Shanlinxi High Mountain Spring Oolong Tea, Lot 720

We like to say that this superb high mountain tea terroir is just in our backyard. Despite being too often over-shadowed by the better-known Alishan terroir, we are very proud to say that Shanlinxi has developed into one of the highly reputed growing areas in our own Nantou County, and rightfully so. The spectacular tea gardens are nestled at an elevation of 800 to over 2000 meters and some of them have such vertiginous inclines that mountaineering equipment is required to go and pick the leaves. Shanlinxi oolong distinguishes itself from other Gao Shan oolongs in that it features clearly defined balsam notes that make it particularly appealing to the palate and nose. Many say that the luxuriant fir-tree forests surrounding the gardens have something to do in conveying this fresh evergreen feeling in the cup. This very first Shanlinxi high mountain offering is from one of the lower sections of a reputed garden with a south-west facing incline in what is know as the Ginko Forest area. The oxydation level is right where we like it to be for expressive floral notes. It offers a wonderful multi-layered experience which will reveal sweet buttered corn at first, then fresh balsam notes and a flowery finale as if your were eating tender wild flowers. This spring 2018 iteration comes from the same grower as last year’s and, if the speed at which it sold out is an indication, this will be selling out very soon as well due to the superior quality of this year’s offering. This is a very satisfying and certainly one of the best value high-mountain teas we will propose this spring.