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If you’ve ever had a LaoManE sheng pu’er, then you’ll understand the level of aspirin or rubberlike bitterness of this tea. The cake itself has an intoxicating scent but the flavor and any underlying complexity beyond dark and herbaceous tones are masked by the bitterness. I threw a pinch of a very chocolate-forward black (What-Cha’s Huang Jin Gui) in the second steep to try to give the tea more of a dark chocolate vibe. Can’t say it was successful. I have ~100g to play around with and am curious 1) how it does gongfu and 2) how I can amend this tea to make it drinkable western style. Not sure how I feel about it yet.

Spring 2020

Dry leaf smells like spiced walnuts, pineapple-mango-coconut, vanilla sugar and flowers. Wamring brings out a sweet, creamy vegetal character with spinach, coconut cream, walnut and vanilla sugar. Intoxicating. Rinse brings out a more pungent, tropical fruit character with pineapple, mango, coconut and jackfruit on a spinachy base.

The leaves quickly unfurl. The tea is silky, oily, mouth-watering with salt and other minerals. Complex, rich and evolving aromas, tastes and aftertastes. The strength of the aroma gives the illusion of sweetness, but I’d say the tea is rather mineral-salty and somewhat tangy. Lofty notes of coconut cream, vanilla sugar and rich white florals on a crisp lettuce-straw base change to macadamia and coconut to cream and butter. The aftertaste contains the fruitier notes of the tea. The sweet aromatics blend seamlessly into the aftertaste and when that subsides, the fruitier notes of the tea display with green apple skins and pineapple. Some gentle cooling in the mouth early and later, an impression of sugarcane fills the throat. At the end of the session, coconut and floral vanilla make another appearance in the aftertaste. Burps bring out some of that spinach quality of the warmed leaf.

This tea easily takes boiling water and lower and does well with a variety of brewing methods. I couldn’t stop preparing cup after cup. It’s really that easy-drinking and addictive. A beautiful representation of Shan Lin Xi. Thank you, Leafhopper :)

March 2020 harvest. A mystery oolong pick that Leafhopper shared with me when we went a little crazy in November.

The dry leaf has notes of spinach, walnut, cream, gingerbread and honeysuckle. This transforms into a very floral perfume with the rinse – notes of lilac and gardenia, plus cream and gingerbread.

The tea is one of the most fragrant unscented teas I’ve ever had, so strong that it’s dizzying — in a good way if I were to find myself in a mood that warrants such an effect — but I couldn’t handle it either time. The tea is creamy, sweet, soft and silky and produces a wonderful mouth-watering effect. The floral perfume lingers long in the aftertaste.

The characteristics of the tea soup point to good quality, but the floral aroma is much too intense for me. I can see why this tea garners such positive reviews here, but it’s simply not for me. This is truly a Jade oolong and for those sippers with a major floral tilt, I would recommend it.

Silky, nourishing, grounding, clean. Cooling, lingers in the mouth and throat down into chest. Mild sweetness, mild tang, salivation, tingling. Gently stimulates digestion. Brews much darker than the taste. Excellent tea, especially after acupuncture and dinner, and a stark contrast to the other Fu Zhuan tea I’ve tried which is sharp, smokey and dry. This is loaded with golden flowers. My my.

I’m excited to try a green tea from Georgia thanks to Martin!

Summer 2020 harvest, certified organic. The tea is soft and thick on the sip and transitions to a clean, mineral swallow before leaving a lingering salty and lightly drying finish. Notes of grass seed, green olive and the barest hint of spiced apricot are greeted by a mild astringency. Combined with the mineral-salty character, it creates an excellent palate cleanser and is treating me with a gentle hand upon waking.

While it’s a simple, mild tea, it excels at what it does. I’d say it easily plays a supporting role to the excellent black teas that What-Cha offers from Georgia.

Kiki:

“Oh boy! whispering What is that smell?? Candy, candylike. louder It tastes like strawberry jello. Am I close? hehe Strawberry or raspberry. Tastes very fruity. It’s very pleasant. It’s like drinking jello water before it sets. whispers I like it. It’s so sweet. It’s up there, it’s up there in the eights. It’s the wildberry flavor that we’re tasting burp and smelling, isn’t it? It’s a berry tea.”

derk:

I’m stealing a few sips. It definitely smells tangy, like strawberry jello. Yup, hot strawberry jello water. Boring. Huge list of ingredients. Why do I taste nothing? Nothing bad but nothing.

I….. don’t think 2 years has done this tea any favors. Oh well. It was drinkable and that’s all I ask for! Thanks, White Antlers <3

Kiki:

What is that, like wintergreen or something? Yeah. No, it’s a mint. Huh, it’s peppermint. It’s got some kinda root in it. Maybe. It’s mellow, it’s very mellow. Does it have spearmint and peppermint? It’s like a linden or chamomile. burp Marigold. No. hahaha But it’s tasty, it’s not too bad. It’s at least a 7.5. Geran- no. Chrysanthemum. Is that it, the chrysanthemum? It tastes kinda soapy, the fragrance of soap, that must be lavender. That’s what it is.

Nope.

hahahaha I’d say a solid 7.5. Huh, soap. Are you sure it’s not rose or something?

derk:

Arby nailed this one for me, even down to the undertone of pottery: https://steepster.com/arbutus/posts/409973. I do get orange blossom. It’s pleasant and light, though rather perfumey.

The dry leaf smells like roast and apricot jam. The warmed leaf is sweet, fruity and floral with notes of honey, burnt brown sugar, apricot, powdered sugar and daffodil.

Following a long rinse, the tea is strange in the first steep, light in flavor but it leaves a very strong buttered lima bean aftertaste. The second steep better shows the Oriental Beauty character. I can taste a gently sweet honey, orange blossom, minerals (silica?), grass seed, osmanthus and a light nuttiness. This steep still displays the buttered lima bean aftertaste but in the subsequent steeps it turns into honey, orange zest and vanilla with light cream.

For being a tea 6 years old, this is a serviceable oolong. I don’t have much experience with Oriental Beauty but I found this version from Thailand, while much less oxidized than a regular OB and without the autumn leaf taste, to be more true to that style of oolong than to a GABA oolong, which is what Leafhopper thought it resembled. Maybe it’s somewhere in between!

Thanks for the share, Leafhopper :)

Very aromatic and full-flavored. In the mouth, a bright and fruity peach-apricot-osmanthus note melds perfectly with the rich and deep cocoa-honeyed plum body that’s balanced by woody tannins. A touch quieter pasty-french bread note tempers, creating a cohesive flavor profile. It made such a great morning tea that I never bothered to sit down and pick it apart. My only issue with this one is that it needs to be brewed long western to get my preferred cup, giving only 1 truly excellent steep; a shorter brewing time leaves it a little too high-pitched with a tart blood orange tone.

Thanks for the share, Leafhopper :)