I got the Four Seasons pack from Pear Mountain, and I am enjoying all of them. However, I am going to have to constantly rewrite notes as I crank them out and backlog, and likely talk about the samples in unison.
I tried this tea out first and foremost as I gong fu brewed it. The first 20 sec steep was milky and sweet like spices and brown sugar amidst a faintly green background, and the second 15 steep was like milk soaked in cinnamon toast crunch, hitting a high sugary note that enveloped the back of my throat, and then my sinuses. The cinnamon and brown sugar notes kept going steeps 3-5, but then faded out into osmanthus ever so gradually. I got some slight stonefruit notes that I’ll have to pick a part when I drink it again, but the sugary notes and the spice accents were the most prominent.
That said, it was vegetal, but more viscous than herbacious. The vegetal notes were otherwise very faint and light like coriander since the texture dominated the steeps with the sweeter flavors. The greener notes showed up in the later steeps, developing a more citrus like edge into steep ten. It’s a tie between this tea and the snow pick so far, but I will say this is a very good Li Shan at a great price for $25 for 100 grams. I’d be interested to see how my next visit with this gem changes. I noticed a difference in the vessels for drinking the snow pick, so I’m curious what it has to offer.
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Since you picked up on osmanthus, I’m going to have to try an osmanthus oolong I bought before getting into my 10g pouch of this tea.
It was in the very last few steeps.
Nice! I just ordered the pack as well, so it’s good to hear these are tasty :)
Yeah, I could not resist it. $32 for a Li Shan sampler is awesome!
I heard about them on IG and have a handful of samples on their way to me. I got the spring version of this tea. How do this compare to Tillerman’s Li Shan?
Tillerman’s Lishan has more staying power and fruit notes, so it does exceed this tea, but this one is a little closer to the Cuifeng in terms of its spicy notes. I got more flavor in the roof my mouth for this one, and more flavor on the tip of my tongue for the Cuifeng. Cuifeng also was more alpine and conifer like, whereas this was straight up levels of sweetness. I’m not sure if I have a particular preference in terms of the taste because they both had the notes that I love in Lishan, but with their own character.
Since you picked up on osmanthus, I’m going to have to try an osmanthus oolong I bought before getting into my 10g pouch of this tea.
It was in the very last few steeps.
Nice! I just ordered the pack as well, so it’s good to hear these are tasty :)
Yeah, I could not resist it. $32 for a Li Shan sampler is awesome!
I heard about them on IG and have a handful of samples on their way to me. I got the spring version of this tea. How do this compare to Tillerman’s Li Shan?
Tillerman’s Lishan has more staying power and fruit notes, so it does exceed this tea, but this one is a little closer to the Cuifeng in terms of its spicy notes. I got more flavor in the roof my mouth for this one, and more flavor on the tip of my tongue for the Cuifeng. Cuifeng also was more alpine and conifer like, whereas this was straight up levels of sweetness. I’m not sure if I have a particular preference in terms of the taste because they both had the notes that I love in Lishan, but with their own character.