Si Ji Chun (Ever-Spring) Oolong

I bought 50 g of this tea a couple years ago and am just finishing it now. Since the leaves were pretty broken up, I reduced the steep times to avoid excessive astringency. I steeped my remaining 6-7 g in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 20, 20, 25, 25, 30, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The first steep offers notes of lilac, violet, and other flowers, combined with grass, butter, lavender, and vanilla. The florals become headier in steep two, and the vague butteriness turns into custard and cream. This tea also has the tangy profile associated with four seasons oolong.

In the next few steeps, the grassy and lavender flavours come to the forefront, and the tea starts losing some of its complexity. It never really gets astringent, but the vanilla and florals fade quickly, leaving a pleasant but unremarkable tea by the sixth steep.

At under $10 for two ounces, this was a nice daily drinker. I’d happily buy more of it if Zen Tea decides to carry it again.

As soon as I smelled this tea I knew I had to try it. It’s that mineral, very slightly grassy and floral notes that really hit the nose and make you go… yup have to try that. It has such a pure and airy flavor. Mineral notes are what I pick up on first; especially the more you steep it. Definitely buttery with an aftertaste for fresh cut flowers.

Alright so this is the 6th oolong that I’ve tried from Zen Tea, and the second to be labelled floral, which is really something I tend away from. Now the first one, the TieGuanYin (Review here: http://steepster.com/teas/zen-tea/30494-tieguanyin-iron-goddess-mercy-oolong) was really not enjoyable, and so with this being the very next tea I reached for, I didn’t expect much. But luckily I was pleasantly suprised; the floral flavour is more of a subtle lightness, a sort of root flavour, but what jumps out at me are cream and milk and vegetality, it’s also very sweet with slight astringency. But what it does have is that really nice combination of astringency and creamy/sweetness that makes me unable to slow down my aggressive sipping, It’s a very nice tea :)

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – November 2023 Tea #7 – An oolong tea

Getting VERY few and far between on these sipdowns.  Almost only one month to go to catch up!  I’m enjoying what I drink anyway, and that is what is important.  This was such a classy, CLASSIC oolong.  Going strong after probably eight years.  Was delicious then, still delicious now.  I’m sure the flavors are more muted by now.  But I’m glad it isn’t a great oolong that will sit around waiting to be steeped up any longer. Also, I managed to not buy ANY teas for black friday this year! YEAH. Also, still 34 pages behind on reading tasting notes. I was hoping to get caught up by the time you guys had the avalanche of advents!
2023 sipdowns: 96

I’ve only tried one other 4-season oolong before, and it’s a hard one to live up to. The Green Terrace Tea’s version is so complex and tasty it’s surely one of my favorite teas. The Zen version is a bit less expensive so I’m not expecting the exact same experience.

I western brewed this one for the first try. It’s quite a bit more floral than the western brew of GTT’s version. Mostly gardenia with some lavender at the end of the sip. It’s a little bit buttery but not as strong as a milk oolong. It reminds me of lavender shortbread. It’s a very interesting tea as it’s quite light in body, but is very strongly floral at the same time. A little bit of the cinnamon note I loved in GTT’s is faintly noticeable here. Yum, absolutely delightful. A nice bit of spring on this chilly winter day.

Honestly, both this and GTT’s versions are pretty affordable and I’d love both of them in my cupboard. Anlina mentioned Grandpa steeping her 4-season oolong and it sounded so good I went looking for an appropriate vessel. Cost Plus is currently having a sale and I was lucky enough to find a cute one for a really nice price http://www.worldmarket.com/product/laurent+floral+glass+tea+carafe.do?&refType=&from=Search I can’t wait to try it this way.