Shi Zuo (石槕) Oolong Tea

I begin this tasting without additives and the disclaimer that I normally add Splenda to my hot teas, although I almost never sweeten my iced teas. While hot, the best I can describe this is to compare it to a swell effect on a guitar. Once the strings are strummed the sound starts tiny and swells in volume until it fills the room. Being unaccustomed to unsweetened tea this starts very light, almost watery and swells to a crescendo in the floral aftertaste. The breath is left cool and fresh. The taste of this first cup is similar to a tiguanyin but lighter.

Adding Splenda brings out nutty or plant notes that change to a light coppery taste only momentarily before fading into the floral aftertaste. I can’t say whether this is better with or without sweetener. It is neither. It is just different. It does turn lightly buttery as it cools. Maybe it would have done that anyway had I waited. The cooler it gets the more I like it. Room temperature it develops a sort of cinnamon note.

Sample provided by Tea From Taiwan.

I recently received this tea as a free sample from Tea from Taiwan. So thanks for the opportunity to try it!

I realized I forgot to do my exhale-inhale scenting of the leaves! I think I was so wrapped up in figuring out how to brew it. Tea from Taiwain doesn’t give very exact instructions, so I googled for others and found a thread on TeaChat where people were posting how they brewed Taiwanese high mountain oolongs. I read a number of posts and was intrigued by a method in which they had no rinse, a long first steep (90 seconds), then dropped back to 30 seconds and built from there. I sometimes feel like I am washing away some of the delicious stuff with the rinse, plus I often like the first steep best, so I decided to try this method on this sample. I used all 7g in my 6oz teapot, and approximately 200°F water, which people also suggested.

Underneath the lid, smells floral and buttery, and that is present in spades in the scent of the liquor, which is just barely colored enough to look different than the light green of my ru kiln pot. It smells amazing, incredibly buttery and even a bit cookie-ish. The flavor is interesting, more like asparagus or snap peas than I expected, with a buttery undertone. Definitely like crisp, blanched veggies.

I can’t say that I believed a 30 second steep after a 90 second steep would be very strong, but even just looking at the liquor, it is a much brighter green. The flavor is pretty similar, though with ever so slight floral notes this time. And a subsequent steep at 1 minute was basically the same, but also getting more green and less buttery. Then I stopped steeping it because I kind of lost interest.

This tea was pretty good but not really my style, as I am realizing that many Taiwanese high mountain oolongs are not quite my style. Very light and fresh, and it smelled amazing, but too much vegetable in the flavor and not quite enough butter or florals. Still I appreciate the chance to taste this tea!

It’s been a while since I have been in the right mood for an Oolong but I am craving something light and floral at the moment. A while ago I bought a sample of most of the Oolong’s from Tea from Taiwan’s website and this one was chosen at random for my steeping tonight.

Raw this tea consists of dark green leaves that have been rolled into small balls with a sweet, creamy and vegetal scent. Just what I have been craving.

Steep 1 – 1 minute infusion – gongfu style
Pale yellow in colour with a sweet and creamy with buttery notes. It reminds me a little of fresh cabbage water so it is vegetal and green tasting but also sweet and light.

Steep 2 – 2 minutes
Increasing strength this is now very vegetal and reminds me of sugar snap peas. Also getting a bit of dryness on my tongue. Still very sweet.

Steep 3 – 3 minutes
It’s definitely sugar snap pea’s, I snack on them from time to time and it has the same flavour and sweetness. I can only describe the flavour as green but cannot explain what that means…natural…vegetal…a little floral…when you see green planted food you imagine what it tastes like and this is the same as that. Not sure if I made sense there :/

Overall it’s a nice Oolong in taste and quality but at the same time it’s very similar to plenty of other Oolong’s available on the market. I would not go out of way my to buy this again but if I ordered from Tea from Taiwan again I would seriously consider it.

I’ve been having a bad week. Okay, it’s not bad. It’s just stressful. There are guests and holiday accommodations and arguments and late nights. I’m so tired and stressed out right now. Today I have to spend most of my day preparing food for Thanksgiving. I won’t have time to do much cooking tomorrow. I really need some time with a good oolong. Everything can just take care of itself for a while. Time to break out another sample from Tea from Taiwan.

The smell is amazing. Buttery and bakey. Like fresh biscuits. The first cup is refreshing and comforting. So smooth and rich. I took a deep whiff of the wet leaves. Smells like buttered peas (yum!) and bok choy. This is perfect and exactly what I needed.

Second cup is very sweet and fruity. There’s peas at the end of the sip. Delicious. I love peas. and fruit. (Speaking of fruit, I need to go to the Japanese store and pick up more persimmons…)

I don’t have time for a third cup right now, but I’ll be back. This tea is so good. I’m perked up for now and I’ll need to de-stress with this tea later. :)

I am drinking this tea courtesy of K S, one of the most generous souls I know! Thank you!

Flicking through lots of notes on here, I decided to go with a 5 second rinse and a short first steep, increasing for the second. This was made in my small glass pot which is about 8 ounces.

The dry tea is tightly rolled into balls which expand impressively upon steeping into full, deep green leaves. The scent of the tea is a light floral lemon, and the taste is much the same as the aroma. This is a greener oolong, floral, lemon, and light, but the magic happens in the aftertaste. There is a lingering light roasted taste and a warmth left behind.

I have only done two steeps so far, but will probably keep going later this afternoon. This is really delicious!

So I really am at a loss for how to describe this tea. I really enjoyed it and it’s not a bad Oolong at all. I might update this later once I have a little more time to think about it.

This was the only larger pack I got with my tea from Taiwan order…

Yesterday I had a bad day of feeling sick so I wanted something light and soothing. This is lightly floral but also kind of vegetal like Mercuryhime mention below, a bit like buttered peas. There is nothing quite like a taiwanese oolong when I’m feeling frazzled and poorly, relaxing to the mind and to the body. Probably not my favorite one out of the samples I tried but still very nice…

The leaves smell delightful. I tossed in the whole sample (7.7g – a rounded Tbsp) into my gaiwan and did a quick rinse (5s). So away we go!
Steep 1: (1:00 @ 175°) Smells fresh, floral, green, buttery. The taste is surprisingly sharp and tangy. Creamy feeling but taste-wise makes me think of lemon butter. Probably could have backed off the time a bit since this is pretty intense.
Steep 2: (45s @ 175°) Smells fresh, clean. The taste is more of a lemon herb butter. Not quite as intense and sharp but still more citrus than floral, though I think some floral notes are creeping in.
Steep 3: (50s @185°) Starting to smell more “typical” oolong with some floral notes. The taste is more floral, softer, but it still has a citrusy tart twang at the end.
Steep 4: (55s @ 185°) The taste seems a little creamier but also a little muddier. Still overall a very ‘yellow’ taste which makes me think of lemons (though it has lost the tartness it originally had).
Steep 5: (60s @190°) The flavor has cleaned up a bit and is smoother but still lemony (though faint) with a hint of creamy.
I’m sure this tea has at least three more steeps in it, but I’m not sure if I do. I think I’ll move on.

Ultimately, I think this is a quality tea – the tastes are very clear and unmuddled – but it’s a bit too refreshing/lemony for what I’m looking for in a green oolong and so not quite to my tastes. Those that enjoy cleaner, brighter tasting oolongs (and lemony teas) would most likely enjoy this one lots.

I don’t have much time to log this one, but wanted to record that I really liked it! I knew I would from the instant I opened the sample packet; the aroma was candy, cookie-sweet and intoxicating. The sweetness carried though the flavour through a couple infusions, and was accompanied by fresh, creamily floral deliciousness. I think I’ll need to grab some of this to try gong fu style since this one was, again, brewed bottom-of-the cup style today!

Hrm. This is a very green oolong. Very bright, very lemon. A little too light for my tastes, actually.

I emptied my entire sample into my zarafina (I brought my zarafina to work, so there will be a lot of zarafina posts from me these days) and did my first brew as mild / oolong. It was almost overly watery. My second brew was strong / oolong, and while I got the appropriate mouthfeel for an oolong, but the flavor was lacking a little.

I tend to prefer stronger flavors, so this really isn’t for me.

I liked the first steep but after that it kind of gave out.

This one has a zingy gingery lemon zest quality, especially on the finish. The straw colored liquor has a touch of green to it. Aroma of sweet nectar, floral qualities, but decidedly graham-crackery sweet smelling. On the palate it has some astringency, not as smooth as the other samples…the acidity is also coming through much more…the green grassy notes as well, almost like sorrel. Also an almondy nutty note. Not quite what I’m looking for with a green oolong, but the acidity is fascinating. The differences between the samples is amazing.

Very florally and light. I tried steeping this at a lower temp than I usually do oolongs to see if it made a difference and because TFT is not very specific on their recommendations on temperatures or steeping times. I did the first two steeps at 190F and 75 seconds and then two minutes because the first steep was way too light for me. Astringent very buttery taste not altogether bad, but it just didn’t do “it” for me. Tried one last steep at 4 minutes, but was pretty unremarkable. Glad these are just samples.