

There is a slightly fruity undertone to the flavor too… like a delicate flavor, like an Asian pear (or what I used to call apple pears) … sort of crisp and light in flavor like that.

I am really enjoying this. Please watch for my full-length review of this tea to be published on November 19th on SororiTea Sisters. http://sororiteasisters.com

Well, to be honest this one did not start off very well with me at all, at first I was really disappointed I thought this was going to be the worst tea I’ve had just by the scent of the leaves dry, Smelling them dry all I could think was “chemicals?” I wasn’t sure what I was smelling, after first steep and leaves were wet I realized that the “chemical” scent I thought I was getting was more like “camphor” instead much like some scents and flavors that I get from puerhs. Ok then my first cup the first taste of this was “horrible” I really hate to use such a word as “horrible” but thats all I could think, very camphorlike and I quickly noticed the “scorched/burned” taste of this tea, I tasted like this tea was “overbaked/roasted” (I brewed it at 185F so I wouldn’t scorch it myself) so it was just the initial taste of this tea that was “burned”, I also noticed a very smokey flavor to this tea not quite like a lapsang but more like a smokey “gunpowder” (I think some one else said that too in a review here). After about 4 steeps( BTW at this point there are pretty much flash steeps, very short) this Tea finally starts to mellow out and take on more roasty, toasty flavors rather than just burned flavors with some nutty tones, still smokeyness and only the after taste is slight “scorched” tasting.(Lance suggested putting some sweetener in it so I put some sugar crystals from butiki tea in there, it was not bad at all gave it a nice sweet flavor and brought out nutty tones but at this point it still didn’t help that little burned flavor, but it was nice). At about 6 steeps this tea turns very nice wonderfully flavorful smokey with some roasty nutty notes getting naturally sweet NO MORE BURNED flavors(after 5 steeps lol) Super good!
Steep 9 I pour on my water and it still turns dark right away, its not going to give up anytime soon, Different, this time no nuttyness, more smokiness and very nice, almost how you would imagine a really nice Oolong and Smoked Lapsang blend, perfection. The aroma of the wet leaves is still very “camphor” like.
Steep 10 ok perhaps I steeped it a tad long this time( a very short almost flash steep was needed but i was looking at the computer lol) the smokiness is heavier and the slight burned flavor is back but not so bad tastes almost like a Smoked Lapsang now lol nuttiness is back now tho and it is quite pleasant, smell like Oolong in the cup but Lapsang in the gaiwan .
Steep 11 Omg! same deal as steep 9 steeps up dark right away still I like this teas endurance, same basic flavors as steep 9 smokey and nice but with some nuttiness again and natural sweetness coming thru again, honestly kinda PUERHish in some ways.
Steep 12 is just a dark as before with the same type flavors notes but very smokey, i’m going to skip ahead a few steeps now, ok Steep 15 and it has gone very mellow and earthy even, still smokey and slightly nutty it is starting to remind me of a nice well aged naturally fermented Puerh, This has turned out to be quite a complex tea, I like it.
Steep 17 again the last 2 steeps were still pretty consistent with the few steeps before them, Smokey, Nutty, slightly sweet naturally, I’m going to stop talking notes now and steep till 20 times then I’ll write about the 20th steep Thats where I decide to stop even if the tea is still going lol.
Ok Steep 20 was one of the best just take all I said before and add it up and balance it all out perfectly and that was the 20th cup, I hate to give up on this one but 20 cups of one type tea is just a bit much for me today but I enjoyed it a lot.
At first I thought that this tea may have been over roasted, then I thought maybe not, then after the whole thing is over I have to say that I DO think it may have been a little over roasted because after 20 steeps all day and the leaves were still rolled tight and strangest of att they were still hard and "crunchy:, I took one in my fingers and crushed it like it was still dry AFTER 20 steeps lol(you can see it in the photo crumbled in my hand), I don’t know what to think, VERY GOOD TEA!!!

This was copy paste from my blog, the photos I tak about can be seen here :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/aged-oolong-1990-by-teafromtaiwancom.html

Got the samples from Tea from Taiwan today, and they were packed in nice little vacuum-sealed pouches. I decided to start with this one. Not sure about everyone else, but whenever I get something from a foreign country, I feel the need to keep the packaging. :) These cute little packages with Chinese writing are definitely getting saved.

Dry leaves: The leaves are fairly small for an oolong, most of them around the size of gunpowder green pellets, but some are larger. They have a nice pear-like scent

Brewing: The tea steeps a nice pale yellow color like dried daisies. The steeping leaves a peachy smell with a slight marine quality. The leaves expand nicely, and most are in good condition.

1st steep: The first steep of this tea has a surprisingly vegetal/brothy flavor, something I haven’t encountered in an oolong before. There is a nice, fresh pear taste mixed with the vegetal qualities of a Pi Lo Chun and the brew has a natural sugarcane sweetness. The flavor lingers on the top of the tongue.

2nd steep: The second steep continues on the themes of the first, but this time with reduced vegetal tastes replaced by a slight grassyness and cooked peach flavor.

3rd steep: The third steep show continued reduction of the vegetal qualities and increasing sweetness. There is a slight hint of vanilla bean.

4th steep: Even sweeter yet, the dominant flavors in this steep are those of peach and vanilla with a slight floral touch. The later steeps remained similar and gradually lost flavor.

It is lovely out (FINALLY feels like fall), I got some great teas in the mail, and the speakers outside the basketball arena (which are ALWAYS on) were playing New Fang by Them Crooked Vultures when I walked by. I think its safe to say that today is a good day.

Thank you Tea from Taiwan for this lovely sample.
Its not my all time favorite oolong but it is quite lovely.
A good beginner oolong perhaps or more suited for those who appreciate a lighter oolong.
It has a lightly milky flavor, a slight floral note, very light on the buttery aspect.
There is a nice refreshing floral after taste.
I can’t wait to try the other two samples.
Look for the review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on November 15th.

This is a good tea to me, Like I said last time I don’t understand the bad reviews. read my full post on my blog here with photos Please :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/gaba-tea-by-tea-from-taiwan.html

I think this tea is very good :) i don’t understand the bad reviews.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

Amount of tea:  1/6 the volume of the teapot
Water temperature:  195F
First steeping 45 seconds, 2nd 55 seconds, 3rd, 65 seconds, 4th 75 seconds, etc.
Tea rinsed before the first steeping. 
 
I love High Mountain Oolong Teas from Taiwan.  I chose to order from the retailer, “Tea from Taiwan,” because they specialize and only offer Taiwanese High Mountain Oolongs.  The order process was quick, easy, and my order arrived in about 10 days, Taiwan to California.
 
The Zhong Shu Hu Oolong tea was excellent.  Floral notes were evident in the first steepings along with very light natural sweetness from this unflavored tea  After multiple steepings, the Floral notes diminished, giving way to a fruity flavor, further enhancing the sweet nature of this tea.  What I like about Oolong teas is how the flavor changes during multiple steeps.  The first steep was 45 seconds and I added 10 seconds to each subsequent steep.  Even after steeping this tea 10 times. It still had lots of flavor, it was still very smooth, and never became bitter.   In the first steepings, the tea was light green, changing to a bright orange in later steeps, and finally into a light brown color. 
 
The retailer offers several sample packs so you can taste the teas before placing a full order.  
 
 
 

I loved this tea! I just discovered the world of aged oolongs, and this is the first one i’ve tried. I brewed it gong-fu style in a yixing pot with excellent results thru many steepings. It is definitely different from a pu-erh, though. It has more of a camphor quality about it and less earthiness than a pu-erh. The tea is reminiscent of a fine aged whisky. Its mellow character comes thru in each infusion. A very good introduction to aged oolong!