Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea

Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Black Tea
Flavors
Berries, Cedar, Plant Stems, Wood, Black Currant, Plum, Smooth, Sweet, Thyme
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Tea Pet
Average preparation
Boiling 1 min, 30 sec 9 g 10 oz / 287 ml

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7 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I’m thankful that my taste buds have finally sorted themselves out after my cold, I really missed writing and sampling teas. I found this tea to be unusual and I love black teas so that was my...” Read full tasting note
    87
  • “Backlog: Looks like an Oolong. Even the name made me think that this was an Oolong (until I got to the “black tea” part!) This brews to a lighter color than a typical black tea. It’s more like a...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “I almost didn’t get a tea review written today, I spent most the day in a state of brain fog making most of my attempts to communicate a garbled mess. Many cups of tea, a hearty serving of beans...” Read full tasting note
    100
  • “Sipdown 5 of 2016. Sample. Received 1/2014 – Finished 1/2016. Brewing this gongfu this afternoon. I am getting more sweetness out of it this afternoon. A delightful cup. If this accident of...” Read full tasting note
    87

From Eco-Cha Artisan Teas

This tea is an anomaly – as it is the unorthodox result of an oversight.

When the leaves were undergoing indoor oxidation, they were inadvertently left on the top rack – high above eye level. They were discovered the next morning, after they had oxidized to a level nearing that of red (black) tea – probably about 75%. From this point the tea master had to improvise his method in completing the processing of this small batch of “forgotten” tea leaves. This farm has consistently been the source of prize winning tea in Taiwan’s largest tea competitions due to the expertise of its proprietor. Eco-Cha procured the entire batch of this “forgotten tea” because we knew upon the first sip that it was special. A winter crop of Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Tea grown at 1500m elevation that was mistakenly made into a red oolong or black tea is definitively a rare batch of tea.

Flavor: Freshly cut fruit wood aroma with a hint of spearmint. Soothing notes of cinnamon, vanilla, rose, and a touch of savory.

Garden: This farm is owned and operated by a prominent tea artisan with several decades of experience in tea cultivation. He has been awarded champion of the most prestigious Oolong Tea competition in the world which is held at the Lu Gu Farmers’ Association. Nevertheless, his humble character allows us to sit and chat with him in his modest first generation tea factory on a regular basis. The tea garden is cultivated without any chemical weed killers or fertilizers, and only minimal use of water soluble pesticides early in the growing season.

Harvest: Harvest: Hand picked. Singular batch. Winter 2012.

Elevation: 1500m

About Eco-Cha Artisan Teas View company

Company description not available.

7 Tasting Notes

87
1379 tasting notes

I’m thankful that my taste buds have finally sorted themselves out after my cold, I really missed writing and sampling teas.

I found this tea to be unusual and I love black teas so that was my overall purpose for buying this one. It looks so cute, like brown little leaf buds, thick and very autumnal looking. Like rough formed brown droplets.

The tea is light brown and has a wonderful wooden yet fruity scent. Very elegant.

Flavour has elements of wood, musk, honey suckle, prunes and spice. It’s a pleasant medium strength which remains light and full of flavour, it’s the sort of black tea that you could drink many pots of and enjoy the full array of flavours each time.

Further sips have a mature flavour which is hard to define. I looked at the companies page for this tea and they say it has a savoury flavour, I’m thinking it could be that. But savoury or mature, it’s just hard to pin point what it tastes like exactly.

It’s a nice black tea, it’s light yet has character and is very drinkable. So clean tasting and sweet yet full of life. Very nice, happy I picked this one up.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 7 g 20 OZ / 600 ML

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95
4843 tasting notes

Backlog:

Looks like an Oolong. Even the name made me think that this was an Oolong (until I got to the “black tea” part!)

This brews to a lighter color than a typical black tea. It’s more like a golden amber color rather than a chocolate-y color or coppery or red color. There is a slightly earthy and woodsy aroma to the liquid, with sweet notes of fruit and flower.

This is really deliciously sweet. Vanilla notes! Minty tones reveal themselves as the tea begins to cool slightly. The minty flavor is especially noticeable when I slurp the tea. Notes of flower, fruit and wood are also present.

A delightfully complex cuppa. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/22/shan-lin-xi-high-mountain-black-tea-eco-cha/

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100
921 tasting notes

I almost didn’t get a tea review written today, I spent most the day in a state of brain fog making most of my attempts to communicate a garbled mess. Many cups of tea, a hearty serving of beans and toast and several hours of castle renovation in Terraria were needed before I felt comfortable with describing a tea. I am going to blame my brain being foggy on the obnoxious cold weather (all cold, no snow, totally unfair) but at least it is good tea sipping weather.

Today’s tea is Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea by Eco-Cha Artisan Teas, harvested in Winter 2012, this tea is, as the website describes it, an anomaly. Created when oolong was being oxidized and accidently forgotten about meaning it was oxidized to the point of almost being a black (or red) tea. The aroma of this tea is intense! Bright notes with floral tones at first, but the more I sniff the tea the more I detect; oak notes, and cocoa changing to fruity and sweet, ending with a hint of tobacco leaves. I will be honest, I am amazed by the complexity of the aroma of this tea, it manages to blend the oaky and cocoa notes I associate with black teas with sweet, floral notes of an oolong.

Once brewed the already fluffy leaves just explode, barely fitting in my steeping basket, for once I am glad I did not brew Gongfu because I think my gaiwan could not contain the immensity of the leaves. The aroma is at first oaky and loamy with an undertone of baking bread that fades into a gentle sweetness. The liquid has a sweet and fruity aroma reminiscent of lychees that fade to honey and then cocoa. It certainly smells delicious!

The first steep is very bright with almost fruit like tartness that fades to sweet lychee with an midtaste of oak and a very tiny hint of tobacco. The aftertaste is lightly muscatel and sweet, as it cools the fruit flavors becomes stronger. This steeping even though is very bright is also very smooth with a pleasant mouthfeel with no dryness.

The second steeping has a sweet and stone fruit aroma with hints of honey and oak. The first thing I notice is the tart aspect from the first steep is gone and is replaced by rich sweetness. The tea is very smooth blending mescatel notes with honey and oak wood. The mouthfeel is almost buttery in its smoothness, drinking it is extremely enjoyable. This is another one of those teas that I have fallen in love with but could not drink everyday because it is so intense, when drinking it I feel like I could get lost in the experience. It is a tea I would recommend to everyone because it is complex but also approachable, someone with an ‘unrefined tea palette’ would enjoy it (I tested this on Ben) as well as experienced tea sippers.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/01/eco-cha-artisan-teas-shan-lin-xi-high.html

Nicole

This sounds really interesting and appealing.

TeaNecromancer

I can certainly recommend it!

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87
694 tasting notes

Sipdown 5 of 2016. Sample. Received 1/2014 – Finished 1/2016.

Brewing this gongfu this afternoon. I am getting more sweetness out of it this afternoon. A delightful cup. If this accident of over oxidation happened again, count me in for some more of this tea.

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84
127 tasting notes

This is a weird one, good just strange. Not sure were this tea falls caffeine wise but since it is Gao Shan Cha it still possesses the tea drunk aromatic oils :) so I am super mellow and smiley. I’ve western brewed in the past but decided to gongfu today. The first few steeping I got tart dark cherries sour sweet and tart plum at the tail, later a strong berry flavor appeared and remained constant for the rest of the steepings. A sort of piney, woody maybe fruit branch flavor accompanied the fruity flavor. I say fruit branch since it still had the berry taste it reminded me of berry branches that some time make it through the sorting in the frozen berry mix I like to buy.

An interesting tea, not something Id reach for daily (also just realized it was $11/oz yikes) but definitely enjoyable and glad I got to try this one.

Flavors: Berries, Cedar, Plant Stems, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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