Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea

I’m thankful that my taste buds have finally sorted themselves out after my cold, I really missed writing and sampling teas.

I found this tea to be unusual and I love black teas so that was my overall purpose for buying this one. It looks so cute, like brown little leaf buds, thick and very autumnal looking. Like rough formed brown droplets.

The tea is light brown and has a wonderful wooden yet fruity scent. Very elegant.

Flavour has elements of wood, musk, honey suckle, prunes and spice. It’s a pleasant medium strength which remains light and full of flavour, it’s the sort of black tea that you could drink many pots of and enjoy the full array of flavours each time.

Further sips have a mature flavour which is hard to define. I looked at the companies page for this tea and they say it has a savoury flavour, I’m thinking it could be that. But savoury or mature, it’s just hard to pin point what it tastes like exactly.

It’s a nice black tea, it’s light yet has character and is very drinkable. So clean tasting and sweet yet full of life. Very nice, happy I picked this one up.

Backlog:

Looks like an Oolong. Even the name made me think that this was an Oolong (until I got to the “black tea” part!)

This brews to a lighter color than a typical black tea. It’s more like a golden amber color rather than a chocolate-y color or coppery or red color. There is a slightly earthy and woodsy aroma to the liquid, with sweet notes of fruit and flower.

This is really deliciously sweet. Vanilla notes! Minty tones reveal themselves as the tea begins to cool slightly. The minty flavor is especially noticeable when I slurp the tea. Notes of flower, fruit and wood are also present.

A delightfully complex cuppa. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/22/shan-lin-xi-high-mountain-black-tea-eco-cha/

I almost didn’t get a tea review written today, I spent most the day in a state of brain fog making most of my attempts to communicate a garbled mess. Many cups of tea, a hearty serving of beans and toast and several hours of castle renovation in Terraria were needed before I felt comfortable with describing a tea. I am going to blame my brain being foggy on the obnoxious cold weather (all cold, no snow, totally unfair) but at least it is good tea sipping weather.

Today’s tea is Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea by Eco-Cha Artisan Teas, harvested in Winter 2012, this tea is, as the website describes it, an anomaly. Created when oolong was being oxidized and accidently forgotten about meaning it was oxidized to the point of almost being a black (or red) tea. The aroma of this tea is intense! Bright notes with floral tones at first, but the more I sniff the tea the more I detect; oak notes, and cocoa changing to fruity and sweet, ending with a hint of tobacco leaves. I will be honest, I am amazed by the complexity of the aroma of this tea, it manages to blend the oaky and cocoa notes I associate with black teas with sweet, floral notes of an oolong.

Once brewed the already fluffy leaves just explode, barely fitting in my steeping basket, for once I am glad I did not brew Gongfu because I think my gaiwan could not contain the immensity of the leaves. The aroma is at first oaky and loamy with an undertone of baking bread that fades into a gentle sweetness. The liquid has a sweet and fruity aroma reminiscent of lychees that fade to honey and then cocoa. It certainly smells delicious!

The first steep is very bright with almost fruit like tartness that fades to sweet lychee with an midtaste of oak and a very tiny hint of tobacco. The aftertaste is lightly muscatel and sweet, as it cools the fruit flavors becomes stronger. This steeping even though is very bright is also very smooth with a pleasant mouthfeel with no dryness.

The second steeping has a sweet and stone fruit aroma with hints of honey and oak. The first thing I notice is the tart aspect from the first steep is gone and is replaced by rich sweetness. The tea is very smooth blending mescatel notes with honey and oak wood. The mouthfeel is almost buttery in its smoothness, drinking it is extremely enjoyable. This is another one of those teas that I have fallen in love with but could not drink everyday because it is so intense, when drinking it I feel like I could get lost in the experience. It is a tea I would recommend to everyone because it is complex but also approachable, someone with an ‘unrefined tea palette’ would enjoy it (I tested this on Ben) as well as experienced tea sippers.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/01/eco-cha-artisan-teas-shan-lin-xi-high.html

Sipdown 5 of 2016. Sample. Received 1/2014 – Finished 1/2016.

Brewing this gongfu this afternoon. I am getting more sweetness out of it this afternoon. A delightful cup. If this accident of over oxidation happened again, count me in for some more of this tea.

This is a weird one, good just strange. Not sure were this tea falls caffeine wise but since it is Gao Shan Cha it still possesses the tea drunk aromatic oils :) so I am super mellow and smiley. I’ve western brewed in the past but decided to gongfu today. The first few steeping I got tart dark cherries sour sweet and tart plum at the tail, later a strong berry flavor appeared and remained constant for the rest of the steepings. A sort of piney, woody maybe fruit branch flavor accompanied the fruity flavor. I say fruit branch since it still had the berry taste it reminded me of berry branches that some time make it through the sorting in the frozen berry mix I like to buy.

An interesting tea, not something Id reach for daily (also just realized it was $11/oz yikes) but definitely enjoyable and glad I got to try this one.