Pretty sure I tried this once before and accidentally logged it under Formosa Ali Shan. But maybe not. It’s possible I had two different Ali Shans from Adagio. I went through a period where I tried a bunch of their samplers, including two or three oolong ones.
In any case, I can’t find any evidence that this one ever existed on the internet — except that I’m holding the tiny tin in my hand.
The only samples I have left now are oolongs, with the exception of one black tea. I thought I’d give this one a try today in the gaiwan.
It’s a green looking and smelling, a sort of buttery, floral smell in the tin. The tea is rolled into irregularly shaped balls with stems visible. It looks a lot like the picture of the Formosa Ali Shan, here: https://steepster.com/teas/adagio-teas/11434-formosa-ali-shan
I rinsed and took it through a number of steeps starting at 15 seconds.
The first steep smelled lovely — milky/buttery, lilac — captured subtly in the flavor. The flavor wasn’t a deep one, but was refreshing. The tea was pale yellow.
Second steep, 20 seconds. Darker color (medium yellow) more floral, less butter in the aroma. Flavor was similar to first steep but slightly more robust.
Third steep, 25 seconds. Even darker (golden yellow). Still heavily floral in the aroma. By now the leaves had fully unfurled and doubled the volume of leaf in the gaiwan. I started to suspect that I had in fact written a note about this one before but put it in the wrong place because my experience of all three steeps so far was quite similar to what I wrote under the Formosa Ali Shan. The flavor didn’t change in any discernible way from steep to steep.
Fourth steep, 30 seconds. The color held steady at a golden yellow, as did the aroma. Before this steep, I noticed that the cup had a sugary, pastry-like smell to it, which was very appealing.
It’s a pleasant green oolong but doesn’t evolve a lot from steep to steep, which is another quality that makes me think I tasted this once before and wrote a note under a different name. Then, I called the tea I was drinking a Johnny One Note — this is pretty much that.
I considered taking it through more steeps just to see when it reached exhaustion, but by the fourth it was getting a bit of a bitter note in the finish and didn’t have that swell of flavor in the sip. I will probably drink the rest of this Western style since it doesn’t seem to pay to go through multiple steeps.
Flavors: Butter, Floral, Milk
