Alishan Jin Xuan

This tea from spring 2022 is labelled Alishan Jin Xuan, and I’m assuming it matches up with the Meishan Jin Xuan that’s currently on the site. I steeped 6 g of leaf in 120 ml of boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus some long, uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of milk, orchid, violet, lilac, and mung beans. The first steep has notes of milk, butter, spinach, mung beans, orchids, lilacs, and that crisp mountain air thing I sometimes get from Taiwanese green oolongs. The aftertaste is a bit grassy. Steep two is even more milky, sweet, and floral. Steeps three and four continue to be milky with lilac, orchid, and violet florals, but there’s more spinach, beans, and grass and some earthiness. The florals persist through the next couple steeps, but the tea gets more vegetal as the session goes on. I find that these longer steeps produce shorter gongfu sessions.

This tea has all the sweetness and florality I’m looking for in a jin xuan, but its longevity isn’t as great as some of Wang’s other teas. Perhaps that’s due to age, or perhaps it’s due to the lower elevation. Either way, I’ll have no trouble finishing my 25 g sample.