Shan Ling Xi Oolong Tea

These jade green with hints of yellow buds smell sugary and vegetal. Normally I hate sugary vegetables (ie: coleslaw. Ick, but I’d love coleslaw without sugar). But if a tea smells like that, I love it.

First steep: Waited a while for the water to cool, steeped for 50 seconds, didn’t think that was long enough, then steeped for 35 more seconds. The taste is mainly sweet, much less vegetal than the leaves smell. It’s more of a mildly floral flavor. Very complex but very good.

Second steep: may have been too hot for two minutes. This one really does have a complex & sweet flavor. It is different from all other oolongs I’ve tried, but I can’t begin to describe how. Not quite peachy, floral or milky… but very sweet.

Third steep: …I kind of forgot about, so I have no idea how long it had been steeping. The flavor seems to be lacking, but that may be due to the oversteeping. I’d say unlike most other oolongs, this one didn’t change flavor as much. I definitely didn’t get anything smokey out of this one, like the description says. It’s very hard to describe, so try it for yourself!

Backlogging from my blog, How did I miss steepster the past few days WTH???
Shan Ling Xi Oolong Tea by Tea From Taiwan
This tea has a sweet vegetal smell before steeped and after first steep the leaf has a sweetcorn green/green bean vegetal smell, it steeps up a pale golden color that is very pretty.
1st Steep The taste is sweet and floral with slight astrengency and it has a nice velevety, almost buttery mouth-feel.
2nd steep is still a nice golden yellow color and has a sweet floral aroma. it has a very green oolong flavor still very floral with some astringency and the same velvety mouth feel.
4th Steep (I skipped the 3rd because it was consistent with the 2nd) is very Floral less green and quite naturally sweet very enjoyable. The sweet flavors are like some other oolong I had so I hate to use it agai but almost like the sweetness of huneysuckles.
6th steep (last steep skipped again for same reason) taste is slightly floral more deppend less greenish and the velvet buttery mouthfeel is back.The color is slightly darker Golden Yellow than the first few steeps.
Steep 7 was consistent with 6 enough.
Steep 8 was almost as consistent but with out the velvet buttery mouthfeel.
Steep 9 The coler is a lot paler and the and the flavors are still pretty good but I can tell its fading out so I call it quits and clean up.
This was a quite enjoyable tea, not of of my faves but very good, I’d drink it anytime if it were offered :)

Photos on my blog
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/shan-ling-xi-oolong-tea-by-tea-from.html

This tea is weird. It’s so close to perfect but it’s got two weird little things going on that just totally throw me off. The flavor has so much depth – it’s sweet and fruity and floral and rich. It’s got a sweetness similar to that of a milk oolong, floral hints like a great Ali Shan. Each sip makes me think, “AH! This is going to be perfect!” And then two things happen.

One, there’s this funky little end note and aftertaste that I can only describe as sour. It’s not an overly strong note and not totally unpleasant – a bit like sour apple candy flavor – but it just seems to clash with the rest of the notes in the tea so it keeps throwing me off. And two, the mouth feel is water-thin. This huge, rich, thick, decadent flavor… and this weak, thin mouthfeel that makes me think I underbrewed.

Neither point is enough to kill off my enjoyment of the tea, but it does leave me feeling rather confused while I sip.
7.8g/13oz

Thanks to Teas from Taiwan for the sample of Shan Ling Xi Oolong. I brewed this gong fu style for 7 steepings and started with 50 seconds at 195 for the 1st. There is some astringency which is more pronounced in the first steeping and very slight in subsequent steepings-not in a bad way. I am able to find the smooth buttery quality and floral notes as described in the product description, but not the smokiness. Overall,a nice smooth oolong with no off flavors or bitterness. These days, I always seem to lean to blacks, so given the phase I’m in, I’m not sure any oolong is going to wow me, but I appreciate the chance to try it.

Eh, it’s okay. I brewed a few short infusions of this up in the xi ying teapot. It smells very sweet and floral and tastes buttery but grassy and also I am getting the slightly bitter aftertaste. Perhaps this would be better after a meal. Definitely not one of my favorites from the sampler pack.

Better than I remember the other T from T to be! :)

Winter 2018 harvest.

The weather was finally nice enough to have a tea session outdoor on my patio the other day. This tea was the last of my Tea from Taiwan green oolong samplers and was the perfect tea for the occasion. The fresh air, smell of peonies wafting from my neighbors garden, and surrounding greenery perfectly captured the essence of this tea.

Upon opening the pouch, my nose was greeted with the smell of fresh vegetation, flowers, and apricot. A rinse released sweet, more distinct floral aromas of daffodils, lily, and honeysuckle. The first 5 steeps were delicate yet intensely floral with the aromas coming through nicely in the taste. Silky texture, sweet, and light bodied. As the session wore on, the flowery notes started to dwindle and a pear like fruitiness emerged. The tea became thicker, brighter, and I got some of that great high mountain taste.

I steeped 2g in my 50ml shibo and got 8 excellent infusions out of it. Steep times were 30s/45s/1m/2m/3m/5m/7m/10m. I brewed at around 185 F except for the last few steeps which were at or close to boiling. Even with the longer steep times, it was super smooth with zero astringency.

Method: 1 tsp, 8 oz, 182 degrees, grandpa style

Dry Leaf Aroma: milky and buttery, with a hint of floral

Brewing Aroma: more floral

Flavor: Solid. It’s not my fave oolong, but I really have no complaints. The flavor is mild, as is the astringency. It has a dry finish, but nothing crazy. I would definitely drink this one again!

Meh. A greener style oolong. It is lighter in the mouthfeel, and has a lingering bitter finish. Not as flavorful as the aroma suggests. Really not my favorite so far from the samples.