According to Ethan’s description, this spring 2024 Si Ji Chun is from a higher elevation than the regular Nantou variety. At $20 for 50 g, it’s a bit more than one would expect to pay for a Four Seasons oolong, but since my curiosity regarding gaoshan is boundless, it made its way into my order. 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, plus some long, uncounted steeps.
The dry aroma is of cookies, butter, grass, and honeysuckle. The first steep has notes of cookie, butter, cream, walnut, grass, honeysuckle, freesia, and orchid. This tea is quite soft, with none of the high notes I associate with Qing Xin. The next steep is round, buttery, nutty, and floral, with more flowery notes than the first steep. Steeps three and four have a nice lemony quality, along with more intense freesia, honeysuckle, and orchids and a little grass. Subsequent steeps are still nutty and floral, but with more grass and minerals. The final steeps are predictably grassy, vegetal, mineral, and a bit floral.
This tea didn’t wow me like some of Ethan’s other offerings, but the first few steeps were nice. I’m not sure the higher price was fully justified. I guess you can’t win them all!
Flavors: Butter, Cookie, Cream, Floral, Grass, Honeysuckle, Lemon, Mineral, Nutty, Orchid, Round, Vegetal, Walnut
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This one sounds quite lovely.
It was pretty good, though I tend to like Qing Xin a bit more. Have you tried the Si Ji Chun from Camellia Sinensis? It’s like $11 for 50 g and I remember enjoying it when I had it a few years ago.
I quite liked that one when I tried it. The price makes it an easy choice to!
This one sounds quite lovely.
It was pretty good, though I tend to like Qing Xin a bit more. Have you tried the Si Ji Chun from Camellia Sinensis? It’s like $11 for 50 g and I remember enjoying it when I had it a few years ago.
I quite liked that one when I tried it. The price makes it an easy choice to!