My version of this tea is from 2021. I bought it because the vendor said it was fruity, but I couldn’t dial in the steeping parameters and ended up letting the rest of it sit in a drawer for three years. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of mango, orchid, lilac, cream, and grass. The first steep has vaguely fruity notes of mango and pear, plus cream, orchid, lilac, and lots of grass. It doesn’t have any high notes, possibly due to its higher oxidation, and is a bit drying. The next steep has a nice mango aroma and flavour, along with some nuttiness, cream, florals, and lots of grass. It also has more astringency than expected for a green oolong. Steeps three and four have a great mango flavour, but are quite astringent and grassy. Subsequent rounds are still fruity, but the mango flavour is less apparent. By steep seven, the tea is grassy, vegetal, and astringent with some floral hints.
I commend Floating Leaves for introducing a green but more oxidized oolong in their gaoshan lineup, and at times, I appreciate the fruitiness of this tea. However, the grassiness and astringency are hard to get past. I’d blame these drawbacks on its age, but it was like this when I tried it several years ago. I think this is the first iteration of this tea and they’ve been offering it for three years now, so maybe they’ve ironed out some of the issues. I’d be interested to hear what newer harvests are like.
Flavors: Astringent, Cream, Drying, Floral, Fruity, Grass, Lilac, Mango, Nutty, Orchid, Pear, Spinach, Vegetal
