Taiwan Sourcing

Alright, I feel kind of silly noting this two days in a row, but I decided to sip down the rest of this one to start the morning off since I don’t have any greens with me. Steeped in a porcelain gaiwan this time to cut out any potential factors that may have impacted the taste yesterday when I was using a recently completed clay pot. Also used cooler water since I feel like the leaves may have been a bit scalded yesterday.

Result is a smooth and viscous liquor that is light and color and flavor in the first steep, but quite fragrant with sweet, creamy floral notes coming through.

Up the temperature just a couple of degrees bit but kept the steep time short for steep two and get a more golden color. I start getting some of that characteristic “bug bitten aroma” but the flavor starts to take more of a turn toward the notes that I was getting yesterday, which makes me think I really would be best off keeping the temperature low here, especially considering the leaves appear to be on the greener side.

All in all, I’m not sure whether it’s because it’s more on the green side or because it’s a winter tea or what, but while this is a good tea it’s just not appealing to my palate at this point in time.

I have had a couple of sessions with this one and the notes I have for each are completely different. My first session I mostly noted the sweetness, but today I seemed to only be getting roasty and sour notes from it. I have probably about one session’s worth left, so I will need to make sure to give it more attention next time I have it, and use a more neutral brewing vessel than the clay pot I used today.

Recently sipped down the sample of this that I got from a stash sale. I’m quite a fan of bug bitten teas and this one was quite enjoyable. It has a nice depth and warmth brought out by the roast which supports the tropical fruit notes that I often find with bug bitten teas. It’s got a nice, moderate sweetness and is, overall, very easy to enjoy.

This is a really tasty tea. It was one of the best oolongs I have ever had. I would have to describe it overall as sweet and buttery. There were some floral notes to it but no real vegetal taste. There was a fleeting bitterness in steep one that was gone in steep two. This one was outstanding. As close to perfect as I have had recently.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml Yixing Teapot with 7g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

Dry leaf is a very typical Oriental Beauty. Small, multi colored leaves. Black dominates, with matte brown, and some silver hairy tips mixed in. Aroma is slightly musty with an undercurrent of sweet plum and wood. Steamed aroma is an exact match for Kaoliang Baijiu.

First brew shows a fair amount of age. Aroma has gotten sweeter, and mustier. Liquor is a dark amber. First sip is heavy on the must. It’s slightly too dank for my liking. Forgotten in a wet basement character, as opposed to a purposeful dankness. Buried beneath that is a burly dark wood note, some slight acidity, and a slight sweetness. The finish is dominated by must. Texturally, the liquor is somewhat middling. It’s neither thick, nor thin.

Second brew is a bit characterless. Aroma is barely present. Liquor color is darker. Taste is turning into a very generic aged wulong. All must, with hints of wood. However, a bitterness has entered the finish. I really hope that it doesn’t show up in forthcoming brews. I could see it turning this tea to brass.

Third brew continues this saga of disappointment. More bitterness is coming through. The rest of the notes are identical to the second brew.

I decided to do a quick, 5~ second brew this time. The dark wood note is now in open competition with the musty character of this tea. I’ll say again, the musty character tastes off. The increased prominence of the dark wood doesn’t improve the off taste. Its burly character interacts with the must in a way that is, frankly, a bit off putting. Having so many heavy, deep notes, makes this tea more than a bit monotonous to drink.

For brew 5-7, I decided to stick with quick steeps. With each steep, the tea gets worse. Dark wood, and dank must join hands with their new companion, strong bitterness, and trot forward into tea oblivion.

This tea fails on pretty much all fronts. It’s not a good aged wulong, and it’s not a good Oriental Beauty. What little character it has, I found to be either monotonous, or highly off putting. I frankly don’t think this tea has anything going for it.

An interesting Tie Guan Yin. More citrus-y and creamy than the floral you normally get from a TGY. Reminds me of an orange creamsicle. Taste lingers and continues throughout the steepings. Very good qi. A little too pricey to be a daily drinker but worth it for special sessions.

Love it when you’re not expecting much and the session is really enjoyable. That’s what I had this morning. I had a crew over to do work on house so I was busily brewing and had my first steep down my throat before it dawned on me that I didn’t pay attention. The second steep was really good. Sweet nectar that had a hint of corniness, thicker than most Jade and more structured in the cup. There is also a hint of spice in the aroma that translates into the flavor but at a whisp. I brewed it up only 6 times as the flavors are mostly starting to fall away at that point and didn’t want the session to end on a flat note.

Very enjoyable, cleanly aged, elegant, great mouthfeel, flavorful, smooth, dynamic, beautiful and intact leaves — right on the money, really. Many positives, the obvious downside is the $1.40/g (and up) price tag, there is no free lunch. The second negative is that it loses steam and dimensions faster than I’d like at this price tag. Now obviously some tea from this years harvest cost more per gram, so hard to complain for 40 years of storage.. But for my palate as a casual oolong drinker, the value proposition of mid-2000s oolong seems superior.

Is it a good tea? Yes. Is it worth the money? Yes. Should you try it? Yes.

Will I buy more? No.

After just letting it sit for a while….a honey note popped out, and a very crisp one at that. Finally. I also shared this with someone who has only had one oolong before…and his eyes lit up. There was a reason why I picked up so much of this one. It’s slowly becoming a keeper-which should not surprise anyone.

Western at three minutes, and a little more honey pops up in the notes, but faintly. Still as creamy as ever. I’ll write about this one often..

I’m going to sound like a jerk in this review. Here it goes.

I’ve tried 14 different jade oolongs in the past month and I have only been satisfied with a few of them. I’ve been hoping for a good daily drinker, but I’ve actually preferred some flavored ones over the pure ones. I actually feel silly in spending so much money on daily drinkers instead of slightly more expensive ones that I might be more satisfied with. I personally don’t think that more expensive teas taste better by default; I’ve had a slightly more generic jasmine oolong that I enjoyed much more than a Long Feng Xia and a Li Shan that I enjoyed more than its prestigious Da Yu Ling cousin. I’ve also enjoyed a vanilla black chai more than a Wild Dianhong of a better leaf grade quality. Lord am I persnickety.

So from all of the frickin’ oolongs I’ve guzzled, this one probably had the best mouth feel, texture, and durability of the teas. Much of what I said in the earlier note is true: it has a pronounced spinach creaminess that borders on vanilla and a very pronounced clover floral taste overall. It is on the low to medium sweeter end of oolongs and definitely makes a good daily drinker that rivals some Ali Shan’s in terms of textural complexity, but it lacked the fruitiness or the honey notes that I hope for in the steeps I’ve had so far.

This is a great tea for a great price, but it is something I should have sampled instead of bulked. I think that the tea deserves a 85-90 for it’s strength, balance, texture, and quality, but a 75 for flavor. Because of my lack of general satisfaction with the sheer quantities I have, I am going to sell most of my tea soon so I can minimize my collection and buy different teas. I still recommend Taiwan Sourcing as a great company. I’ve just not been happy with the seasons for my favorite tea types and particular against the general ones.

$23 for 150 grams seemed like a deal. “Clover, vanilla, honey, buttery popcorn. Some light kale and spinach briefly toward the middle infusions,” and a description of this not obeying its price point, I was sold. I abused the tea yielding good results and I cared for the tea yielding good results. I figured this would be a great candidate for a daily drinker.

CWarren’s review was spot on. It has a vanilla-kale character going on, and it distinctly had a clover aftertaste in the buttery, but not entirely savory body. The creamy texture is also incredibly thick.

I need to drink it again on a day without another green oolong to judge it properly. I can’t believe I am overwhelmed by jade already. I liked it and do think it was great quality for the price. It was better and cleaner than other oolongs I’ve had before, but something doesn’t sit right. I’ll decide how smart this decision was later.

Heady florals and buttery. I got a cross between orchid, hyacinth, gardenia with a buttery body that was not quite honey-suckle like. There were slight lilac notes in the smell, but not quite as sweet. This tea is green, but it was more floral and a tad grassy than vegetal. Oddly refreshing, and pretty similar to some Bao Zhongs I’ve had-that should be no surprise since this varietal is used fairly often for it.

Because I’ve been swimming in jade for my diet, I did add a little bit of honey in the last steep after five minutes of brewing for cup seven, and the honey did not overpower the tea. It actually complimented the florals well. I’d recommend it, but I’m not sure what I’d rate it yet. How much green oolong have I had today? ‘Cause I’m going to be SWIMMING in it soon.

Thank you so much for this sample! I would buy more often, though a lot of the teas they have that I prefer tend to be pricier. I wanted to try the Luxurious Jade sample, but reading some of the notes made me hesitate a little bit. So I ordered from them anyway for finding a good daily oolong. I bought two teas that definitely fit that description, and one that I got in five ounces that was pretty excellent. Looking at you, Winter Rhythm 2015.

So I got this one with great consideration. I pretty much think the exact same thing that Big Daddy does. It’s very light, clean, green, and crisp with a solid varieties of fluffy florals in a body of fresh spinach. It did get me a little bit of a buzz bordering on tea drunk that was pretty nice-though that would be the main reason why I’d buy from Taiwan Sourcing-they’re jade’s have a better tendency to get me tea drunk.

If only I could find a sweeter oolong with strong fruit, florals, body, and honey notes for a daily price. A sample of this brings a smile on my face, however, for its clarity and lack of astringency. Just a little too grassy, but just sweet enough.

For those reading this, this is a very green oolong. For those who have never had oolong but like green tea, this is not a bad place to start because a lot of the greens and florals apply to the broad spectrum of this tea.

Honey flavor and scent present throughout the steepings. I did about 10-12 steepings. In the early steepings it started as a simple sweetness – think corn syrup laced artificial honey. Middle steepings became more a natural, clover honey. Still sweet but more genuine. Later steepings had the sweet high notes mellow out and play second chair to the malty, floral notes reminiscent of a wildflower honey. Some of my favorite qualities of an oolong at a decent price. Looking forward to more infusions.

Im going to start this one off with WOW…

Okay now that we have that out of the way, I brewed this in a 120ml yixing pot, using 6 grams of leaf and water just over 200 degrees. Starting with a quick rinse to open up the tea leaves, I was hit by an intense roast and cinnamon aroma. It’s really strong, sweet and pleasant.

Now onto the main show, the first brew and the scent seemed to even get stronger now, roast, cinnamon, malt and plums. It’s just so mellow and fruity… this shows what a good level of roast really does for an oolong. The liquor is a dark honey color and very sweet, with just a hint of minerality.

Second infusion is almost exactly the same, I went from 15 to about 20 seconds for the second infusion, and it really kept it consistent. The leaves are starting to open up now as well, it has a slightly spice that I cant quite put my finger on now though as more of the other flavors start to show up.

Third infusion I get a little tiny tang of astringency, like a roasted type not a green type of astringency. Also more floral notes are coming in but I cant quite put my finger on them, there is so much going on with this tea its hard to place everything.

Fourth infusion the roast is starting to die down a little bit and some of the oolong flavors are coming out stronger, there are still alot of spices happening on the back of this that I cant really put a name to, allspice.. maybe cloves or nutmeg.. but darker sweeter spices.

This tea is really complex and will require many more tastings to really get a feel for this.

HIGHLY! Recommended for anyone who likes roasted tea at all.

Leaves are boilerplate light roasted 高山: Some dark patches, but also a lot of greenleft. Steamed aroma of the leaves is not super pleasant. They smell, mostly, of slightly burnt food. Sesame, to be exact. The post first brew scent intensifies that burnt aroma. Yes, I truly do mean burnt, not toasted/roasted. Flavor is a mixed bag. The pleasant notes, mainly sweet potato, and (surprisingly) salt, are just overwhelmed by a burnt taste. Luckily, the burnt flavor isn’t as strong as it is in the nose. Even so, it’s unpleasant. I’m also getting a slight headache. Possibly due to the tea. I can’t be sure. The burnt taste dominates the finish. Eventually, it gives way to some sweetness. My throat feels chalky. Conversely, my mouth is slightly salivating. As the leaves continue to unfurl, it’s obvious that they’re still mostly green. My guess, is they roasted it at a high temperature, for a low amount of time. I don’t think this is a charcoal roast. It’s not mellow or thick enough.

I’m starting to feel slightly sick. That burnt note is just not playing well with my tastebuds. The front mouth taste sweetness (sweet potato) is definitely more pronounced. There’s also a sort of tiny metallic note coming in. It’s not unpleasant. It actually gives the tea a nice contrast to the much heavier burnt taste. Everytime I start to notice a new, or more pleasant, note, the burntness overwhelms it. It is such a bummer.

After the fifth brewing, the burnt aroma seems to finally be mellowing out. It’s still not very enjoyable, but at least it’s no longer aggressively unpleasant. Flavor keeps getting sweeter with every brew. The burnt taste is also way down. Finally, after six brews, we have a slightly decent cup of tea. That is harsh, but not entirely unfair. The tea had some good flavors, but that burnt taste/aroma/feel completely killed my enjoyment of this tea. It’s frustrating, since this is obviously good quality leaf, that was ruined in the processing. I have a theory on where the burntness comes from. The leaf contained a lot of near-fanning sized material. I think these were charred bits, left over from previous roastings. If this theory is correct, than that is not acceptable.

For such a bad year 2016 was, I’ve had repeated success in sipping great Taiwanese Oolongs and this is another. Always a fav of mine, Jade oolong is a grounding tea for me, usually light comfortable faint florals, hay, and grassiness. This has all that but much more pronounced. Not a rock star but more like the smooth melodies of Anne Murray. Throw in a faint bit of butter and sweetness and this makes a rainy day feel sunny all over.

This is a really nice tea with buttery and floral notes. It does not have any harsh vegetal notes to it.

I steeped this eight times in a 150ml teapot with 8.2g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 seconds.

My first jade oolong. Very unique flavors and nice relaxing, happy qi.

I love smelling the wet leaf after a quick rinse. There’s the usual floral notes but with something behind that I can’t pin down, maybe caramel or nougat ? Really sweet on the first 3 steeps (but not sickly sweet), a little floral and then watermelon. Very unique.

Also loved being able to read all about the processing in the 3 part post on the website !

This oolong is all around accessible, complex, and has an incredible energy. This tea smelled and tasted like buttered popcorn, and left a soothing aftertaste. I think that the price tag is sort of on the higher side, but this tea is made with exceptional quality so I think its worth it.

I wrote a review of it, and you can read more here…

https://www.theoolongdrunk.com/single-post/2017/04/23/Drink-This-Potion-Before-Midnight