Jin Xuan Oolong Tea

Fall seems to be the time for clearing out my older teas. In March 2016, I signed up for a deeply discounted subscription box from Ides Tea, then canceled after a month both because subsequent boxes would have been expensive without the deal and because my first shipment hadn’t arrived yet. I kind of feel guilty since the company is now no longer in business.

From what I remember, most of the samples they sent were good. Their Li Shan and Bai Hao were fantastic; their Sun Moon Lake Black, Jade Oolong, and Tie Guan Yin were tasty; and their Dong Ding was decent. Sadly, this Jin Xuan also falls into the decent category. I steeped 6 g of tea in a 120 ml teapot for 25, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, and 240 seconds.

The first steep is delicately floral with notes of what I’m going to call lilac. There are also hints of butter, corn, and vegetables. Even though the second steep was for only 20 seconds, it’s unusually astringent. I always wondered what people were talking about when they said that Jin Xuans taste like popcorn, but now I can see it, especially in the aftertaste. That combination of vegetal, corn, and butteriness really does evoke popcorn.

In the third steep, the florals are starting to fade and something like arugula is emerging. The astringency is back to normal. The fourth steep gets even more vegetal, which is a sign that this tea might be finishing early. And, as expected, by the sixth steep, the only flavour left is vegetal.

This Jin Xuan is okay, but I’m not sad to see it go. I just opened the sample package a couple weeks ago, so I don’t think it’s due to age.

Sipdown(5)
I’m kinda sad to see this go, because I don’t think it’ll ever come through my hands again. Not that I’ll be avoiding IDEStea or anything, I can definitely see myself going back to them, but more likely for the jade mountain oolong, the honey oolong, or dayulin. But who knows?
Anyway, I did my initial review so long ago and straight out of a vacuum-sealed package, so I’m just going to do a completely new one. I think the first time around, I was disappointed because it didnt seem creamy, and it’s a Jin Xuan. I think it just needed some fresh air, because the cream is perhaps the most notable thing about it now. Lovely, light cream atop delicate florals, and clean lettuce, with thick green beans, the exhale leaves a buttery feeling, and slight astringency. The leaves haven’t unfurled yet, but there’s something so airy about those early steeps that make me feel like I’m floating above a lazy river.
There’s even a bit of a nutty, almond-like taste, with hints of spinach and snap peas, a bit of orange, like a creamsickle. You could get lime creamsickles, orange, .. the pink one, it’s very creamsickley.
After six steeps, it started tasting a bit stale, empty.. not as creamy, not as.. anything. I’m gonna reheat the water.
Okay, well it’s very different now, lots of minerals, and thick grassy leaves, almost reminiscent of a sencha, but with the thickness of an oolong. Still with a creaminess, and almost a bell-peppery quality. it’s less complex than earlier steeps, which is a bit disappointing. The beginning was immensely delicious, and I had all but changed my mind about this Jin Xuan before, but I’ve gone back to my original opinion.
I got like 12 steeps in total, which seems like not very many? considering I used more than average amount of leaf, but I mean i don’t usually keep track of how many steeps I get in a session, so.. Could this be average for oolongs? I hope not.. I’m gonna count next time.

Very good Jin Xuan Oolong. Flavor was milky, creamy, and floral throughout 9+ steeps with only 3g of tea gongfu style. Didn’t get the fruity notes which sometimes come from Jin Xuan teas at all, but that was just fine, as this tea was wonderful in body and flavor for the entire session, and I probably could have gotten a few more long steeps out of it, but ran out of water lol.