Mountain Stream Teas

Cold brew is pretty good. Green and grassy, a little brassy, lightly creamy with a high note of orange blossom and the ginger flower beneath that. I’ll probably stick to tiny teapots for this tea, though.

Unflavored milk oolong scented with wild ginger flowers. An oddity I had to try. The site says Spring 2020; my packet states Summer 2020.

So far, I’ve prepared it both gongfu with moderate steeping times and western. Western produces a good cup in which more of the jinxuan creaminess comes through. Gongfu is really how this tea needs to be treated.

It’s not spectacular leaf, but it is very good. At first the taste is watery and the body light, but the ginger flower scenting makes up for it. Creamy, sweet, spicy, floral and green aroma. The flavors become fully integrated though somewhat muted and the body fuller as the session progresses. The ginger flower scenting I think is in balance with the tea qualities. It is floral and spicy but not in the sense that the root is spicy. It lingers in the aftertaste, which is mellow but very long and evolving. It moves around from spicy-floral ginger and mineral to apricot-grass-banana leaf, to creamy with delicate sweet floral mango and lilies. The minerality of the tea tingles my whole mouth, not quite astringent. Mouth and throat feel full and a little dry; the throat then feels minty cool.

This is a very enjoyable tea and is not overbearing in any one facet. The ginger flower scenting adds an exotic experience to a jinxuan oolong, which I don’t drink often. I’m happy that this tea can handle near-boiling water. This tea is definitely worth a try. Glad I bought 25g — let’s see what cold-brewing does.

I wish I had bought a larger package of this winter 2020 harvest Taiwanese white tea so I could have more to play around with. It takes boiling water with no issue whatsoever. The liquor is a bit drying and the flavor a little lacking early, with watery notes of hay, oats, orange, ginger, beeswax, canned lychee syrup. Longer, hotter steeps develop more juiciness and creamy-smooth heft, while a deep orange character comes to the fore. Is this similar to what white tea stuffed mandarins taste like? Check out the wet leaves: they’re pretty small, rounded and many with blunted tips.

I want to boil this tea so bad. And grandpa it. And brew a big pot of it.

Today is beautiful :)

It’s about 10:30 am on Christmas Eve. The sun is out in the far south and shining through some glass art Kiki made that I have hanging in my bedroom’s sliding glass door. The glass is casting red, yellow, blue and green across a small triangle of the floor.

I hear the throaty gurgle of one of the troublemaker crows in the date palm out front (the resident crows inspired another non-review https://steepster.com/derk/posts/419916 ). A migratory waterfowl hollers softly in the distance and at least 4 other kinds of birds are chirping. I see some of the little ones hopping around on the hog wire hoop trellises we set up for the green beans and cucumbers last year. One little bird is going back and forth from the chamomile to the avocado, to one of the figs, to the pot of paperwhites in bloom, to the mandarin. I opened the door to get some fresh air and the temperature and humidity are perfect right now. The door is staying open for as long as this blessing of a day permits.

Kiki put a tray of breakfast at this isolating invalid’s door. My favorite breakfast — hearty toast topped with feta and a fried egg. A side of pink pineapple that is everything I thought a pink pineapple might be without having tasted it before. Side note: pink pineapples are GMO and Del Monte “remove and replant each crown before shipping, sustainably cultivating the next crop of this magnificent rarity.” That’s doublespeak for “we don’t want anybody else growing our trademarked plant at home and making money off it.”

This tea is a blessing, too. Made by the hands of some unknown people in Taiwan. I would like to see their hands tie the knots in the string that cradles the lemon.

I’m on the other side of this virus.

Feeling so overwhelmed with joy and beauty and gratitude right now that I’m on the edge of letting some of it leak out through my eyes. I feel ashamed to experience so much bounty when others are without. I have to reabsorb these feelings, wrap them up for now, pass the package on to somebody who needs it. Someone very important to me once told me I’m too sensitive; countless others have told me I need to open up more. There’s a lot going on in this fleshbag of chemical and electrical processes. It’s best to just carry on as I am.

I can’t believe it has been 3 years since I last ordered from Mountain Stream Teas. After drinking two samples from them that were clearly rancid (not stale), I moved on to other avenues. This year, I felt called to them again, something about wanting, for whatever reason, to try some less than perfect leaf. They have a range of certified organic and no pesticide teas. There are the familiar balled oolong and some lesser known styles of Taiwanese tea, both processed in traditional and experimental manners.

This tea is a part of a series of tea-stuffed citrus fruits that I think Mountain Stream Teas released in the past year or two. Cursory reading shows this method of preserving tea originated with the Hakka people of China and the knowledge migrated with them to Taiwan.

I’m very much a citrus lover and have enjoyed but never been wowed by shou pu’er stuffed oranges/tangerines. When I saw the combination of teas and citrus fruits, I had to try a few. They offer black tea stuffed lemons and pomelos and an oolong stuffed orange (which is only currently available as the whole fruit and not a sample).

I brewed this yesterday morning by stewing it in my work thermos, tossing in a big chunk of rock-hard lemon rind and what tea was stuck to it. It produced a dark and rich medicinal-citrus brew. Lots of sweet, dark raisiny, roasted honey flavor from the black tea mixed with the bright and tart taste of the lemon pulp that was processed with the black tea. The lemon rind looks like something you’d expect to find next to a mummy – this tea was meant to store for the long haul. The peel contributes an earthy, rich and brothy, fermented medicinal zesty overtone.

I think I’d actually like to add this to my collection. It may not get drank often but I really enjoyed it. If the black tea stuffed pomelo is as comforting and satisfying, I may sequester the collection of 3 fruits for the afterlife ;) I’d love to see Roswell Strange’s take on these!

Also, it’s good to see MST got their game together and now vacuum pack all their oolong, even the 10g samples. That should help keep the tea from going stale or turning rancid.

Sipdown! (23 | 227)

Just now getting around to drinking this pot of tea that I steeped this morning… I got sidetracked by looking at tea trays and then went to the store and have been cooking all evening. Now I’m so tired and drinking this cold.

It’s delicious though! Very sweet, thick, and fruity. It has some wonderful honey and molasses notes along with soft, malty bread and grains. A tart yet jammy fruitiness that reminds me of dried cherries. The honey aftertaste is amazing, just like licking the leftover honey from a spoon. It’s a richer and creamier honey note, without much floral presence.

Thankful to be sipping on this on the couch, and thankful that I’m not sensitive to caffeine ha ha…

Sipdown! (17 | 221)

Finishing off another tasty Taiwanese black tea sample this morning! This one is actually from Lishan, which is obviously famous for high-mountain oolongs. It’ll be interesting to see how those notes carry over in a black tea!

I can definitely see some similarities to a Lishan oolong. This has a lovely smooth creaminess to it, and the ubiquitous notes of nectarous peach. Happily for me, it’s not quite as floral as I generally find high-mountain oolongs, but there are some lovely light floral notes at the end of the sip. It also has some lower raisiny tones, and another fruity note that reminds me of overripe grapes. The bread and honey that I often find in Taiwanese black teas are there as well, rounding out the middle, as well as a hint of musty hay at the top of my mouth.

Super yummy! I like the extra creamy and peachy flavors here, and it’s definitely on the light end of things.

Drafting this note as I drink the tea. I drew from Leafhoppers and Lucky Me notes, and well, sense and instinct. I’ll add more as I drink it throughout the day, so expect some changes and edits.

Dryleaf is fruity and creamy, bordering on reminding me of sugarcane. First steep was a rinse, and it’s very sweet. Sweet corn, butter, honeydew (faint), sugar.

Second one after 25 seconds….flower water. Not much of anything.

Wet leaf smells like strawberries and cream. Third about 35 ish seconds in 4 ish oz, and more corn and whatever creamy floral. “Berries and cream,” osmanthus, melon of some form and something else. I’m feeling a little unoriginal, but I am liking this more than I thought I would. The vegetals might come soon, but so far, not so much. We’ll see as the session continues.

Now, 30-40ish seconds (maybe less), PEACH, orchids, osmanthus. Some green alpine-ness in the earlier part, barely vegetal. Very fresh and juicy.

Another round I did not count, probably close to less than a minute, and peach, but more floral. Orchid, herbs, osmanthus, and peachy finish.

47 seconds and heavy fruity aroma. Thick. Tasting it, thick fruit. Peach, jasmine, butter, and cantelope? More melon than peach personally. Immensely fruity.

And I think I’m ready for the waiting. Corn, peach, melon, cream, and florals are prominent for me. I felt very off for the florals though they are clearly present. I’ve been half tempted to write hyacinth for steep two, but I wasn’t sure. It could be the way I brewed it, but it was not as vegetal as the Fall A selection. This one was softer in comparison, though I didn’t expect it to be fruitier. I actually liked this one a little bit more despite it being more subdued. I also think it’s due to a little bit less leaves that I used, or I could be wrong. I’ll write a few things more soon, but I think I’ve gotten what I could out of the tea. Or have I?

Next steep. Vegetal spinach. Floral, but green, buttery, savory and herbaceous.

Reviewing the shared Leafhopper batch is going to be fun. I had a hard time deciding which to try first. Mountain Stream teas tend to have a shorter shelf life, so I started here.

I unceremoniously put the entire sample in my jerry rigged Crimson Lotus Gongfu2Go tumbler. Dry leaf was buttery, with some of the cookie dessert vegetable notes I associate with most of Mountain Stream teas. I did not time it it, but I let it steep until the leaves partly opened. I snuck a peaky sip, maybe after 45 seconds (or a minute-I was bad), and the flower butter taste confirmed it was ready.

First steep was a light yellow brew with a deceptive amount of flavor. The notes were heavy with butter, milk, brown sugar, swiss chard, and cream followed by some of the trademark orange blossom note from the company (that I totally made up-I swear most of their teas have an orange blossom taste even if their black teas). If I were to drink it blind, I might have thought it was a milk oolong. I also got some weird linens texture wise.

Second steep is a little more vegetal and floral as the leaves were closer to being totally unfurled quickly. I’d assume a minute or less. More orange blossom and….osmanthus? It’s not quite “sprite” like, but it’s very creamy. I’m trying to think of the other florals this time. The tea still leans more into milk and brown sugar direction, but still lightly floral. The chard also grows, but less vanilla association than in steep one.

Wet leaves had broccoli and green bean scent, but still floral. Third brew…don’t ask me the timing. ’Nother sip-creamsicle. Let it sit longer…better. Again, having a hard time pinning it down. Very floral, definite hyacinth, honeysuckle, rising into a buttery and sweet finish. The lingering aftertaste is really nice. Again, kinda like a creamsicle. Joy to orange blossom.

Fourth, not sure what to do. I poured another sip. Sweet and flavorful, osmanthus. I got some peachiness from the leaves, before I rinsed it, but let’s see. I let it sit a few more seconds, and much the same leaning into the butter and swiss chard qualities. More seconds, and osmanthus and swiss chard. Again.

Few seconds later…and finally, full peach along vegetal notes. Spinach.

I’m going to pause writing here and confer the other notes real quick. I don’t have a lot of hot water left and am debating how many more steeps I want to push. To be continued in a few minutes.

Okay, I can now come to a conclusion. I still did another steep, and it’s milky. Orange blossom vegetable creamsicle.

So do I like it? Heck yes. Would I have bought it? In the past, yes, but when my preferences were younger. I’ve had older year packs before when the company started out. Mountain Stream has some very unique teas that are hard to find anywhere else, but they are experimental and very temperamental based on seasons. All teas are, but no tea is ever the same from this company.

Thank you Leafhopper! I finished this one with great joy.

In 2019, I bought a sample set of two fall Li Shan oolongs picked several days apart on the same farm. This is the one that was harvested later in the year. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

This tea has a stronger cookie aroma than the Li Shan A, along with citrus, cream, flowers, and spinach. The first steep has notes of cookies, butter, orchids, honeysuckle, other florals, cream, honey, faint citrus, grass, broccoli, and spinach. I get a strong mandarin orange note in the teapot, but steep two just offers more of the cookie and vegetal flavours. I get a strongly vegetal aftertaste. Orange and peach appear faintly in the aroma and taste of steeps three and four, but I really have to look for them. I also get more veggies and the high mountain herbaceousness I found in Li Shan A, along with a lovely apricot/peach aftertaste. The next couple steeps have a soft peach note that’s kind of overwhelmed by spinach, broccoli, kale, and grass. As in previous steeps, the aftertaste is the best part of this tea. The final steeps are a little floral but mostly vegetal, with broccoli, kale, spinach, and some astringency.

Judging from the very similar smell of the dry leaves, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to distinguish this tea from its earlier-harvested counterpart. I needn’t have worried, though, since most of the aroma didn’t make it into the cup. I might need to experiment with cold brewing like LuckyMe to pull out more of the fruity flavours.

In 2019, Mountain Stream offered a set of two Li Shan teas produced a few days apart on the same farm. This is the first of these teas. Mountain Stream used to have a long description for both of them, but I can no longer find it online. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma of these large nuggets is of cookies, orchids, other flowers, butter, and citrus. The first steep has notes of mandarin orange, orange blossom, orchid, honeysuckle, butter, grass, spinach, and cookies. The second adds peach and more intense florals; it has a thick texture while still being sort of drying. I get canned peaches and nectarines in the aroma of the third steep, but the tea also becomes more savory, with umami, veggies, and that herbaceous note I tend to pick up in high mountain oolongs. The vegetal notes of brussels sprouts and beans are more prominent in steeps four and five, though the lovely peachy aftertaste persists. The next couple steeps see the veggies tip the balance, and the session ends with notes of broccoli, beans, spinach, and grass.

This tea peaked fast, but those first few steeps were great. It’s on the burlier side for a Li Shan and the vegetal notes are more pronounced than I’d like, but overall, I’ll have no trouble finishing it.

The last tea from my Mountain Stream order before I move on to Floating Leaves. This one turned out to be the best one of the bunch. I had a very similar Orange Blossom from Mountain Stream a couple of years ago – it might even be the same tea – and there are a few differences in this one. It’s cleaner tasting while the other was more rough around the edges with a sharper orange taste.

Grandpa steeped 1.2g in an 8oz glass using 200 F water. Dry leaf smell is very inviting and juicy. Creamy with citrusy notes of tangerine and bergamot. The brewed tea tastes like perfumery orange blossom water and apricot. The taste is evocative of baklava with its sweetness and exotic floral flavor. After topping off with boiling water, the orange fades and gives way to jasmine like florals. Doesn’t become bitter as long as you don’t overleaf.

A great scented tea if you’re looking for a citrusy floral oolong.

Winter 2020 picking.

Another Mountain Stream Teas oolong that had tremendous promise but didn’t quite deliver. The aroma of the tea enchants the senses with a fruity fragrance of papaya and granny Smith apple followed by buttered flowers when the leaves are placed in a warmed gaiwan. A rinse reveals more complex aromas of custard, coconut cream pie, and meadow flowers.

The brewed tea though is a pale shadow of it’s aroma. Fairly light and nondescript, with vague florals and a little fruitiness here and there. There are echos of the heady aroma but they are faint and not much if any of it comes through in the tea itself. I haven’t tried cold brewing it yet, but I suspect that like the other Mountain Stream oolongs, this too will taste better cold brewed.

Mountain Stream Teas offers 3 different grades of this Li Shan. All of them sourced from the same farm and processed the same, but on different days. The earlier the picking the better the tea is supposed to be. This is their “B” grade which was picked 6 days after the first harvest.

It has similar floral-fruity aromatics as Pear Mountain A with added notes of dried peaches and orchid. I would not recommend following Mountain Stream’s steeping instructions though as I ended up ruining my first cup. Not every tea takes well to boiling water. Anyway, the steeped tea is buttery and thick with mild floral undertones. It leans slightly savory and at time edges towards bitterness which goes away once the water temperature is lowered. Overall, it’s smooth and buttery though not very complex or nuanced.

Now the ambient brew was a totally different story and super delicious. Creamy and elegant, with jasmine like florals and a fruity note akin to strawberry. It had such a clean, effervescent quality to it like fresh water from a mountain spring. I wish I had the finesse to coax out this same flavor from hot steeping.

Fall 2020 harvest.

Had quite a few sessions with tea thanks to the extra 15g that Mountain Stream Teas generously provided with my sample. High mountain oolongs are so unpredictable that I seldom order anything but samples these days.

Opening the bag, I was greeted by a pleasant aroma of flowers and ripe fruit. This turned to buttered beans after dropping the leaves into a heated shibo. A flowery clover like aroma emerged following a rinse. First steep was buttery with an almost pear-like fruity flavor. Next few steeps settled into a light and slightly sweet flavor with muted florals. Thin bodied and flat in the mouth. Very little of the wonderful aromatics found their way into the brewed tea.

Compared to other Li Shans, this one lacked fullness and staying power. I did have better results with ambient brewing but then again, that’s not really the point.

Hmm, so this Baozhong is made from a Tie Guan Yin cultivar but it doesn’t really exhibit the characteristics of either. The lightly twisted long leaves have a slightly pungent vegetal smell and quite a few stems. Flavor wise, it isn’t terribly exciting. It tastes like a generic Chinese oolong. Grassy, with a nondescript floral element, and the barest hint of fruit. It lacks the thick buttery florals of TGY and the lilac bouquet that is classic Baozhong.

This tea is delicious and the smell after brewing is simply intoxicating.

Spring 2020 harvest.

I was on a relaxing, zen-like theanine high all Sunday long thanks to this tea. Most of the time I solo brew small amounts of Taiwanese oolong in my 50ml mini shibo. However, the family wanted to join the post-breakfast gongfu session so I broke out my much loved but neglected TTC purple clay pear shaped teapot and doubled my usual leaf quantity. After a few sips though, they wandered off leaving me to drink the rest and I went to town with it.

This was a delicious Ali Shan. Buttery and sumptuously floral with a thick mouthfeel that thoroughly coats the mouth leaving behind a lingering nectar sweetness. I was a little hesitant about brewing with boiling water as Mountain Stream Teas suggested but this brought out a more rounded body and taste without any bitterness – a testament to its quality. And of course it gives a very nice L-theanine buzz! The only knock on this tea is the longevity. It lasted a mere 5 steeps before fading.

I steeped this in my purple clay pot which holds the ghosts of oolongs past. I wonder how much that helped enhance the tea. Will have to brew this in porcelain next time to see how it tastes on its own.

Sample sipdown! I had half of a foil sample pack of this inside a mini Adagio fandom tin. (Speaking of which, I checked the Adagio site and they have an adorable holiday sampler available now… NO, I do not need it!)

I’ll admit, I don’t generally gravitate to high mountain oolong teas, as they often tend to be too floral for me. Regardless, here we are.

This one has some elements of Li Shan oolongs that I’ve had before, but is also quite different. There is a strong stonefruit presence, but instead of the usual sweeter peach, it’s quite tart, and reminds me of an underripe plum or apricot. Perhaps with even a hint of lemon? The slight sourness lasts throughout the sip and is particularly present in the aftertaste. There is floral here as well, and it’s the type that is not my favorite, though I don’t know enough about flowers to pin it down. I would describe it as more heady and perfumey than sweet. I get grassiness, and a “leafy” sort of almost-but-not-quite vegetal flavor. Maybe something nearing arugula? There’s also a sparkling clear minerally spring water note, and a lovely hint of warm cinnamon near the end.

And, of course, let’s not forget that thick, silky, creamy texture that is the hallmark of green oolong.

Very pleasant, and a bit surprising, but still not something I could see myself drinking regularly as it’s just not my favorite genre. Still happy to try it nonetheless!

I had half of a sample packet of this inside an empty Adagio fandom mini tin. I was shocked that there was no entry on Steepster… I feel bad being the only one to write a note for it, since I’m drinking it Western style, and lazily at that. Looking at the website, it looks like I ordered in March of last year, so at least it’s not that terribly old…?

Regardless, this is super delicious. I love the amount of oxidation here, it’s such a good middle ground between too green and floral (for me) and highly oxidized. It retains some of those nice green and fresh mineral notes but has a lovely rich bready and dried fruit flavor too. There are also some strong honeyed fig notes which are to die for! Maybe a hint of cinnamon as well? And of course, the lovely thick and silky mouthfeel that is a hallmark of oolong.

Nom nom nom!

A delicious tea. The dry leaves smell like dark chocolate, and this gets even stronger after heating them. Tastes like cocoa and wood, with fruity undertones and a little astringency.

I received this generous 15 g free sample in an order I placed last fall, so I assume it is from the spring 2019 harvest. Gardenia is one of those flowers whose fragrance is sometimes hard for me to pin down in tea, so I was happy to get an example of what it’s supposed to taste like. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of gardenias, other heady flowers, peaches, and sweet cream. The first steep tastes strongly of gardenia, orchid, butter, cream, peach, banana, and grass. It’s simultaneously sweet and kind of waxy, and drying in the mouth. The banana and peach persist in the second and third steeps. I get a distinctly floral gardenia flavour as well. The banana becomes more prominent as the session goes on, especially if I let the tea cool. The tea develops a lovely, thick body with a gardenia aftertaste. The florals and grass take over by steep seven, and the session ends as one with a regular green oolong would, with floral, vegetal, and grassy notes.

Although some people might consider this oolong to be too perfumey, I like floral teas and enjoyed this one. I also think it would make a great cold brew.

Spring 2019. This is one of my favorites from my Mountain Stream order. It’s very buttery, and has a mild floral finish. A very easy drinker that I gulped down. No bitterness or astringency at all.