Eco-Cha Artisan Teas

Backlog:

An absolutely LOVELY oolong! The aroma of the dry leaf is herbal with floral tones, the brewed tea is more delicate with a vegetal note and hints of flower.

Delicate and light but still full-flavored. Sweet and very creamy. Floral with light vegetal notes. Later infusions develop the vegetative notes, and the creamy notes begin to subside, but it is still very delicious and well worth the effort to resteep.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/02/27/da-yu-ling-high-mountain-oolong-tea-eco-cha/

This was a sale item I threw into my giant stock up on their Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Concubine oolong (which is really something to stock up on), and I was excited about the idea of Eco-Cha quality oolong in a travel-friendly tea bag. So, two different reviews.

As a travel tea: Pretty good. I’ll definitely take this with me on my next trip, and it’ll give me something pleasant, hot, and resteepable to have easily available. And I’ll really enjoy that. Despite it’s delicacy, it does have a touch of that oolong creaminess that I’ve never found in a tea bag before.

When I’m at home and have other choices: This wouldn’t really ever make the menu. It’s too delicate, and I’m not sure whether that is attributable to the tea itself or to the leaves struggling to expand in the tea bag (which really puffed up!). And there is a little flavor of the bag itself (when did I get to be so sensitive? Did I just write that?).

I have grown weary of floral Oolongs so this is one of my last few that I have left to review. I’ll be back to you flowery ones someday, just exploring others for now lol.
That being said,,,,,this is a very good one!!!!!!!
The rolled green dry leaf is very toasty-smelling and it really entices you.
The liquor is golden colored and has a lovely floral scent.
The flavor has a lot going on!! There are flowers, cream, astringent notes, parsnip, a touch of roasted nut maybe a brazil nut? The floral and astringent notes are prominent though making this a nice, cleansing tea.
Very nice floral Oolong.

Backlog:

This one was in my January Steepster Select Box and I was thrilled to find teas from Eco-Cha in that box! I love Eco-Cha!

The aroma is gently spiced. These spice notes are part of the sip too, I taste notes of cinnamon and clove. Mid-sip, I notice hints of mint. There is a grain-like flavor to this too, sort of like malt. Not like a malty note you might taste in an Assam, but more like the flavor of a hot cereal. That kind of malt.

A very comforting tea. There is a fruit note that is somewhat fruit-like, like currant.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/02/05/red-jade-tea-eco-cha/

My 100th tasting note!! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I chose this Jade Oolong for St. Patrick Green!!!
The dry leaves are very green, tightly rolled with stems and smell of creamy butter!!
The liquor has a subtle floral scent and lots of buttery notes as well.
The flavor is flowery and creamy. Though it is herbal and floral dominant, there is no astringency which really is impressive. There is a tiny hint of bitter but I don’t mind bitter as long as it is not accompanied with tannic or astringent qualities. This is a very good example of an unroasted oolong.

This tea has a distinctly mint flavor to it. I also gets hints of cherry and cloves. Uniquely flavored.

This tea smells so good, roasted and warm little rolled tea leaves.
Brewed, the liquor is a dark amber jewel color and smells like roasted nuts and baked cookies.
Whoooaaaa!! The flavor is very delicious!!!! Creamy roasted goodness. I love Da Hong Pao and this one is rivaling that as my favorite roasty tea!!!!
I am glad I chose to take this down to 195 F. I am getting to where I don’t want to brew any tea at 212 F,,,it is too hot for the leaves for me. I love my tea kettle where I can set the temp that I want and 195 still gets the leaves to open and keeps them from being burned.
The wet leaves are all opened and a dark green color, as if they roasted them first and then rolled them (but I know nothing of how they create these wonderful teas).
It has that burnt sugar color and flavor in crème brûlee that I love. This is definitely a very yummy, complex, and worth getting more kind of tea!!!

Whoa!!! Now the word “buttery” gets thrown around a lot but this really is buttery and has a very creamy mouthfeel. There is a lovely, but not overpowering, floral note that accents as it finishes.
I used my glass teapot that has a huge brew basket so the leaves had lots of room to open up,,, because they really puff up from their original little rolled green balls with stems.
The scent of both the dry tea and the liquor is just heavenly, like lovely white citrus blossoms.
I brewed this at boiling and then a re-steep at boiling and I detected a bit of bitterness so I got fresh leaves and lowered the temperature to 200. This was a much better temperature and produced the same buttery notes with no bitterness.
Also the packaging of Eco-Cha is is both Earth-friendly and classy. It is very nice and comes with a very informative tasting note for each tea. This tea was made by an artisan who has won first prize in the Nantou Co Jin Xuan Tea Competition out of 2400 entries.
This is definitely delicious and I am honored to get to taste it!!!!

this is the perfect throw in your travel tea tumbler for the day tea. quite delicate and flavorful all day long, even upon multiple steepings! has gotten me through a few troublesome mornings this week.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Steepster Select tea! It smelled wonderful and tasted the same! I think that the description/tasting note on the package, hit it right on. This tea makes me appreciate oolong tea and how complex it can be. Try it!

I would like to say “Ditto” to what CelebriTea posted! I read her note as well as the description about the spices that followed. I didn’t intend for it to be sweet if you will, when it said cinnamon, but I did intend to detect it in either smell or taste. This had just a basic black taste to me, nothing complex about it. I drank this straight, I knew from the taste that sugar and cream would not complement it for me even. Sorry

Had this tea again, after reviewing it yesterday for Oolong Owl – it seems a type I should just save on certain days I feel like yellow flowers and spring. I think it was I was lazy, the bag of tea was still on the table, and I needed something to drink after lunch.

I prepared it western style, so 212f for 3.5 minutes. This oolong does much better gaiwan’ style. The floral wasn’t as distinct western style, though it was much smoother. Sit down and take your time steeping SLXHMC oolong!

A lovely, I can’t wait for spring tea! So much floral going on here, actually a whole yellow bouquet of orchid, osmanthus and tulip. Along with that, bit of a nutty earthy flavor and an interesting light astringency sweet creamy peachy taste. Totally a tea for a floral oolong lover!

Huge leaf too, very high quality tea! In fact, I had a HOLY HOOTS that’s a big leaf moment!

Full review and photos on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/shan-lin-xi-high-mountain-concubine-oolong-eco-cha-oolong-owl-tea-review/

My last to try from the Steepster select box. Green oolongs are usually not something I prefer due to their florality, so I’m not really expecting to be bowled over by this. But, after reading the story of the tea itself and the farm it comes from I am curious to give it a try.

Steeped gong fu method per the Eco-Cha website instructions.

First steep, 1:10.
Smells of butter, tastes strongly floral. Reminds me strongly of a Ti Kwan Yin (though without that thick, oily mouthfeel), down to the tightly rolled balls that constitute the appearance of the dry leaf. Perhaps I am imagining it but as the tea cools I do think there’s an indistinct fruitiness that is trying to assert itself. Those flowers are pretty tough to contend with, though. A pretty yellow liquor and zero bitterness.

Seconds steep, 1:30.
Now that some of the leaves have unfurled I am seeing a lot of branches still attached. Interesting. I wonder how they were concealed? Did those tight little leaf balls really contain that? Mm.. the dry leaf now holds a very sweet pear note. I hope the liquor does as well. It has, sort of. The floral note is still the strongest but fruit (apples or pear) has become more obvious too. Much more juicy and sweet to taste. Definitely like this steeping better.

Third steep, 1:50.
In the smell of the dry leaf – flowers again, a darker, spiced fruit. Cinnamon, strangely enough. This steeping has considerably less floral and is becoming a bit astringent. A mix of astringence and fruit, but the flavor is waning in general.

Fourth steep, 2:20.
This will be my last steeping, as it’s really really light on flavor now…almost tasteless. Flowers are back, fruit is gone. It’s come full circle, if you will.

I will say this was an enjoyable experience. It solidified what I already knew about my tastes and greener oolongs. Still, it was the first time I’d ever gotten to do a gaiwan steeping of a green oolong and there is a lot to being able to smell and examine the leaf between steepings. It was quite relaxing and a great exercise in mindfulness, and that’s never a bad thing.

Wonderfully and interestingly complex flavor, medium amber color, holds up well with milk.

Subtle green and woodsy flavors with a bold milky aroma. I liked the sweetness on the nose, but the flavor profile was so timid compared to the aroma that I just wanted something more bold. Pleasant grassy green notes at the front, with subtle milky undertones that linger. Warming tea, nice for the wet weather outside. 7/10, would drink again.

Very nice. Smooth roasted pine nut notes on the first few steeps. Lots of subtle honey sweet flower flavors as the steeping continues. Hints of summer forest and manzanita flowers. Lovely yellow green liquor.

I had quite the scare Friday night, I dropped my external hard drive and broke the casing, snapping the usb port off, meaning no access to my external hard drive. That is where I keep all my photos, because my computer has this weird quirk that if I try to edit, upload, or look at photos that are not on my external hard drive it causes my browser to crash. It drove me crazy, taking sometimes an hour just to add photos to a blog post, but there was an easy fix. I thought I would be able to get a replacement casing the next morning but Ben was too busy to take me to the store, and was not sure when he would have time. I was panicking because I wanted to update my blog, but he found time today and got me a spare casing in case of emergency. Hooray!

Today’s tea has a delightfully long name, Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Concubine Oolong by Eco-Cha Artisan Teas. This tea has a fascinating story behind it, its production depends on a small insect (a leaf hopper to be exact) biting the leaves of the tea causing the plant to have an immune response giving the tea a unique taste. This tea is slightly different than the other version of bug bitten tea, Oriental Beauty, by having the leaves tightly rolled rather than curled. The aroma is honey sweet with roasted almonds, sesame seeds, and pine nuts. It reminds me of a snack, specifically those delightful candies made from sesame seeds and honey that might be one of my favorite treats ever. This oolong is a great blend of sweetness and nuttiness, there is also a mild hint of peanut butter on the finish.

Brewing the leaves the aroma is still richly sweet but there are now sharp notes of fruit and osmanthus flowers with roasted nuts and a faint hint of lettuce. The liquid once poured off the leaves and out of the gaiwan after its short little steeping has floral notes and stewed veggies, specifically spinach though there is also notes of lettuce (though not stewed since who stews lettuce?) and the roasted nut aroma that has been present throughout.

The first steeping’s taste is quite rich with a creamy, almost oily mouthfeel. The taste is an intensely floral blend on osmanthus and gardenia. The floral tastes fades to roasted pine nuts and sorrel in the middle, that fades to a wildflower honey taste that lingers in the mouth.

The second steeping’s leaves have an incredibly floral aroma blending osmanthus and gardenia (so glad I bought osmanthus flower a while ago so I know what that smell is, it is very distinct!) The liquid is honey sweet with notes of osmanthus and roasted pine notes. The taste is intense! The mouth feel is dry in comparison to the first steep, the floral note is mostly osmanthus now, but the roasted nuts taste is the most prevalent. It fades to sorrel and ends on a faintly sweet note.

The third steeping has a crisp aroma of osmanthus and pine nuts, the liquid smells much the same as the leaves but with a touch more sweetness. The taste starts off with the roasted nuts and sorrel taste which fades to an osmanthus midtaste. There is an interesting finish blending honey sweet and slight sourness, similar to a citrus sourness but without the citrus taste. This tea is quite fascinating and complex, I have had many oolongs that have nutty, floral, or vegetal qualities, but never all of them at once and so distinct. Looks like being nibbled on by bugs really does make for a unique taste, this does not mean I will let mosquitoes bite me during the summer though.

Photos and Blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/eco-cha-artisan-teas-shan-lin-xi-high.html

2/23/14 Afternoon tea. 5g/12oz/212F/4min 2 steeps. A very enjoyable dark oolong. I wanted a good strong tea for the afternoon, and this fit the bill perfectly. Strong roasty honey/coconut aromas in a lovely deep gold tea. It reminds me strongly of the roasted chestnuts I would buy from street vendors the winter I lived in Chicago. The second steep finished with a light astringency that was really nice.

Mildly spicy, fairly full-bodied tea. Definite notes of clove, but other flavors fairly muted. Almost had a chai-like aspect to it, but not overpoweringly so. Very comforting and warming flavors, but not a terribly complex tea. Would be great to warm up on a very cold day. 6.5/10, wish it had slightly more interesting flavors, but would drink again.

2/23/14 Vertical tasting, thanks to the awesome guys at Eco-Cha!

I had the rare opportunity to compare the 2012 and 2013 summer crops of this directly. It was a fascinating tasting. The two teas are clearly the same tea, and yet distinctly different – like me dressed for a dinner date vs me dressed for backpacking. Okay… so I’d probably have the boots on either way… but still, different.

The standard – 3g/100 ml gaiwan/200F — starting at 10 seconds, adding 10 seconds each steep. This tea easily supported 4 steeps. It also showed brilliantly brewed western style, with 3g/12oz/200F/1min and a second steep of 3 min.

Overall – Red Jade #18 is an interesting tea. It has a rich savory vegetal umami to it unlike any other black tea I’ve had. It reminds me of sun dried tomato paste. The aroma carries cinnamon and mint.

2012 — A very twisty matte dry leaf. Deep intricate aromas and tastes. This year was Red Jade in the spice market; lots of cinnamon, clove, cardamon, and such a rich umami that my husband said it reminded him of steak.

2013 – Straight dry leaf, darker then 2012. This tea was lighter bodied and less intricate, but the flavors and aromas were darker and more earthy. The savory umami was more direct, almost smoky. A clear light toasted cinnamon note.

My husband loves this tea deeply, and wants to drink it every day. I enjoy it, but it wouldn’t be the tea I picked off a menu to drink.