Misty Mountain High Mountain Oolong

First, let me say I love hand picked teas! Especially with the oolongs, as they usually require more courting and patience to wait for their leaves to fully unfurl. What a treat and reward to those that dare to have the endurance to see and taste this great development. The complexity and change in each steeping, yields even more character and delight.

This tea is such a tea. One that is delicate and tender, with a certain youthfulness of the leaves. Young and aromatic, yet deep and fulfilling. Its medium yellowish green color is brilliant, with a sparkly clarity. The taste of the sip is very intense – creamy, slightly flowery, but more clean and palate cleansing. I’m picking up something that has a nice and tasteful mineral tanginess to the tounge(no it’s not the water – I only use filtered water from my Brita)that definitely adds to all the other sensations with drinking this tea. There is a fullness to the liquid, thicker almost. The flavor lingers on the tongue and sweetens the entire mouth.

Each rolled tea ball, has been tightly rolled with stems attached. Not the normal low quality stems that you usually see from some budget teas. These tea leaves, once they unfurl – reveal some very nice looking leaves and bud tips that are attached to the stems. Everything looks like it still has life to them, freshly picked – not the overly dried up and poor quality look.

I’m very pleased with this tea thus far. For the quality, the pricing isn’t bad at all, if your looking for a good quality oolong.

This company ships for FREE anywhere in the US, which another great reason to try them!

Spring 2014 Harvest.
Quick wash, Gongfu style. 195F
Wet leaves are stewed vegetation, there are some masked floral notes in there somewhere too.

1st Infusion – 20 Sec
On appearance, this looks a little light. Perhaps I should have rinsed twice and allowed the leaves to open up. Of course, my tea set is a deep blue so often with light teas I don’t get much opaqueness in the cup. Super light flavor but the pleasant floral smell with some vegetal base notes.

2nd Infusion – 30 Sec
Here comes the color, and hopefully a fuller flavor. Nice, light, refreshing. No bitterness or astringency. The bottom of the cup has more body but it’s a nice mellow flowery vibe. A little bit of sweet syrup on the finish. I’m wondering if this is still fresh, just tastes a little mild. If I had more leaf I would up my ratio.

3rd Infusion – 60 Sec
I would rather overbrew so I’m kicking the time up. Orchids, veggies, and syrup. There’s a little more body but it still feels thin overall. The slightly dry finish is present.

4th Infusion – 75 Sec, 205F
While brewing this, I noticed the sweetness lingering on my tongue from the last infusion. Very nice. It’s a light and clean brew overall, but just a little lacking for me. I’ve had better Oolongs. It’s smooth and delicate, but tastes past its prime.

5th Infusion – 90 Sec, 195F
I’m going for a 6th but I will bump the steep time significantly.

6th Infusion – 150 Sec, 195F
A bit more body with the higher steep time, still light and vegetal/crisp. I’m getting a bit of kale through. Astringency has moved to the throat for a dry finish, but the tongue feel is still creamy/sweet.

7th infusion – 200 Sec, 195F
Light and vegetal, I’ll note next time just how long this one can steep without getting bitter or astringent, just a little dry on the finish.

Not bad, not outstanding: but pleasing, nonetheless. On to the next.

I got a sample of this tea a little while ago and just finished it off. Based on when I ordered it, I believe it to be the Winter 2016 crop. The leaves are vibrant and green, and the aroma from them is floral and buttery, with just a bit of a savory character to them.

The tea starts off with mostly vegetal flavors, kind of kale-ish with a buttery texture. The finish is more fruity or floral, and the tea has a mouthwatering sweetness. It is very easy to drink.

As the session went on, I found it getting more juicy and/or crisp, and the finish became more buttery. The tea went on and on and on, easily 16 steeps, maybe up to 20. It seemed like no matter how many times I steeped in in the last half of the session, it just kept on giving a nice and pleasant creamy flavor. Not as flavorful as earlier infusions, but very drinkable and tasty.

This is an awesome green TW oolong. I will definitely be ordering some when I make my next order from BTTC (hopefully soon!).

Another oolong sample I have been holding on to for several months, this was not actually the tea I intended to review tonight. I was originally hoping to review Beautiful Taiwan Tea Company’s Shan Lin Xi Premium, but I grabbed this one out of the cabinet instead. I didn’t mind in the end though, because this turned out to be a nice, basic, approachable high mountain oolong.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a very quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. Subsequent infusions were conducted at 8 seconds, 11 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves gave off subtle aromas of cream, butter, grass, and flowers. The rinse caused the cream and butter aromas to intensify somewhat. The first infusion saw hints of fresh baguette, cucumber, and vanilla emerge. In the mouth, the tea liquor was smooth and thick, though it only offered thin notes of grass, butter, cream, and vanilla. I caught a ghostly nectar-like impression on the finish. Subsequent infusions maintained the tea’s overtly bready, grassy, creamy, buttery, vanilla heavy character, while faint impressions of cantaloupe, honeydew, nectar, lily, gardenia, honeysuckle, and honey cut through the murk at various points. Later infusions saw the tea regress to a somewhat simplified version of its original character, mostly offering cream, butter, and grass notes. I could, however, still detect a hint of vanilla as well as a touch of minerals.

This presented itself as a very mellow and balanced oolong. Though I generally prefer sweeter, more floral oolongs, I could still get into this tea on certain levels. I could tell that it was a quality tea, but I found it to be the sort of tea I could appreciate more than outright love. In the end, I would recommend this one to folks looking for something easygoing and accessible.

This was a nice one. A vegetal green taste with overtones of spice that reminds me of Christmas. Most green Taiwanese oolongs remind me of Christmas, but I’ve been told that I’m just crazy.

The flavor on this tea could have been stronger.

Backlog.

One of the more interesting BTT oolongs, I enjoyed how the flavor evolves from steep to steep. The tea starts off vegetal and flowery with a light body and clean taste. A wonderful orchid and honeysuckle aroma wafts up from the gaiwan. A pear like fruitiness develops in the second steep growing stronger as steeps progress, followed by a lingering floral aftertaste. Lots of sweet notes and an occasional hint of tropical coconut. Around the fourth steep, the mouthfeel becomes thicker and more minerality comes into play but it loses some complexity.

To me, this tea straddles the fence between light and high mountain oolongs. Earlier steeps are lighter, and closer to low-oxidized oolongs in taste and goes on to become fuller and more viscous later. Just an all-around wonderful tea and a keeper for sure!

Now a constant companion. I missed this tea too much, so I got more to tag along with me. Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.

In raw form the Oolong consist of average size pieces with a beautiful dark and light green colour contrast to them. Also some brown is present and the stems on some appear long.

They have a subtle but sweet and floral scent with a milk after scent.

Steeping Method:
Leaf – 5g
Gongfu Teapot – 125ml
Water – 85C
Time: 3 minutes and increase accordingly.

First Steep – 3 minutes

Once steeped the colour is light yellow with a soft, floral scent.

Flavour is very soft but bares soft, sweet floral tones. I liken it to gardenia and lily, with a touch of cream in the after taste.

Second Steep – 3 minutes 30 seconds

Still a soft steep but the gardenia is becoming crisp with grass notes. The milk covers my tongue like silk as it slips down. With some sweetness that lingers in the after taste, also with a touch of dryness.

Third Steep – 4 minutes

Still sweet and floral though the milk is toning down to a more buttery affair. Also dryness remains minimal in the after taste though it lingers softly on my tongue.

Fourth Steep – 5 minutes

Buttery flowers with a hint of grass and fresh sweet hay. So soft and delicate in strength and tone, but pure tasting.

Sixth Steep – 6 minutes

Very subtle at this point with very little left. A touch of sweet flowers is all that really remains.

Overall: This was a soft and delicate Oolong with floral and milk notes that developed into butter and grass. Pure and natural tasting with no bitterness and only very minimal dryness. An Oolong that uses very little leaf but gives beautiful flavours despite the soft strength. Note – The after steep picture of the leaf was all one part that was connected at the stem. It is one of the largest full ‘one’ pieces I have found in an Oolong after steep.

For pictures and more information please view my blog. http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2015/08/19/an-introduction-to-beautiful-taiwan-tea-company-with-paul-adamson-interview/

My Kickstarter tea arrived! I’m drinking this western style, because my dog broke the lid to my gaiwan. :( (Did I mention I have a new dog? I love her, even though she is a tiny bit destructive.) Anyway, the tea. This is quite a nice high-mountain oolong. It has a lovely sweet, fresh aroma, and the taste is similar: lightly vegetal, sweet, crisp, with a creamy mouthfeel and a cleansing sensation to the palate. It’s not overly complex (or maybe I’m just not appreciating the complexity this evening), but it’s very nice.

So, I made an effort to follow the steeping instructions this time. Microwaved it till the digital thermometer read 191, and I set a timer for 3.5 minutes, though by the time I took the tea out, it was probably closer to 4.

I’m not as familiar with oolong tea as I am with black/green/white/rooibos/herbal – I don’t drink it as often. I loved this Kickstarter campaign, though, and I’m looking forward to trying it.

The oolong (steeped) smells a little more grassy and flowery than I’m used to with my teas. Almost like it’s fermented. The color is a marigold yellow. The taste matches the scent, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s definitely got a more vegetal quality than most teas I’m used to. I haven’t had enough oolongs over the years to decide if that’s just how they are, or if this is more unique to this variety.

As it cools to the point where I can drink longer, rather than just sipping at it (it’s still hot), I’m getting a distinct impression of clover. There is the barest hint of sweetness to it that rounds out the grassiness.

I do think next time I steep this tea, though, I might let it steep for a longer period. Maybe at a slightly lower temperature, and see what flavor I get from it.