Mountain Tea

I’ve had this in a sealed jelly jar in my tea cupboard for several years, with the provided desiccant pouch, and it has remained stable in its delightful taste and aroma. Brewed 2.5g in 7 oz 90°C alpine spring water for 3 min each steep, in a stainless steel basket. The first infusion produced a clear, deep golden liquor with a floral and vegetal aroma, but the leaves had only partially relaxed. The second infusion was a lighter gold color, similarly fragrant, and the leaves had almost finished expanding. The flavor is a mouthwatering, smooth, sweet, fruity and well rounded sensation, tickling the taste buds all around my tongue. Most reminiscent of ripe mango flesh, there was more that I can’t quite pin down. If orchids had a flavor, I would include that, too. There was a long, satisfying finish that left me eager for the next sip. after a 30 minute pause, a third infusion yielded much the same as the second, with somewhat muted flavor and aroma. The leaves were fully relaxed and olive-green (see photo). I begin to think that a single western-style steeping of 2.5 g in 16 ounces of 90° water for five min. would have been optimal, probably exhausting the leaves. I suspect that boiling water would have merely driven-off some of the pleasing aroma.

I would NOT recommend this as an iced tea, because once it had cooled to room temperature, much of the flavor element had diminished. I expect it would only further diminish when chilled. Next time I plan to add a lump of sugar to see how that changes the flavor, if at all.

Definitely one of the more green oolong teas I’ve had but still oxidized enough to cut back on the vegetal/grassy taste. Really nice clean taste, especially after a few steeps.

OK for the price, but nothing special. It has a nice mouthfeel, but each steep has the same fairly simple flavor profile. Somewhat sour finish.

While the “honey” part of this tea is a bit questionable, it is a very good, clean oolong. Sweet, fragrant, and one I wish I had ordered more of.

Underwhelming. I had high hopes for this high mountain tea. The tea had an amazing smell out of the package but unfortunately that is where the goodness ends. It was a flat taste and no outstanding flavors. Tried using hotter water to coax out more flavor but to no avail. It just isn’t there. This review is of their 2018 edition.

Another tea from the puerh plus box. This one is just amazing, its smooth sweet buttery, with a tiny touch of spice. Clear light and very flavorful, it has that high mountain taste you get from the really good Taiwan oolongs.

I brewed this tea in my yixing, with 205 water. Starting with a rinse I got a very light clear liquor that produced a wonderful aroma. The first infusion was light and the flavors still hadnt popped yet.

In the second infusion I got the intense honey, spice, pear and peach flavors you get with the high mountain oolong. This continued in the third and fourth, with a slight drop off with the fifth. Though the flavors remain mostly consistent.

This is really nice tea, and Im glad I got to taste it, I havent gotten to taste many lishan oolongs so far. They seem a tiny bit more fruity and spicy than the Alishan oolongs. The type of Taiwan tea , ive tasted most often.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes high mountain or Taiwan tea.

Another tea I forgot I had. This one could almost qualify as “aged” as I think I’ve had it since 2012 when I first ordered from Mountain Tea. I remember not particularly liking this one as it was very floral. The dry leaves seem to have lost most of their aroma and are a little less green.

Brews up floral though! Honeysuckle, gardenia, maybe lavender. Slightly buttery, slightly herbaceous. It has a slight sparkling quality that reminds me of watered down ginger ale.

This might be a pretty good tea if you like floral teas like green Tie Guan Yin, but it’s not for me. I didn’t even make a second steep.

Brews up a medium orange with a sweet and savory aroma. This tea has a super clean taste and mouthfeel for a black tea, no maltiness to speak of. The main flavor note that I get is maple syrup/molasses, though it’s only slightly sweet. It’s slightly fruity like citrus and red apples, though slightly vegetal like artichoke. I’d also say that it has a bit of umami and mineral/spring water.

The small, black lumps unfurl into nice, big, dark oolong-like leaves. Lasts a decent number of infusions, but not as infusible as most oolongs or some blacks can be.

Overall it’s fairly nice and may be a good black tea for green tea and oolong drinkers. It’s been I while since I drank it, but it’s very similar to how I remember Mountain Tea’s Black Pearl tasting.

I got like six free ounces of this tea during a promotion Mountain Tea did last year. I’m not the biggest drinker of green oolongs, but every once in a while I find myself in the mood and I’ve been slowly working my way through it. Tonight was one of those nights.

I gave it a quick rinse and let the leaves open up for about a minute. Brews a very light yellow-green. Tastes of under-ripe tropical fruits, parsley, kale, and cane sugar. The first steep is a bit thin, but by the second it has a nice creamy texture and flavor. Like some other
greener Taiwan oolongs I’ve had it has a lingering fruity sweetness in the mouth that reminds me of Flintstones vitamins.

Overall it’s a fairly nice, budget Taiwan oolong. Also makes a good overnight cold brew.

I’m planning an order with Mountain Tea to get a big stash of their Amber Oolong, and I want to try their Ruby #18 black and aged Green Heart as well. Any recommendations for other “must try”s ?

One of the best LiShan Oolongs Iv’e had very floral and good mouth feel got on Amazon for a great price.

See my full review on Sororitea Sisters:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/02/18/an-early-taste-of-spring-with-mountain-oolong-spring/

Very strong green floral with a strong honey sweetness. This tea has a very strong and pronounced character/flavor/identity as a green oolong and is tasty, if that’s your flavor. However, as distinct and strong as the taste was, it was a bit one dimensional to someone who isn’t a huge fan of floral green oolongs (i.e…. me).

Still thought this was a good tea, though, especially at the price point (I think I got it for something ridiculous like $7/5 oz? I don’t quite remember, it was on mega clearance when I first got it, the heritage honey was only $5/5 oz at the time as well, and I think it’s currently $12/5 oz since they’ve gained some visibility) and tastes deliciously full of nectar and honey which come out front and center when cold brewed.

Deep floral-nectar sweet with a creamy taste and a light tickle of astringency, but with a nice bit of spice to it, something reminiscent of cinnamon and other slightly spicy tingles to the underside. I liked this one better than the other tea I’ve tried from them (the brusquely labeled “Jade Oolong” they also had on clearance awhile back when I first found them), this has nice slight brown tint of roast or oxidation to the edges of it.

Benefits from a little more leaf as those spiced notes really stand out when pushed with hotter water, more leaf, and faster steeps. I enjoyed this much more than flower bomb oolongs and would consider ordering some more if I didn’t still have about 2-3 oz of this left. I’m a little sad that I’ve been neglecting this one for so long, much of the flavor has faded since I first tried it. I’ll experiment with roasting it for a good while in the slow cooker and see what results, I think.

This is nice, but just doesn’t quite come up to some of the other AliShan I’ve tried. They’re usually very smooth — TeaAve’s, I remember was particularly silky. The floral and vegetal notes are here, but to me the balance feels off. It’s just a bit more orchidy than I would like. I’m still experimenting with water temperatures, but so far, the floral notes always come out dominating.

It’s not bad at all, just not a favorite.

This tea makes me happy. Not because it’s the “best” or “highest quality” tea, but because it’s exactly what I want in a roasted oolong. Good complexity with fruity, spice, grain, and resiny notes with just the right amount of roast to compliment but not overpower. Overall it just “fits” my pallet right, like the worlds most comfortable pair of underwear. I’ve been drinking this a lot lately, whenever I’m not craving anything in particular, and I’ll definitely have to stock up on a lot the next time I order from Mountain Tea.

Tightly rolled medium brown leaves. Brews and amber color. Has a fruity pineapple note as well as hints of roasted barley, pistachio, brown sugar, cannabis, cream, and cinnamon. A nice medium roasted oolong.

First steep: 10 oz disposable coffee cup (because I forgot my travel mug) + boiling water that makes tea undrinkable for like an hour because it is so hot
The pearls unraveled very fast and now fill up the entire teabag (they have expanded about 3x their previous size)

The tea was extremely flavourful and typical of a good quality black tea. I love how it is as strong and bold as a tea that would normally be bitter, but there is no hint of bitterness or astringency from this tea. I also taste oats and tannins.

Second steep: same deal
It only steeps medium gold this time and it a little bit weaker. It taste mostly spaghetti noodles with no sauce, like wheat and wet straw.

Overall, this is a very strong tea the first steep but then is not quite as strong in the next cup. I might experiment with the water temperature to try to get 2-3 cups out of my next leaves.

Mountain Tea adds flavoring to this one; their unflavored milk oolong is marketed simply as Jin Xuan. Nevertheless, this tastes very natural to me, even if the creamy buttery flavor is a little stronger than what you would find in unaltered tea. So smooth! So mellow! Really enjoying this one :)

Sipdown of this one too :( It didn’t take long for this to become my go-to afternoon tea, so the 2 oz. I purchased to try went really fast. Must get some more asap.

I wish Mountain Tea did samples (I think I would have purchased a sample of each and every one of their oolongs if they had). But even going in blind, jade oolong seemed like a safe bet. Every jade oolong I ever had has been delicious, and this one is no exception. Mountain Tea’s version has a lot of nuance: the honeysuckle note is strongest, but there’s also a hint of butter and a very slight tang. I don’t know that I would have thought of honeydew if I hadn’t seen it in the notes, but I can see how that tang could read as honeydew. Overall, a delightful tea.

So excited to get my first order from Mountain Tea :) I received some of their tea in a Tealet contest and was completely won over. Normally I stick to greener oolongs, but I made an exception for this one — it’s SO dark, the first time I had it I was convinced it was black tea. It tastes like raisins and malt, and holds up well to re-steeping. I think a little sugar helps bring out the raisin notes, but it is good with or without.