Mountain Tea

So this is the winner of the NATC 2012 – Green Oolong Category – 1st Place?
Excellent! Let’s see what it’s all about, shall we?

I must say I was rather surprised that an award winner wasn’t already logged here at Steepster! I’m very excited to try it and grateful it was sent to me!

I agree with the official product description saying this smells a little like cashew prior to infusing. I’m loving that because I LOVE Cashews!

I also agree once infused it smells like orchards and hay. I wasn’t really making the connection to the sugar cane, tho, but that’s ok!

It has a buttery-green texture on the tongue. The floral notes SHINE as you sip. This is VERY slippery – you know how I hate the term ‘mouth feel’ but I’m not sure how else to describe it. It’s a very green-flavored oolong and I totally see why it won that award! It’s the definition of Green Oolong! Nicely done!

Backlog:

An outstanding Oolong! Ali Shan Oolong teas are my favorite, but, if I had to choose a second, this one would certainly be a contender. In fact, if I spent more time with this tea, it could even be a contender to replace my beloved Ali Shan – this stuff ROCKS!

Delightfully fruity with notes of citrus and stone fruit. Woodsy tones and a sweet honey-esque note. One of the sweetest, most enjoyable Oolong teas I’ve ever enjoyed!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/03/24/fenghuang-guifei-oolong-tea-from-mountain-tea/

A pleasant, typical, no-nonsense jin xuan oolong – floral, creamy, and sweet. The dry leaves promise a creamier tea than the liquor delivers. But an enjoyable tea nevertheless at a nice price.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 2:30 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 5:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10+ min.

Thank you Emily M for this wonderful oolong.

I finally found an oolong with floral notes that I might have to purchase. The floral notes in this one are very delicate, but they are a welcome addition to the more vegetal and creamy flavor of the tea. This oolong has a savoriness about it that I haven’t found in other oolongs.

Also, my husband, who previously said that he has no interest in trying teas of the floral kind, came into my room an asked what I was drinking. He said it smelled really good. That’s something coming from a coffee-drinking resistant-to-conversion guy.

Not all flowers are my enemy after all ;)

Flavours of honey and flowers pervade all infusions, with the former more prominent initially and the latter to the fore subsequently. Too light for my taste. The leaves, however, are stunning to behold.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 3 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 5 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10+ min.

A very dark oolong, naturally sweet and mellow with a fresh taste. I didn’t taste any apple in my brew. It is wonderful, I usually drink it when I am in the mood for a darker tea. Highly recommend.

Review on SororiTea Sisters is delayed to the 15th in order to get a different tea reviewed before Valentines Day.

Full review will be up on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 7th of Feb but here are the snippits for now:

Medium Roast Dong Ding from The Mountain Tea Company is Mmmmmmm delightful! Dong Ding Oolong is my all time favorite tea. This tea brings me back to everything I first loved about loose leaf tea.

I really love the lingering floral taste the tea leaves behind. Yes, even beneath all the roasting, the caramel notes, brown sugar notes, sweet barley, and woods, this lovely little spring of floral note comes out just barely gracing your palate. Its lovely!

Another one from Nicole! Thanks so much — it’s very appreciated! This one sounds interesting! It looks really delicious too — very dark leaves for an oolong with hints of red.

First steep —waited around 10 minutes for the water to cool. Then I would infuse for 20 seconds, take the infuser out, sip a bit of it, and then steep for another 20 seconds. I did that until I got to two and a half minutes. Somehow, the flavor stayed consistent. I wasn’t finding the magic in this cup like others have found. There is like a light charcoal flavor and fragrance. I wasn’t finding the apple or anything else fruity that others have mentioned. There really wasn’t any typical oolong flavors here. There is something oaty and vegetal about it. It also dries the mouth a bit. It’s a tough one to describe.

Second steep — I used just boiled water and steeped for one minute. I couldn’t taste test right away — the water was too hot! But it tastes exactly the same as the first cup.

I can’t really tell if this is a tea that you should steep for around 15 seconds or minutes. It seems to taste the same either way. The Mountain site wasn’t too helpful either! I don’t dislike this one, I just think I’m missing something!

Mountain tea calls this an oolong, but it tastes more like an incredibly rich assam or Ceylon to me. Very rich nose, taste, and finish, without any bitterness. Rich and complex. I brewed 3.0 gm in 6 oz of water for 1 minute. A second steeping had the same good character but was not quite as powerful

Full review will be on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 21st – until then here are my snippits;

Ginseng Oolong from The Mountain Tea Company is just like every tea they sell, perfection! I have to say, I approached this tea with trepidation. I really don’t know why but ginseng is not an herb I favor. I have plenty of experience with herbs and I know the health benefits of ginseng but I simply have never really cared for the flavor of it. Ginseng, to me, has been something you have when you are needing an energy boost, or are falling ill, etc, and I generally prefer to avoid it. Well you should see me blush when I found myself actually enjoying this cup of tea!

Just as their description says, you can still taste the beautiful oolong beneath the ginseng which does not over take the cup with cloying sweetness but is perfectly balanced between sweet, floral, herbaceous, and creamy.

If you are like me and fear the ginseng – don’t be fearful! This tea is something I would drink anytime, anywhere!

Loose
Appearance: med size, knobby oolong, bicolor
Aroma when Dry: milky, sweet (eastern)
After water is first poured: vanilla and milk
At end of first steep: deeper milky notes, almost hinting at spice
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: clear
Staple? YES
Preferred time of day: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first: creamy, buttery, deserty
As it cools ? Starts to get nutty, little less creamy, less sweet
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, buttery, thick, creamy vanilla-ish notes, slight citrus quality

Second steep 4min
at first: nutty, deep, woody, no milkiness
As it cools? tea sweetens again, milky, nutty layers

third steep (6min)
Milky, sweet still but getting lighter, floral notes surface

Soo many teas I need to try and write notes for! And I think I have some more waiting for me when I get back to school. :P

Dry leaves: The dry leaves have a thick, chocolaty aroma that reminds me of brownie batter. Its mostly chocolaty, but with some nutty/bready smells as well.

Brewing: The wet leaves have a strong, juicy aroma of red apples. Not like “a little bit apple-ish”, like “if I was blindfolded I would think there was a red apple in front of my face” haha This tea brews lighter than I expected, with the red-gold color of oriental beauty.

Tasting: The tea has a heavy charcoal flavor that sort of reminds me of the coffees grown in Sumatra. I wonder if this is coincidence, or a flavor imparted by the land like the Wuyi “rock” flavor? There are notes of honey, walnut, fresh red apple, and I might be crazy, but anchovy? Not in a bad way, just interesting and I don’t have a better word for it. The tea has a soupy quality that reminds me of some Chinese greens like long jing and bi lo chun.

Overall this is a fairly nice tea. Not a favorite, but definitely unique and worth trying, especially with Mountain Tea’s low prices.

Thanks Alphakitty
This smells like malt, cookie, and apple.
It’s infuses to a medium brown.
This is unflavored but has a lovely natural apple touch to it.

A little bit of all of the following…crusty, malty, sweet, apple, cookie, woodsy – on the tongue! YUM!

Tea like this is why I drink tea!
I do favor darker oolongs more than light ones but come on! This is INSANELY good!
I have written a long review for SororiTea Sisters site but let me just say YUMMMMMM!!
Here are some Sound Bites from my full length review:

A bit like a peach that is not quite ripe enough to be eaten yet but temping nonetheless. There is a subtle sweetness as well somewhat like honey but not cloying. A nutty note plays around but disappears quickly, lingering fresh asparagus, dandelion, and fresh flower notes prevail.

Things just slow down around you. I find myself not quite so annoyed by my doggies incessant barking at the neighbor’s dog, not quite so bothered by the television blasting noise from the other room, not quite so anxious. Through all that noise I rather am picking up on the birds chirping happily outside, the sun is steaming into the house more brightly, and I just feel peaceful.

Ohhhh Yes!! This is one of those teas that makes me realize how far I have come as a tea drinker.

Lots of honeyed sweetness in the liquor of this tea, along with more subtle flavours of caramel and peach. Very light and delicious.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 2:00 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 4:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10+ min.

Deliciously floral and sweet through all four infusions, this tea is a real treat. Great looking leaves and liquor as well.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 1:30 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 2:30 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 4 min.

Fourth infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 10+ min.

Trying this one in the new bat gaiwan tonight (thanks to Amanda ‘Soggy Enderman’ Wilson for the lead on where to get one!). I still like this, but sadly, I think my tastes or my tastebuds have changed because I don’t like it as much as I used to. I’m getting far more mineral notes tonight along with some tobacco and some bitterness in the later steeps. Maybe not actually bitter but very metallic. It was never a quenching tea, always more on the dry side but I’m not even getting any malt tonight. Oh, well. I have a whole lot of it and this is from an admittedly old batch, though I store in relatively tightly sealed, opaque tins. I haven’t opened the new package from this year yet. Maybe that will be different.

I know it’s possible that medications can change what you taste. I’m on a new one and possibly the problem it’s supposed to cure could also be impacting – minor GERD with a minor hiatal hernia. So I’ve been cutting back on my tea intake since I’m supposed to watch my caffeine levels (in addition to not eating anything I normally eat…). Oh, and lose weight. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do that when a major part of my dessert substitutes are liquid caffeine. :)

http://tinyurl.com/p7pu6nt

Yup, still like this one a lot. It’s thick and brothy and smooth and yet still mineral-y and sweet. Still get no apples, though. :)

I have been looking at my tea stash(es) and my tea cupboard and my tea shelf and thinking “Man, you really have got to drink this stuff before you buy anything else, on sale or not. This is getting obsessive and probably it probably indicates an addiction. Not to caffeine but to collecting and hoarding.” So I threw out things that I knew from the last tastings were past their prime and not very good. I’m newly resolved to not let my tea “go bad” anymore. And if I do without a favorite for a little bit while I still have a second favorite or two, so be it.

And in pursuit of yet another stash reduction, anyone who wants to try something, let me know. No swap needed, please don’t send me anything. :) My cupboard is up to date. Browse and let me know!

2 teaspoons tea/16 ounces water per steeping.

I made the mistake of drinking 32 ounces of this on Monday night between dinner and bedtime and I was awake All. Night. Long. Caffeine normally doesn’t bother me but that sure did! But the leaves were so neat as they completely unfurled on the 2nd steep – I just couldn’t help myself.

This tea has grown on me. I like the dark, malty, natural taste. It is a thick tasting tea. Second steep was equally good. I could have gotten another 16 ounce steep out of it without appreciable loss of taste. I won’t drink that much of it in the evening again, but I will be replacing it in the cupboard when I run out. :)

Steeping at boiling definitely makes a difference. Taking rating off as it is unchanged from my previous 84.

Okay, revisiting this one today.

I get none of the same oily Chinese food smell from it now. Maybe it was just something from the packaging.

I’ve steeped this twice for four cups so far. I still get no apple notes at all. But I do get quite a bit of maltiness, no bitterness at all, and wow, do the leaves ever expand! There is a fair amount of stems in this, though maybe that is to be expected with these kinds of dark oolongs. And while I’m here, Mountain Tea Co. lists this in the Dark Oolong section of their site, but the description just says “black tea.” So I’m not really sure if this is an oolong or not. But I am liking it more than my first time around.

Photos of the steeped leaves:
http://s1165.beta.photobucket.com/user/dagony/library/Black%20Pearl%20by%20Mountain%20Tea%20Co

First sip reminded me of Chinese takeout and not in a good way. Tasted sort of like the oily smell of it. After it cooled a bit the taste was slightly fishy and dusty, but not in a bad way, as odd as that is to say.

For lack of a better descriptor, this tea tastes “natural.” I didn’t get any apple taste from it, but I only had time for one steeping. I think I am at least interested enough to try it a few more times. I find the darker oolongs take a few sessions before I can really decide if I like them or not. My preference thus far is definitely for the lighter oolongs. But, that said, this interests me.

I’ll experiment with the temp and steeping time. The package said boiling but I went with caution. The leaves didn’t really open up much so I’m thinking it really does mean boiling. :)