Gaoshan Jinxuan TTES #12 Alishan Jin Xuan Oolong Tea

Lately, I’ve been trying to reduce my current stash and visiting more with Brie, so I’ve even been drinking less tea. :-// I received my Fong Mong Tea samples Monday or Tuesday, but didn’t have a chance to sample this until last night. A huge Thank You to Fong Mong Tea for these samples! :))

Right away this tea looked greener. The few green oolong teas I’ve had never seem to infuse as well as a good Tie Guan Yin, but I do like them. My initial smell of the dry leaves reminded me of a milk oolong. When I put them in my warmed tea press, the aroma was more buttery than the two milk oolongs I’ve tried. The steeping leaves were sssoooo buttery sweet. The wet leaves were very buttery to me, and when cooling, they had a flowery sweetness I can only describe as gardenias.

The cup is ecru in color, with a definite sweetness and light buttery aromas. There is also a fruity nature in the cup. There is a very smooth, buttery quality that stands out, yet it is gentle and calming. The flowery sweet flavors are more discernable on the back of my palate after swallowing.

My second cup steeped even more buttery. The wet leaves were most buttery and vegetal-like buttered corn or peas, cooling to a vegetal sweetness. Cup is slightly darker, and more aromatically buttery and fruity. My palate was happy, with buttery goodness at the forefront, so sweet and so smooth. :)) Light fruits seemingly emerge-light peaches, not as pronounced as a good Tie Guan Yin though. There is absolutely no astringency at all!! The best cup of the three. :)) [1:15 at 180*]

Although the aromas in the third cup are fading, it was still quite creamy and sweet. The tastes are also waning, with a light creamy sweetness on my palate. This was the most vegetal of the cups, reminding me of peas on the back of my palate. The fully opened leaves are big & beautiful! [5 minutes at 180*]

I really enjoyed this cup of tea-the buttery nature and smooth cup really stands out. On a sad note, I lost my pet bunny Tchai last Saturday. Such a sweet, gentle girl! <3 :-(( Hop on Tchai!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EeObPCMR8

Cupped: Friday, June 15, 2012.

Reviewed: Saturday, June 16, 2012.

Well I got the job and now the only problem is I didn’t realize by mid-October she meant starting two days next week. Ummm. Because I have been zoned out all day (it’s amazing I actually got myself to the mall) I didn’t even think to say anything about the wedding I have to go to in 2 weeks…and now she’s on vacation. Well. I guess I’ll say something Tuesday? I am finding it incredibly hard to be excited because of how horrible I constantly feel and I’m starting to question if it’s even just ragweed.

So my mom was all like oh get yourself a beer or a nice cup of tea. I was just like oh god not drinking right now. I instead got myself another nap and now I’m going to see how long I can stay awake and drink a nice tea. I’ve been holding onto these samples to have them when I feel like I can devote time to them.

I can’t smell very well though. Of course. I put the entire 6g into my yixing pot and rinsed the leaves first, then steeped for 20 seconds.

I don’t know if that is too short or what, but this is more like a sweet garden of flowers dipped in mineral water and cream. And I really hate that I decided to drink this because I don’t think my tastebuds are going to do it justice.

Okay, gave up on that steep and am trying one for 45 seconds. It has much more color to it. Now we have butter and a mouthful of gardenias for sure. It is so velvety too.

Sipdown! Thanks again to Fong Mong Tea for this sample! Although a little old, and not properly stored, it was still a pretty enjoyable oolong. A bit creamy, a bit floral, but nowhere near as much as a tieguanyin… my kind of green oolong, for sure. I’ll enjoy the next infusions shortly.

This is fabulous! A little Alishan … a little milk Oolong … all in one cup! Yum!

I do love Alishan, it’s my favorite of the Oolongs for its delicious subtle complexity. That this is also a Jin Xuan really was enticing to me. This is probably not my first Alishan that is also a Jin Xuan but it’s the first time I’ve noticed it and put it together.

A delicious, delightful Oolong. So very nice.

Thank you FONG MONG TEA for this lovely sample tea!

This is the last of the generous samples to review from FONG MONG TEA. I must comment on the high quality of the tea and supurb experience with the shipping, and packaging. I know that I am not alone in thanking this company for introducing so many of us to their fine tea’s.

This morning I selected this tea to fit the dappled sunshine coming through my window. Sparkling morning light reminds me of reflective light bouncing off water or peeking through the trees. I often pick a tea to fit the weather like setting a scene.

I brewed the tea in a ceramic vessel, used half the sample packet for a 6 minute steep.

The liquor was sunny yellow gold and clear.

My first sip was the flavor of juicy white asparagas…vegital but not too ‘green’ tasting. There was a sweet candied violet background flavor under the asparagas…unique.
My mouth began to tingle a little and I recognized the splay of tannin on my tongue just at the end of the tasting.
As the tea cooled, there was no additional tannin and little change in texture (a little creamier).
I sweetened the tea which flipped the floral flavor to dominant and the vegital to secondary in taste order. An interesting way to customize the experience to suit individual taste preference. Vegital…straight and for Floral…add sweetening.

Second steeping:
This steeping holds up well. The flavor profile remains unchanged.

An additional note…on how addicted I am to tea. :^(
While writing away, I had a small pot of HONEY on the STOVE on low with some LAPSANG SOUCHONG in the pot to infuse it for use as a drizzle on chicken or fruit/cheese. WELL I FORGOT ABOUT IT! I ended up with a nice smelling house and HONEY/LS TAFFY! GARRRR!
(No I refuse to chalk it up to old age or disability! It’s tea addiction! I get so engrossed in these tea tastings and reviews that the end of ages could come on Dec. 12th and I’d still be on Steepster!)

Oh great, now my mouse is sticky!

Argh, Steepster ate my quite long tasting note! Maaaan. Sipdown, 181. Thanks to Fong Mong for the sample, and sorry it took me so long to get around to reviewing it. I decided to brew this one gong fu today, using the 6g vaccum sealed sample in my teapot.

I did a rinse first and then a 20 second steep. I normally would have a shorter first steep for gongfu, but even at 6g these leaves didn’t look like a lot in my tea pot so I decided to steep them a bit longer. It turned out well; the first steep smells floral and a bit buttery, and it tastes like buttery sugar snap peas. It definitely has a hint of vegetal sweetness.

For my second steep I actually decided to go ahead and go 1 minute because the first steep was fairly light as it was. I also just used the water in my teapot that had cooled to 190degF. This steep is more vegetal but it still has a floral quality and a sweet note here and there. This one isn’t particularly creamy but it does have a very smooth texture. Definitely an enjoyable tea for this afternoon.

Thank you to Fong Mong Tea for this sample!

I did a quick rinse of my leaves in warm water, I am so accustomed to doing this now after hanging out in Chinese tea shops where they rinse everything and today I’m infuser mugging it since I’m not at home, but decided to use the entire 6g sample so I could have more of a gong fu experience.

Steep #1: around 45 seconds?? This is already very nice. I’m getting an aroma of buttered popcorn and the tea is quite creamy with some light floral notes. I know some milk oolongs are artifically flavored but I think this is natural.

Steep #2: also around 45 seconds. There are some more floral notes coming up now, I want to say gardenia? Still very buttery, a bit nutty, definitely seems creamy and a bit vegetal. Does remind me a bit of buttered peas or corn.

Steep #3: Slightly more vegetal and less flowery but still a very pleasant cuppa.

I have to admit that Jin Xuans are not my favorite type of oolong, I must have requested this without realizing what it was. Still, it was very enjoyable and a tasty tea. I think I will really appreciate the High Mountain oolong and the Dong Ding.

The tightly coiled pellets give off a creamy, sweet milky oolong scent. There were sticks/extra dried stems present, seen previously in their Fruity Sijichun. I don’t care personally, but thought it was worth a mention.

The tea is light apple in color with a faintly sweet, smooth vegetal taste. It has a heavy mouthfeel for an Oolong. At 5 minutes it smells overcooked, but doesn’t taste it. Bonnie is SPOT ON with her White Asparagus note, that’s EXACTLY what this reminds me of. Subsequent steepings became sweeter and more floral. This seemed like excellent quality, but I’m not sure Alishan’s are for me.

My samples arrived today from Fong Mong Tea, many thanks to them. After I dealt with the mailman who seems to be a bit suspicious of a seventeen year old repeatedly receiving packages from China and Taiwan, I immediately sliced open the package in the most haphazard and self-endangering way I possibly could. I thought to myself “What’ll it be, a roasty highly-oxidized oolong or a floral and sweet green oolong?”; I concluded that today was a green oolong kind of day.

It was a warm and sunny day, I had just finished my last day of finals and I was now out of school…which in my mind warranted something reminiscent of summer, and to me a green oolong is the best representation of summer in a cup. For one, it’s deep green like the trees and other plant life now thriving in the absence of winter’s oppressive cold. And, of course, the sweet floral goodness that only a green oolong can provide.

This oolong was pretty much what I was expecting as far as its characteristics were concerned. Floral, check. Sweet, check. But it exceeded my expectations as far as just how WELL it actually pulled those things off. As I held the mug up to my face, I was transported to green fields in some vague yet familiar countryside filled with rolling hills and vividly colored flowers. I do love when a tea can fill my head with pleasant imagery. The sweetness was natural and balanced. And my favorite part about this tea, man it was MILKY. It felt very thick as a swished it around in my mouth and I just love that in a tea. You could cut it with a knife.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this oolong experience and I want to say thanks again to Fong Mong for the samples.

Oolong after Oolong after Oolong…YES…it appears I had a LOT of Oolong to drink in my NEW-TO-ME Pile! I have made quite the dent in it this week tho! YAY!

This really didn’t have a scent to it before or after infusion.

The tea-on-the-tongue, however, was very creamy, velvety, smooth. Light on the sweetness and light on the buttery notes! This is an extremely relaxing Alishan – and I do love a good Alishan. AhhhhhH!