Mountain Stream Teas

The MS website says this tea doesn’t “taste” like milk, but instead “feels” like milk. I can see how this has a milk “feel”. It’s perhaps slightly creamier than other green oolongs and there’s a sweetness at the end of the sip that makes me think of the leftover sugary milk at the end of a bowl of cereal (in a very subtle way). Naturally, the vegetal flavour of a green oolong is there, but it’s fairly muted in this tea. An enjoyable cuppa, all round!

Also, we are going to see Bill Nye and I just had to tell someone because we’re so excited!

2023 sipdown no. 73

Well, this is tasty! The light roasty-ness is really lovely here with a prominent pastry sweetness.

The second steep had that cardboard-esque flavour peeking through.

2023 sipdown no. 71

The flavour is light-bodied with just enough creamy softness to make it noticeable. There are lovely hints of floral that I don’t really find overpowering, despite the tasting notes mentioning “rich florals”. There is also a definite floral-sweetness that is really lovely. The packet also mentions a “lingering aftertaste”, which I agree with and find delightful. I’ve quite enjoyed this tea overall and am sad to see this sample go.

The cultivar notes Si Ji Chun and I can see that. I often have the Si Ji Chun oolong from CS in my cupboard and these teas could certainly be related.

Production Date: February 2023

Whew, look at that beautiful picture. My piece of cake was admittedly a little darker and not quite so stunning.

Dried leaf straight up smells like apple. Drank the rinse; light fruit tree scent. Took a while to open up, even after I reached in and broke up the chunk.

Much more mellow overall than it’s un-aged compatriot. Apple butter, vanilla, light malt, lychee.

Wish I’d thrown the whole 10g into this 150ml instead of stopping at 7g, as it’s delicate to the point of ghosty. I long-steeped the remaining crumbs and then did just that. Maverick white tea loosey-goosey shenanigans up in here.

Alas… rather than progressing further into sweet, it turned a corner to malty tannin and I lost interest.

2023 harvest. Sitting down with a plan to session this and its aged counterpart afterward.

Minty floral and fruit on the dry leaf; I neglected to warm my pot, so no notes there.

I found baby powder and… the… is that… cat pee(?) from the drydown on the lid of my pot. Like a wet baby diaper, kinda, actually. Not offensive, just there. Wet leaf is super floral and herbaceous… gardenia/mint/fennel/vegetal. I’d drink that cocktail. Linalool, creaminess, cooling, herbs, hay, citrus rind (grapefruit?), malt, and tannins on and in the liquor. Not a flavor profile I’d crave, but fun as a tasting and exploration experience. And, I’d say — a nice example of a classic white tea. I don’t often think about teas in terms of what’s missing, but a touch of melon sweetness would really elevate this.

2023 sipdown no. 70

This tea has a very savoury scent once steeped, with hints of saltiness – almost like a Ritz cracker. There’s hints of stewed fruits with a maltiness cut through and a fascinating savoury-sweetness in this tea. It’s difficult to describe, but a lovely tea from MS.

8g in the 10g bag, meh. So much for two 5g sessions… threw it all in my porcelain.

Curious. Tasty. Aroma from the wet leaf is so distinctly high mountain Taiwan floral, and becomes herbaceous later on. Scent of honey and (I’d agree with MST’s note of) candied plums off the liquor. Taste is soft and fleeting, difficult to pin down but with notes of honey and fruit tree flowers. The color does brew up young sheng-golden, and has some bitterness.

I thought I’d be delighting more in this oolong/sheng crossover album, but I find myself feeling instead like it’s a bit non-committal. Perhaps just young. I don’t suppose I’d keep drinking it now, but maybe it’d be interesting to check on in a few years.

I’m sipping this tea while catching up on tasting notes and saw that Courtney also just reviewed the 2022 harvest… and after reading her comment, all I can taste is rose! XD The power of persuasion.

I drank it yesterday as well and found it very mild and soft, but not particularly sweet. I’m really struggling to pick up on any honey notes. Today I’m also getting something slightly acrid? Strange. Maybe I overleafed it today.

Warmed leaf smells like Grand Marnier. So many alcohol references from me lately.

I wanted a nice full session of this, so I put the whole damn 10g in my pot that normally takes 7g. I figure half is pomelo peel, so… caution to the wind!

Aroma is orange liqueur almost exclusively… which has its own set of implications, of course: overripe and fermented fruit, vaporous and funky. Marmalade. Triaminic orange cough syrup, for a non-boozy reference… god, I loved that stuff as a kid. Liquid is quite transparent and progresses from straw- to caramel-colored.

Taste is the delicate, filmy version of all this — a “marnier and water,” if that were a thing. The real kick is in the smells here, but the scent is not separated and floating above the flavor (as so often happens with flavored teas) — they are well-integrated and become a singular experience. The black tea base doesn’t really announce itself, which lets the pomelo shine. There is some bitterness from the pith that shows up, but it’s not distracting and balances the almost-cloying sweetness. Provides some tongue tingling in later steeps. Eventually the bitter keeps on steeping, the nice things fade… and here we take our leave.

For the record, 10g was not too much material at all. Long steeps didn’t become astringent or too pungent. Seems like this would be great iced in summer.

Very much in the spirit of What-Cha’s Taiwan Wild Shan Cha Black. Dark berries and roast, from the dry leaf through the nose to the sip to the bottom of the cup. Wet leaf is like a rich, caramelized blackberry preserve. I even get some of the same wet dog here and there, lol. Some of these high mountain teas from Taiwan are just so special… black or oolong, light or dark roast, they give and give and give.

Drank this again this morning, bowled, and lost much of the intensity. A shame not to have the wet leaf to poke around in between steeps, as that was half the pleasure of my first session. Pleasant this way, but not captivating.

Light umami and… mint(?) on the first short steep.

Good god, so many flavors at once. The top of the gaiwan was light mushrooms and bright cooked peas for a couple seconds, then dried to sugary fried things, like an elephant’s ear from the fair. Wet leaves are creamy vegetal like overcooked-asparagus soup — turned over a little, they give up gorgeous spring florality. Liquor is so pale it looks clear until it’s 1/2" deep, then it’s the palest yellow. Smells like a lighter and wispier version of the leaf aroma. Creamy mouthfeel and taste, surprisingly delicate vegetals versus the smells, but not at all unsatisfying. Cooled, the wet leaves are allll flowers now. Incredible.

Wet leaf has morphed to green bean and orchid. Taste remains delicate; I think it could probably frustrate some drinkers who enjoy and anticipate more of that fat, cooked vegetal green that’s on the nose, but I loved it.

Third steep is close to last. Fluff of flour. No astringency.

Now that I take a look, the website recommends grandpa at 195-205F. A couple more fuggedaboudit steeps did bring some astringency, so I’m not altogether convinced on the temp/time recommendation — but this was honestly a delight. I might do the final 5g of this in a bowl and just tuck in.

The oolong base here is distinctly Jin Xuan, though a little under-equipped for the job of supporting pomelo flower fragrance. Quite “green” tasting; I don’t think the base necessarily needed to be more floral, but it could have done with less bitter-green and more creaminess. Disjointed. Might cold brew and try it iced.

This one has an immediate waffle-honey sweetness against a medium body. There’s a naturally a smooth maltiness. I really love that this comes from a female tea master as well.

I hope they keep stocking this one because it’s a winner!

1st steep: 1 minute
2nd steep: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

2024 sipdown no. 20

I picked this up in my last MS order and it is just as delightful as last year’s harvest (2022). The red fruits add an incredible sweetness, yet the tea is ‘soft’ and smooth. I would order this one again!

Harvest: July 2023

2023 sipdown no. 65

This tea is light, bordering on medium-bodied, with hints of malt hidden amongst subtle, sweet red fruit flavours (a mix of strawberry, cherry, and red currant). A really lovely tea and one I would order more of.

1st steep: 1 minute
2nd steep: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

Harvest: late spring 2022

2023 sipdown no. 63

This has has a subtle dark chocolate scent once steeped. The taste is fairly light-bodied with some cinnamon hints throughout, especially as the tea cools (and even more in the second steep). This was a really lovely tea overall!

Sipdown! (17 | 139)

Finished off the small sample size that I received in a Tea Thoughts countdown box.

This one is interesting. It has a fairly predominant molasses note to me, with some burnt sugar as well. But I wouldn’t call it a sweet tea, it’s actually a bit tart. Definitely fruity, mostly I’m tasting prune, but with savory undertones. So maybe more like a plum sauce served with a savory Chinese dish? But then there are also some slightly herbaceous flavors that remind me of the caraway notes of a Fujian black tea. Some mellow vegetal notes as well, like Summer squash.

Definitely an interesting mix of flavors going on. I don’t think I would order this one, but it was fun to try and I enjoyed my few cups worth.

I noticed this tea on the Mountain Stream site and was intrigued, but never got around to ordering it. Thanks, Derk, for the generous sample! I steeped slightly over 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot at 205F for 30, 40, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted steeps.

The aroma of the loosely rolled dry leaves is of mango, guava, honeysuckle, gardenia, other florals, and spices. The first steep has notes of lilac, honeysuckle, gardenia, cream, mango, guava, orange, marzipan, spinach, grass, and chili. I’ve never had jackfruit, so can’t comment on whether it’s in the tea. I taste what might be camphor near the bottom of the cup. The second steep gives me mouth-watering notes of mango, orange, and tropical fruit, plus clove, chili, honeysuckle, lilac, other florals, camphor, and grass. The tea is a bit perfumey, but in a good way. The next couple steeps are more floral, with cream, camphor, grass, and some astringency. The mango and tropical fruit come out in the aftertaste. Steeps five and six are more grassy, though the mango, marzipan, and florals are still there. The grass, spinach, and kale become more prominent as the session ends, though the creamy mango and tropical fruit make me want to keep going.

I love fruity oolongs, so it’s no surprise that this one is a winner for me. The combination of lush tropical fruit and heady florals is wonderful, even though the tea became more astringent near the end of the session. The spices are something I rarely notice in Taiwanese oolong. It may have some rough edges, but it put a smile on my face while I was drinking it.

I drank this gong fu’d during the bork, and western just today. I preferred today’s cuppa by a mile. Might be a good bowl tea. “Peach” in the gong fu session tasted unripe, like bitter skins. And tomato vine — I understand the descriptor now. Western, the peach is more peachy — not overripe, but pleasant. Quintessential oolong flavor for two good steeps and a third cling-on. Not a reorder for me, but decent.

The dry scent is quite dark chocolate-y and the steeped scent of this really gives the absolute best parts of Laoshan Black (that I remember) — dark chocolate with hints of light maltiness cut through. The first sip of this tea is so smooth it’s like drinking silk. The taste is medium-bodied with a light maltiness and that dark chocolate flavour mid-late in the sip. This tea has a matching name, scent, and taste.

The second steep is nearly as flavourful and still delightful.