This tea is wonderful. Tasted immediately after their generic JX, I think I enjoy it about as much, although I believe this is higher quality tea. This one is much more floral and has a more noticeable, lingering buttery aftertaste and hou yun. However, this one is over twice the cost of the generic version.
The more interesting comparison to me is to their other Alishan. This is much richer and fuller feeling, while the other is lighter, crisper and juicier. Cool to see how vastly different the two are in profile. While their website does not list the cultivar for their other Alishan, I believe it’s safe to assume it is Qing Xin, as the majority of Taiwanese high mountain oolongs are made with that cultivar. And these two teas are from the same area and (I think) made by the same farmer, so the only significantly different variable is cultivar. This tea is like a bold, buttery chardonnay, while the other is akin to a juicy, light gewürtztraminer.
No bitterness or astringency. Medium sweetness (a bit more than generic version). Longevity is 10 infusions.
This was my last sample from Eco-Cha, and they have become one of my favorite vendors, along with Farmerleaf, Verdant, and Yunomi. My ONLY complaint is that they would provide the same detailed information on cultivar and location for ALL of their teas on their website and indicate the harvest on the bag (I bought right before/as the Spring 2023 teas were coming out).
Harvest: Winter 2022
Location: Ruili Village, Meishan Township, Chiayi County (1000 m elevation).
Dry Leaf: Floral, cream.
Wet Leaf: Floral, vegetal.
Flavor: Cream, butter, floral, sweet, vanilla.
Flavors: Butter, Cream, Floral, Sweet, Vanilla, Vegetal
