Taiwan Cui Yu Green Jade High Mountain Oolong

Mine is a spring 2011 tea but it is SO wonderful. It is amazing the difference between a quality cup of tea and, well, others lol. My husband loved this and sat drinking with me and that is a rare occasion – for someone who rarely drinks tea and knows nothing about it he is a total tea snob! At least he knows a good cup though!
Buttery, slightly floral but not so much as I don’t usually care for floral teas, and vegetal but not overly so this is one I really adore!
Thanks Life in Teacup for the sample!

I already KNOW this would be good for more than one infusion. It’s very faint in aroma but the leaves are a very vibrant green! It’s a mellow and relaxing taste but down right tasty!!!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea.

This is a wonderful Oolong. Strongly floral. Light buttery taste. Slightly astringent. Very pleasant!

Sipdown no. 172. A sample.

Wow, what a pleasant little tea. I didn’t really know what to expect from it, and it was a nice surprise.

The leaves are rolled and green, and they smell fresh and a little grassy in the packet. I steeped them in short infusions in the gaiwan at 195F, starting with 15 seconds after rinsing first.

1. Pale yellow liquor. Vegetal fragrance, a little like spinach or maybe bok choy. Pleasant vegetal flavor, a bit like a Chinese green tea.

2. A bit darker yellow this time. Fragrance is similar to no. 1 with something floral around the edges. Deeper flavor, somewhere between spinach and freshly mown grass. Very smooth and fresh tasting.

3. Liquor color is hanging tough at the same pale yellow. More pronounced floral note this time. I’m still getting a green tea flavor, a bright flavor rather than a buttery one. But I’m wondering if this is trying to morph into something like a tieguanyin in later steeps.

4. A little paler yellow with a greenish tinge. Aroma is less bright, more mellow, heading toward something reminiscent of diary. Flavor still bright and fresh. I don’t think this is going to head any more toward a tieguanyin than it already has, which isn’t much. Leaves have pretty much completely unfurled at this stage and they’re a sort of olive color.

5. Looks yellower this time. The flavor is starting to fade a bit, a bit less bright, a bit more mellow without reaching buttery.

Very enjoyable. I could definitely drink this again.

I usually like most oolongs, but…this one.
The taste was like a grassy, roasted peanut. I don’t know how else to describe it. xD Usually that kind of combo wouldn’t be that bad-at least it would be drinkable. But I ended up pouring that one. :S
I don’t know-it just didn’t work for me I guess.
Glad I got to try it though-props to Mandy for helping me explore oolongs more, even if I find some I don’t like. xD

3g, 4oz water, boiling, rinse and then 20,20,30,45,60 second steeps.

I started with a quick wake up rinse, poured hot water on and then immediately poured off. After allowing the leaves to rest for a minute, I smelled them. Light roasted peanuts. Yum.

First steep is pale yellow. The aroma is vaguely roasty, buttery, and fresh green. The flavor is like fresh edamame drizzled with just a touch of butter. Second steep picks up some of that floral taste that a lot of green oolongs have. I’m not usually a fan of floral, but today I’m enjoying it. I’m getting honeysuckle (which I don’t mind in tea) and I want to say orchid (which is ok depending on my mood). I’m also still getting the edamame and maybe some Lima beans. I think it’s the interesting mix of the floral and the buttery sort of nutty legumes that makes this oolong so enjoyable to me.

Third steep is less pale and more medium gold. The floral notes take on an almost heady intensity, but never losing the buttery edamame note. Forth steep I forgot to time, but I think it was an about 45 second steep. Color is a bright sunshine yellow. The floral has mellow out a bit this steep. Now it’s almost creamy, and a touch of mineral swirling in with the floral aftertaste. And of course the edamame and Lima bean.

I probably should have went longer with the 5th steep. It’s creamy, a little buttery, a little beany, and a little floral, but overall, much weaker than the last. I might do an extra long steep to pull out the last of the flavor, but I think these leaves are pretty much spent.

So as you probably know from my endless rambling, I am going to Pennsylvania in a little less than a month. Me being me, I have started packing, or at the very least planning what I am bringing, three months is a long time so I have to make sure I have enough tea and crafty stuff. I decided to ship my origami paper rather than try to tote it along during travel, the box weighed a whopping 17.6 lbs, that is a lot of paper! The real problem will be tea, I am pretty sure I am going to just fill my duffel bag full of the stuff, because I drink a ton of tea.

Today’s tea comes from the high mountains of Taiwan by way of Life in Teacup! Taiwan Cui Yu Green Jade High Mountain Oolong is a modern style green oolong from Nantou and was harvested in the winter of 2013. Since this is a nice shiny green oolong the color of jade and spring time, I decided to bring out my yixing teapot seasoned for green oolongs (yes I have three different kinds of oolong yixing teapots, I am silly like that) since I have not given it much love lately. I find myself craving green oolongs in the late winter and early spring, they match my desire for green things since that time of year where I currently live is rather drab and brown. The aroma of the tightly curled leaves is sweet and green, a mixture of green stems, orchids, and yeasty fresh baking bread. As I pull the leaves away from my nose I also get a hint of spicebush and cane sugar.

The steeped leaves smell like a bouquet of spring flowers, with strong notes of honeysuckle, hyacinth, and orchid. There are also notes of fresh stems and a touch of freshly baking bread. The liquid once it is out of my teapot is very sweet, notes of cane sugar, yeasty sweet bread, honeysuckles, and orchids waft out of my cup, it smells delicious!

For the first light steeping my mouth is greeted with a very delicate taste and a buttery mouthfeel. There are notes of fresh green stems, butter, and deliciously sweet flower nectar, it reminds me of eating honeysuckle nectar while still tasting the plant it came from.

No surprises, but I am going in for a second steeping! The aroma is even more floral, reaching headiness in its level of floral. There are still notes of green stems and baking bread, but those are faint in comparison. The taste is still fairly mild, buttery mouthfeel mixed with green notes that border on vegetal. The mid to end taste of the tea is floral and sweet with a slightly mineral note at the finish. It is very soothing.

For the third steep the aroma is very floral, notes of hyacinth and honeysuckle with a hint of stems, it is much milder than before. The taste starts off creamy, almost buttery with a hint of stems, this transitions to gentle floral sweetness and a touch of fresh vegetation. This tea is very much so what you expect when you drink a green oolong, nothing stood out as fantastic, but it was still quite delicious.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/life-in-teacup-taiwan-cui-yu-green-jade.html

Just finished a cup of this and immediately made another. I’m impressed. I ordered a few of the free samples from Life and Teacup and so fr I’m 2 for 2. Absolutely delicious! Very smooth and fantastic quality. I think this is one of the best oolongs I’ve tried so far. I will probably be purchasing a few ozs of this in the next week.