Shanlinxi Little-Tieguanyin Oolong

Taiwanese green Tie Guan Yins are few and far between, possibly because they’re hard to grow. Given my love of Anxi Tie Guan Yin and gaoshan and my wonderful experience with What-Cha’s Lishan Tie Guan Yin, I couldn’t resist buying this tea. At $13 for 25 g, the price was also fair for Taiwanese green TGY, which I’ve seen go for $30 for 25 g. In one session, I followed the vendor’s instructions and steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot using boiling water for 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, and 240 seconds, plus 5, 6, and 7 minute steeps. I also used my regular parameters of 6 g in 120 ml with 195F water for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of orchids, violets, honeysuckle, grass, cream, green apple, and candied apricot. The first steep has a nice, thick body and notes of orchid, gardenia, honeysuckle, violet, cream, coriander, green apple, and grass. I can taste the slightly sour, grassy TGY alongside all the SLX florals. The tea continues to be creamy, grassy, and floral in the next steep, with violets and apricots being more apparent. Like the What-Cha Tie Guan Yin, there’s an ethereal quality to this tea. The next couple steeps are a bit more fruity, highlighting apricot, green apple, peach, and a little cream corn. The grassiness starts to intensify in steeps five and six, though there’s still plenty of florals, cream, and fruit. The end of the session is predictably grassy and vegetal, though the florals hold on for a while.

Using my regular steeping parameters, I get a slightly thinner-bodied tea with many of the same flavours, though I detect pineapple, lavender, and something herbaceous in early infusions. The green apple, apricot, pineapple, and even peach are quite noticeable, maybe even more so than in longer steeps.

This tea ticks all the boxes for me. It isn’t quite as special as the What-Cha version, but I would definitely repurchase it. There’s a 15% off sale happening right now until the end of the month that I’m resisting because my tea museum has expanded beyond all reasonable proportions and is threatening to get its own post code. However, my willpower has been very low this year, so we’ll see!