Grand Crew

I went back to oolong basics gong fu time , rinsing 10 sec, then 20, 25, 30, 25, 30, 35, 30, 40 continuing right now just under boiling. What I did different was the water ratio. I used about 3 grams and 2-3 oz of water for the first 3 brews, and then upped it to 4 oz, then 5 oz filling the cup. I got the same notes I wrote down in the first session, but the tea was a lot more balanced since I gave the leaves some room to breath. More fruit came out earlier, but was still on the subtle side building up into the later end of the session. I stand by what I said last time in that I think it was better than the Lishan, maybe slightly better than the Shanlinxi. I might have changed my mind if I used the careful parameters I did for this tea for the other high mountain teas.

Overall, this one’s a solid High Mountain and a bargain for Lalashan. It’s easy drinking and very clean in quality. In my personal opinion, Grand Crew’s more unusual tea types are better than the Taiwanese staples of Alishan, Lishan, and Shanlinxi. I’d recommend them for fast shipping and opening up your horizons on what they have to offer for a good price. In the US, they have a $25 or over shipping rate, and my tea arrived in less than 6 days from Taiwan…which was speedy. I tried checking the Canadian, and it didn’t say much other than the difference of speed between Express and Standard-nothing on prices/cost of shipping. I think I might have gotten Express Shipping with the Oolongdrunk10 code or the over 25 buck order.

It’s nice to get a Lala Mountain that is under $1 per gram. The description for this one hits most of the marks I look for in an oolong, and trying it out, it’s slightly better than their Shanlinxi, but way better than their Lishan. The sugarcane and fruity notes are more in aroma than flavor so far. The texture is thick, delicate, clean and sweet.

It’s decent, but ’m not totally satisfied with the way I brewed it because I followed the 1.2 minute parameters after a rinse, and ended up doing shorter steeps that yielded more flavor afterwards. The first brew was alright, the second was honestly a little too spinachy, and the last few had more sweetness and a clean feeling. Oolongdrunk actually like this one, so I am going to have to adjust some things around before I make a decision and rate it.

This one was better than the Lishan. It’s got a nice buttery body with some florals, texture and sweetness. The teas solid although the flavors and aromas don’t particularly stand out. The website does note that this batch wasn’t as refined as they wanted, so other seasons might be better? Either way, it’s passable, but okay for the price. I like the loose leaf version over the tea sachet, or tea temple version so far. The sachet was flat and woodsy.

The story of this tea is pretty awesome-it’s a miracle out of a delayed season due to the weird global weather, and it’s one of the cheaper offerings in larger quantities.

Unfortunately, I’m going to be more brutal than usual in this review. Trying it out, I was not impressed. Their notes are jasmine and wood essence, which is not a good sign. I also need to keep in mind this is a soft stem tea, and not a Qin Xin. I followed their instructions and personally got a mediocre tea that was flat. I got some jasmine qualities, but it mostly tasted like spinach and wood. I tried lightening up the grammage and steep time, and that gave me a little bit more jasmine, but the tea was still bland.

I feel bad for being this critical. This company does have better teas though.

I’ve sipped down all of my Grand Crew samples, and am ready to review them. I’m honestly not going to write books like I normally do while describing the qualities I found more distinct if any, so here’s a paragraph. Or two.

The leaves had a very orchid like scent, and were a mixture of a pale green yellow and black. The black leaves were unfortunately mostly crushed, so they might have been mistaken by fannings if I didn’t know they were delicate. Grand Crew describes this one as being floral and heavy on the orchid, and while I got those gong fu after 25 sec in 150 ml, I also got a healthy amount of citrus in the finish. Consecutive steepings adding 15 seconds yielded much the same profile with a more rounded body, and increasing astringency and some acidity. There’s a pithiness like orange or grapefruit peel, so I began to cut the steeping times of later ones. I only made it to five rounds before the astringency got to me, so I stopped.

I like this one, and there’s some trademark orchid Shuixian peachiness, the overall tea’s profile reminds me of a Dan Cong. There’s some astringency in the mouth, and the bitterness shows up a little bit more. I enjoyed trying this fairly unique tea out because I’ve only seen some Taiwanese oolongs in this style before, but it’s a little on the pricy end even for me. $9 for 10 is a bit much for partially crushed leaves. Then again, shipping was fast and free over $25. I still don’t regret trying it because it is different.

I got this one when skimming some Teaforme and Oolongdrunk reviews, and I came up on one on a Lishan White. I thought about the white, but with Oolongdrunk’s code and decided to sample some of their tea.

I was excited about having samples less than 25 grams again, and there were some unique offerings on their site. I tried a raw oolong tea “temple” pyramid tea bag, and was disappointed by woodiness. This oolong did not, however, did not. The Wudan oolong is a Baozhong style, but it’s extremely fruity for a Baozhong. Their notes are Floral, sweet tangerine, delicate and silky. After following the 45 sec with 4 grams steeping parameters I personally got heady coconut, plumeria orchid, vanilla, lilac and sweetened condensed milk in steep one through flavor and aroma, and then the orchid and tangerine in following steeps. The aroma evolves, but the flavor becomes fruitier in later steeps retaining the floral orchid plumeria quality. I’m glad that I did not rinse this one because the flavor really shined the best in steep one and three, and continues to give an elegant profile.

There’s some fresh vegetal quality, but it’s faint compared to the sweeter notes and florals. The body is thick and the flavor is delicate and pronounced at the same time putting it in the 90s for my personal rating. I’m really liking this one so far and look forward to the other ones I get to try.