Nonpareil Taiwan DaYuLing High Mountain Cha Wang Oolong Tea

Happy New Year, everyone! Starting my year in tea with something very nice. I made a pot of this for my brother and his girlfriend.

The first thing I noticed about the little green nuggets is the scent. A hint of the ocean, followed by sweet cream and flowers. As it steeps, it comes out to a lovely pale greenish yellow. It’s very light-looking, almost deceptively so. Like the other teas I’ve sampled from Teavivre lately, the leaves are whole and beautiful. Hardly nicked.

I have to say right now, this might be my new favorite oolong. It’s so smooth and it lacks a lot of that pungency that oolongs can have. Most of the ones I’ve tried have had a certain nuttiness about them, but this one doesn’t. I’m literally tasting just floral goodness and cream. Or milk. It’s soothing and fresh tasting. Wonderful.

Thank you Angel for these samples!

I absolutely positively LOVE oolong teas. I cannot say that enough. This one is great! It is a green oolong. I love how it is all balled up then unravels as it is steeped. It is fragrant and floral and green. I love it. It steeps to a nice pale yellow. The flavor is light and floral. There is just the right amount of natural sweetness to it and there is no astringency that I can detect. Delicious!! This can be steeped several times.

This tea starts out with a heavenly delicate floral scent, especially if you dump into a preheated gaiwan & let the leaf warm up. I went with a series of short steeps, which started out a comforting creamy vanilla pudding with a gentle floral overlay, & gradually became rice crispies (the flavor, not crunchy).

This is a lovely soothing oolong. Thank you to Angel & Teavivre for the generous sample.

Thank you, Angel, for the samples and including me in the oolong flight!

Brewed with the gongfu method in a gaiwan. Followed the website’s instructions. 5 second rinse. Steeping times: 30, 30, 50, 70, 90, 120, 150, 180.

The session begins with a seaweed-y and sweet dry aroma, followed by a buttery wet aroma with a note of sugar snap peas. Wonderfully flagrant – one of the pleasures this tea offers. And the leaf itself is another. It has such a beautiful shade of green, and the leaves appear so lively as they float in the gaiwan.

The liquor is light greenish gold in color, clear and clean, and full-bodied yet light, like water from a small pristine pond. Though the flavors are not fully developed, the first infusion offers a creamy texture and a buttery sweetness reminiscent of kukicha.

The creaminess disappears in the infusions thereafter, though the smoothness doesn’t. The second infusion is very sweet with a creamed spinach aftertaste. Three, four, and five have a stronger floral note. Five in particular tastes of spring flowers that entice bees excited for fresh nectar after a long winter. Additionally, the texture is thicker, and the buttery note returns. I am reminded of shincha.

The sixth and seventh infusions have fewer flowers and more sweet candies. Ending the session, the eighth is the fruitiest and juiciest, with an aftertaste of strawberries, blueberries, and bananas.

This is only my second Da Yu Ling. A good one to end this oolong flight!

Dry leaves smell lovely. Floral, creamy, and green.

First impression is very floral. I unfortunately scalded my tongue so now I need to wait awhile until I can taste this.

After it cooled a bit, this tea is very much like other high mountain oolongs I’ve tried. Long lasting floral aftertaste, going down green and creamy. It also resteeped really well.

Thank you Angel for this tasty sample!

Thank you, Teavivre for sending me so many free samples! So excited about them!
This is the first one I’ll review. But to be honest, I feel like it’s not so much of an honest review. xD I steeped it for a little more than the time it says on Steepster, but even after that I just think that this one deserves to be steeped “grandpa style”. This would be GREAT to drink with the leaves constantly at the bottom of my mug.
I always seem to want floral-y oolongs to be stronger. Which is probably because I used to always steep everything (mainly oolongs though) grandpa style, before I even knew what that was or that there even were steeping times for things. xD
After I steeped it for the right time it tasted mainly buttery and light. So I decided to put the leaves in longer. After a few minutes I could taste the floral more. And since I really like the floral taste, it would be better “grandpa style” since that flavor emerges when it’s steeped longer..
So yeah. xD Sorry for the rant.
Basically!
I like this tea. But I wanna try it “grandpa style” because I know I’ll like it even more like that! Pretty good though. Happy to have tried it! :D
Thank you again, Teavivre for the samples!! :D

Backlog.

Lately it’s been too hot for tea, especially the black tea which seems to have finally completed it’s aggressive conquest of my shelf space. Under an Everest of unopened black and puerh samples I found this stranded oolong- originally a smuggled sample from Amariel’s giant Teavivre swap bag (you gave me so much tea, Amariel!).

I’m glad I decided on this one; the minty floral profile is a refreshing thing in a house with no air conditioning. The first steep of the first serving had an interesting curry leaf aroma (I have witnesses that can vouch that this cup smelled distinctly of that plant), but this quality never resurfaced on the subsequent steeps. Probably for the best; mint and flowers are good enough.

I’m sad cause this is the last tea of the free sample pack I received from the generous Angel at Teavivre…thank you! It’s been a wonderful experience.

Oh, I think I just died and went to Tea Heaven on a Wednesday night!

(This happens every time I drink Da Yu Ling oolong it seems…)

I mentioned it before, Da Yu Ling is my favourite high mountain oolong. I keep two other brands in my cupboard, and was very curious to try Teavivre’s.

It doesn’t disappoint.

The nuggets are lustrous and super green, very tightly rolled. They smell like wintergreen!

The taste is light and “fluffy”, buttery and creamy like any typical green high altitude oolong, but it has that little extra je ne sais quoi, a certain spiciness that could be similar to nutmeg with a fresh spearmint finish. Yum!

I do prefer the ones I usually buy, but this was very enjoyable.

It’s an expensive tea and I’m so glad I got to try it for free.

Thanks again Teavivre for the opportunity.

Let it be said, I have the best mom ever. Yesterday I found out that Enjoying Tea is having a sale on some of their Yixing pots, and I mean a massive sale. I really wanted the lovely Purple Clay Bamboo teapot (it has a similar theme to my current Oolong Yixing) but had absolutely zilch when it came to money. So she totally surprised me and bought it for me, of course the hard part will be deciding what to season it with while waiting for it to arrive. Roasted Oolong, Fujian Blacks, Sheng Pu Erh, Shou Pu Erh? So many decisions, any suggestions?

Today is another offering from Teavivre: Nonpareil Taiwan DaYuLing High Mountain Cha Wang Oolong Tea, and what a mouthful that name is! Let’s break it down, shall we? Nonpareil is French for without equal (or it is those amusing sprinkles used in baking, but that is another meaning) Da Yu Ling Mountain is mountainous region in Taiwan, and High Mountain refers to the impressive height the tea is grown at. A whopping 2,500 meters above sea level, the highest of the High Mountain teas, nestled in the cold clouds. I believe that Cha Wang means Tea King, and since I have seed Da Yu Ling Oolong referred to as the King of Teas, that makes sense. The aroma is, well, it is a Da Yu Ling, the aroma is spectacular. It is very rich, blending heady orchids and honeysuckle nectar with roasted chestnut and a hint of spinach. At the finish there is a slight sweet bread quality, specifically fresh yeasty bread drizzled with honey.

After I finally manage to pull my nose away from the dried leaves and give the tea its much desired bath time in the gaiwan, the aroma hits my face and I drift off into a happy place. Oolongs just have that affect on me, their aroma is hypnotic, especially High Mountain Oolongs. The wet leaves are sweet, blending honeysuckle nectar and orchids, with a hint of spinach and chestnuts. Very similar to the dry leaves but without the yeasty quality and mostly heady floral. The poured off liquid is very sweet, primarily the aroma of honeysuckle with a hint of orchid and mineral water.

Strap yourself in (if your desk chair has that function, mine sadly does not) because the Teavivre website recommended eight steeps with the gaiwan, and you can bet I put this tea through its leafy paces. Oh that velvety mouthfeel, it just fills up the mouth. The taste is faintly sweet and floral with a mild vegetal midtaste and a faint mineral aftertaste. The first steep is very much so a prelude of greatness to come.

The aroma of the next steep is very heady, mostly honeysuckle and orchid, with hints of vegetal and chestnut. The mouthfeel is more buttery than velvety this time around. The taste starts more vegetal and then pretty quickly fades to honeysuckle sweetness with a mineral aftertaste.

Round three, the aroma is much sweeter and with stronger notes of honeysuckle. As with the previous steep the mouthfeel is still quite buttery and smooth. Also in common with steep two it starts with vegetal (I would venture a blend of spinach) with chestnut notes and fades to honeysuckle sweetness that stays until the aftertaste.

The fourth steep’s aroma is very sweet, pretty much entirely honeysuckle nectar and a hint of orchids. The taste is sweet and creamy all the way through, fading from honeysuckle nectar to sugar cane juice with a finish of chestnut. This steep seems to be the most intense so far, it is quite incredible and worth savoring.

The fifth steep’s time to shine, the leaves have thoroughly unfurled and cause the lid of my gaiwan to rest on a nest of leaves, it is quite pretty. The aroma is pretty much identical to the previous steep. The taste is also very similar but with more of a cane sugar sweetness than floral sweetness. The finish has a hint of fresh plum juice that is just delicious. This one rivals the fourth steep for favorite

Steep number six’s aroma has a surprise for me, it is still very sweet and floral but instead of being mostly honeysuckle and orchid there is also a bit of gardenia, it is such a heady blend. The taste starts off sweet and floral and mostly stays that way until the end where mineral finishes it off. Even though the end is mineral the aftertaste is floral.

The seventh steep’s aroma is faintly floral and sweet, a ghost of its previous glory with orchid and gardenia. The taste starts off delicately sweet and floral and fades to mineral which stays for the aftertaste. The previous buttery mouthfeel is much subdued as well, it is still soft but not as smooth. The tea is certainly on its last legs.

Time for the finish, like any good symphony, it ends gracefully. In fact, I think I will compare this steeping experience to Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony (first movement), because the colors of the music match the colors of the taste. Synesthesia is hard to explain sometimes. The aroma is faint, the whisper of flowers carried in on a breeze. The taste is gently sweet with just a hint of a smooth mouthfeel and a very delicate floral finish. I am not sure if I can say this Da Yu Ling is now my favorite Da Yu Ling, it is certainly a contender! Clearly I need a side by side battle between the two, but regardless the experience was heavenly and I certainly recommend giving it a try if you can!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/04/teavivre-nonpareil-taiwan-dayuling-high.html