ShanLinXi Premium High Mountain Oolong

I finished this 10g sample pouch of what I think is Spring 2018 harvest. Kind of. By throwing it out.

So… this tea does not play well with long steeps gongfu. It tasted pretty good in the first steep, light-bodied and oily with minerals, salt and a playful lemon but entered bad territory very quickly in the second steep with the leaf smelling very sulfuric with eggs and peanut and butter. Tastes of florals including lilac along with some kale and fresh sugarcane. But it was weirdly bitter with a an overripe honeydew aftertaste that did NOT mix well with the sweetness and florals. By the third steep I made an audible ‘Eugh.’ and the aftertaste was like buttered, nearly rotten winter squash. Like wtf?? Into the compost with you, you bad leaf.

So… stick with short steeps. Plenty of florals in the mouth early on, and with the swallow some lemon water followed by light saltiness. There was a weird fleeting aftertaste of potting soil with the first steep, but I could look past that. The liquor continued to stay pretty light in taste with some vegetal coming forward and light astringency that lasted. The aftertastes were the most prominent part of the tea with a good mix of butter, fresh sugarcane and fresh florals (my guess would be iris) with an addition of coconut cream?, changing into light pineapple, then banana leaf and ending on light peach. Around the fourth steep, the buttery taste became quite prominent and the liquor had an accompanying slipperiness in the mouth and on my lips. The last few steeps ended with tastes of corn and light butter.

Idk man, this tea was all over the place and although it started off nicely it became totally unbalanced. I’d be scared to brew it western :x

Edit: just to add to the confusion, the dry leaf was wonderfully fragrant with a strong pine nut note I wish showed up in the flavor.

I’ll be exploring some of the offerings of Beautiful Taiwan Tea Co. in the coming days. I needed something green, but couldn’t wait for the spring batch to arrive. So I impulse-bought a bunch of samples to cure my spring fever!

This is a great tea. Delicious complexity – fruit, floral, creaminess, with just enough savory edge to round everything out. Great lasting citrus/fruit aftertaste that is every bit as strong in the final infusions as it is in the beginning. Also very dynamic – the tea changes not only from infusion to infusion, but also develops substantially in the mouth from arrival to finish.

The only drawback is perhaps the price, but that depends on your wallet and your budget. However, BTTC’s 10g sample is very affordable and well worth getting so you can treat yourself to a high-mountain experience! The tea is long-lasting enough to go many infusions, so a little 60ml gaiwan is perfect to stretch out the 10g sample over three solid sessions.
*
Dry leaf – HERBAL: fresh parsley and cilantro; NUT: dry roasted peanut; CREAMY: salted butter. In preheated vessel – NUT: beautiful, rich roasted peanut, very Bi Luo Chun like.

Smell – FRUIT: tropical fruit, stone-fruit, citrus; FLORAL: lily of the valley; VEGETAL: buttered green vegetables; NUT: roasted peanut. Hints of marine saltiness, even notes of cinnamon-raisin bread.

Taste – VEGETAL/HERBAL: green leaf, green herb, cilantro, lemongrass, buttery sweet green veg; FRUIT: lychee, apricot, coconut, citrus; CREAM: sweet cream, salted butter; NUT: roasted peanut. Some marine saltiness and savoriness.