This is part of the High Mountain Experience Set I bought from Wang back in 2021, and I wanted to try this tea before it became eligible for a spot in my tea museum. I haven’t had many Cui Feng oolongs. Of the two I can remember, one was not that great and the other was very floral. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot using boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds, plus a few uncounted steeps.
The dry aroma is of orchids, cookies, cream, and grass. The first steep has notes of orchids, cookies, cream, honeysuckle, other florals, and grass, with faint peach in the aftertaste. Orchids continue to be the dominant flavour in the second steep, with cookies, grass, cream, citrus, peach, and other florals in the background. This tea is quite sweet. The next couple steeps have lots of orchid, honeysuckle, orange blossom, grass, cream, citrus, peach, and something I’ll call woodsiness that also recently appeared in their Alishan. Steeps five and six are a bit more grassy, though with plenty of orchids, other florals, cream, and fruit. The next few steeps become even more grassy and a bit vegetal, though I still get orchids, cream, and sweet florals. The final long steeps are floral, grassy, herbaceous, and vegetal.
This tea measures up to Wang’s high standards, though I was a bit distracted by all the grass. Steeping it in my clay pot highlighted its grassy aspects and toned down the fruit, which is why I prefer it in porcelain. The sweet florals and hints of fruit make up for any downsides, and like other teas from this vendor, it has good longevity. This isn’t my favourite tea from Wang, but I’d highly recommend it.
Flavors: Citrus, Cookie, Cream, Floral, Grass, Herbaceous, Honeysuckle, Orange Blossom, Orchid, Peach, Sweet, Vegetal
