Asha Tea House

I’m having some of this tea this morning… unfortunately I haven’t been drinking it quickly enough (forgot about it in the fridge) but it’s still really good! I went to Asha’s tea house in Berkeley recently and definitely plan to go back soon to get some li shan!

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Sipdown, 187. Yes, I stealth-sipdowned a bunch of teas by removing ones I am sending in a swap. This sample comes to me thanks once again to Ellen!

When I first brewed this and smell primarily the wet leaves my first thought was that this was going to be on of those very buttered vegetal jin xuans. Fortunately it’s not too buttered spinach (though I bet it would get that way if you steeped it too long), but light and more balanced with a few florals as well.

I do like the designation of this tea as “Golden Lily” (I believe the actual translation) instead of Milk Oolong for a Jin Xuan, because many aren’t particularly milky and if you call them milk oolong people just get disappointed. And by people I mean me. :P It’s really more about the texture than the flavor… very smooth, almost buttery-creamy texture, but not much milky flavor. Anyway, I think this is a very nice jin xuan. I was honestly expecting to be more bored with it, as I typically am with Taiwanese green oolongs, but I am very much enjoy my cup.

Sipdown, 196. Thanks to Ellen again for this sample!

I tried this tea at Asha’s location in Berkeley but perhaps under suboptimal steeping conditions. It was good but they had a 2oz minimum for tea purchases and I didn’t feel like investing at the time. It’s always nice to try teas under your own control, how you would “usually” steep things. So I requested a sample from Ellen to give it a second shot.

The tea smells oh so floral and a little sweet even. The taste is pretty vegetal but also floral and fresh. It once again reminds me that I enjoy alishans but am not enthralled by them, and that’s just fine. This is quite a good one, though.

sipdown This has been a wonderful tea. Honey, stones, sweetness. A very long lasting, multi-steep tea that has a very clear flavor and would go great in any oolong lover’s cupboard.

Backlog from last night. I stopped by Asha last night after dinner to have a gaiwan service of this one. I have wanted to try it but never got around to ordering or swapping for it. I like Alishans ok, but I’ve never been wild over them. This one got such great reviews I wanted to try it.

At Asha I did get a tea tray and cup with my gaiwan so that I could decant into it. I also got a pot of water, but it was really only enough for a rinse and two steeps. As it was already getting late I didn’t get another pot… also I was there alone and I didn’t want to leave my stuff to go up to the counter and a refill. I have to say that it’s been a while since I used a gaiwan and I kind of miss it. There is something about it that I really like. Guess I should look into getting one.

They only gave me a relatively small amount of leaf for this one, maybe a couple of grams. Less than I would have typically used, and pretty skimpy for charging $7 for the tea service. She informed me that the steep time should be 1 minute, which I guess it would need to be with that little leaf. It was kind of like steeping western style in a gaiwan. I rinsed it, and this rinse was definitely mostly flavorless as opposed to my typical rinses.

This tea was almost impossibly floral. It seemed almost like an orchid oolong, it’s that intense. To me, it smelled so lovely and buttery and delicious. In the taste I mostly got florals and fresh vegetal greenness, without much butteriness or creaminess. But that is what I would expect from an Alishan, and this one is quite impressive. By the second steep the leaves had opened up, filling the gaiwan about half-way. Still light and green and floral. A lovely tea, for sure.

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sigh after this there will only be one more cup of this left! This tea has been such a treat. Today somehow there were lots of clear, fruity notes. This went along with the usual honey/almond ones that make me love this one so much. Highly recommended by me. :)

One of my faves. I like a lot of milk with my tea and I love that this one is strong enough to hold up to that well.

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ahhhhh. I decided to be super amazing and shovel the whole drive. Well, I got about 75% of it (the part where we walk and park anyways). It took about an hour and I have to say, I’m aching. I have a bit of a migraine from trying to do homework and staring at my screen all day. This tea is the perfect pick-me-up because it is my go to favorite oolong right now.
I’m currently on my 3rd infusion and this tea is still going very strong. For tasting notes please refer to older notes. Today I have to say that my two favorite unflavored teas are this and Hashiri Sencha. They are both perfect, complex, and just what the doctor ordered.

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This is still the best Taiwan oolong I’ve ever tried, and I’ve had quite a few ;) I just love the smell of this when opening the bag! So fresh!

I am changing my score on this. Why? Because I’ve loved every cupful. There are plenty of mineral, honey, roast, and almost nutty notes today. See previous notes.

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I love this tea so, so much. I think this tea is what made me fall in love with dan cong oolongs. This has mineral, fruity, green, and sweet notes. This has a heady honey taste as well that really astounded me the first time I tried it. I highly recommend this tea for oolong lovers!

This second steep is getting its own review because it was so different!
This was a little under boiling for 1min.
The second steep reminds me of stones in summer for some strange reason. The texture is really evident in this tea. There is a great deal of mineral in this cup and it is followed by light fruitiness. It almost reminds me of the insides of grapes. This cup is also more green tasting than my past one.
Still a really unique tea and one that I’m looking forward to drinking again!

I love this oolong. There is something distinctly mineral in the flavoring that I find interesting. But the main attraction is this almost lychee-like flavor. It tastes more like lychee than artificially lychee teas I’ve had! This tea also seems to have more body than other oolongs that I’ve tried. There is a sweet, honey,and fruity juiciness to this tea that makes it one of my favorite oolongs.

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Decent Jin Xuan that’s more mellow on the floral notes. There’s a definite creamy texture…a certain butteriness to the texture. It brews a beautiul darker golden brew that goes down easily. It’s not my favorite because I think it lacks some character, but it’s not bad. Think more creamy, less floral for a formosa oolong.