Not counting Baozhong, this is the only green oolong I picked up in my big Black Friday Floating Leaves haul. How will it compare to their good but not amazing spring 2021 Shan Lin Xi? I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted final rounds.
The aroma of the dry leaves is of orchid, sweet pea, pineapple, green apple, honeysuckle, pine, and spinach. The first steep has notes of orchid, sweet pea, sweetgrass, butter, citrus, pineapple, and green apple. The next steep is more herbaceous and vegetal, with that sweet candied pineapple I found in the first steep. Steeps three and four add minerals, pine, and honeysuckle florals, and remind me of grassy cotton candy in a good way. Sweet florals, minerals, and pineapple persist over the next few steeps. The session has a predictably vegetal and grassy ending, though the florals have lots of staying power.
I’d say this is a step up from their 2021 offering, both in terms of longevity and taste. Oolongs with pineapple notes always make me happy, and I finished this one quickly.
Flavors: Butter, Citrus, Cotton Candy, Floral, Grass, Green Apple, Herbaceous, Honeysuckle, Mineral, Orchid, Pine, Pineapple, Spinach, Sweet, Vegetal
Oof, this sounds so good.
It was! Floating Leaves tends to have good high mountain oolongs.