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Oolong Tea by The Essence of Tea
This high altitude winter oolong was grown, hand picked and hand processed in Jia Yi county. It won the 2nd place award in Jia Yi County High Altitude Oolong competition and was vacuum packed, sealed in a tin, then sealed in a box before being stored for the last 20 years.
From the packaging: “Jia Yi county contains the high altitude areas of Ali Shan, Da Fu, Zhong Fu, Fan Lu, Zhu Qi, Mei Shan and so on. The altitiude is between 800-1300m. Most of the year these areas are full of mist and these are fertile areas for tea trees to grow. This area has also received a lot of assistance from the government to produce high quality high altitude tea.”
When opening it, it is obvious that the trends for Gaoshan oolong have changed since then, with this tea displaying slightly a very very slight roast, giving a slightly fruity hint to the flavour and excellent complexity. The mouth feel is outstanding, nectar like and very pleasing, while the qi is nice for its age. This is an excellent tea.
This tea originally came in a sealed 600g box containing 2 tins, but to ease the cost of purchasing I offer it individually in the sealed 300g tins or repackaged 25g sample bags.
This one opens up really sweet with candied yams, a hint of creamed spinach and a fresh ocean breeze. There is a deep and lasting vegetal taste that somehow attains a childlike playfulness throughout and is not gassy at all. Kind of like shiso and sugar. There are floral underpinnings and a dusting of cinnamon on the finish.
The thick mouthfeel and sweet, sweet base translates into a contrastingly bright and fruity hui gan like eating a cold white peach on a hot summer day.
