Lightly Baked Organic High Mountain Jin Xuan Oolong Tea, Lot 589

As much as I love green oolongs, every once in a while I need to switch things up a bit with a baked tea. Most dark oolongs are too roasty for me but light baked teas such as this one fit the bill perfectly: green with a warming personality

The first whiff of the dry leaf reminded me of cream and butterscotch. Wet leaf had a toasted nuts scent to it. It was too roasty gongfued so I steeped it western style and grandpa with good results. First steep was light bodied but very sweet with notes of honey and baked bread. Second steeping brought out toasted barley, nuts, and caramel. Starting with the third steep, the tea begins exhibiting a greener character. The baked flavor diminishes and eventually disappears by the 5th steep leaving a mellow fruity flavor behind.

Overall, this was a satisfying tea without the heavy char you typically see in dark oolongs. I enjoyed its sweet, caramelized nuts flavor but wished it had some more depth and the florals of BTTC’s light baked Alishan. Also the gradual transition from dark to green doesn’t happen as smoothly as the BTTC tea.

Drinking this one up in my clay pot. I’m almost completely finished with my 25g sample of this tea by now, though I’ve already tried it a couple times. This tea was the first one I tried and probably one of my favorite. It’s very mellow and buttery in flavor and smell with a generally smooth texture. It has some light floral notes, but I find it’s less sharp than some similarly “greened” oolongs. Despite that, I’d definitely draw its character most closely to other green oolongs with a creamy buttery note. It has the ever-so-slight hint of fruitness to it, which I mostly noticed when cold brewing this tea! During regular brewing, I didn’t notice this note so much, though that may be my own shortcoming.