Taiwan 'Shan Lin Xi' Light-Roasted High Mountain Oolong Tea

I had found myself taking a bit of a break from high mountain oolongs, for whatever reason, but reached for this sample for a lazy morning outside. I did pick up What-Cha’s regular (ie. non-light-roasted) Shan Lin Xi a couple months ago, and have continually put off making notes on it — I’ve sadly found myself just a little disappointed each time I drink it.

This little lovely, though… all the perfect butter and florals and mouthfeel. Alistair’s note includes balsam, and I’d agree there, too. It doesn’t look much different from the unroasted upon visual inspection — but what a treat and education, to be so surprised by what a tiny bit of roast can do to elevate these little green nugs.

Thank you, derk!

There are several listings for this tea. More likely, according to tea reviews, this is the one I drank yesterday and I am having again today.

This oolong is a marvel. I wish I had more more descriptors to adequately convey what is going on in my cup.

Fragrant. Floral nectar. Sugarcane sweet. Gentle honeyed sweetness. Honeysuckle, maybe. A bit green with subsequent steeps . And juicy, very juicy.

So this is from Kawaii433 but I also received some from derk.  THANK YOU BOTH.  Not sure if Kawaii’s is also from 2017, as derk’s is noted on the sample.  I thought it was time I try it, since there are two separate samples!  I don’t know what I was thinking though, as I just sipped a roasted oolong the other day and they are definitely not the type of tea I want to drink often. Anything with the name “roasted” is all I can taste, which ends up being very one note and disappointing, as I know others can usually taste other flavors in these roasted oolongs.  It’s always a shame!  It is all I can taste: roasted charcoal.  The third steep was especially off putting… shouldn’t have brewed if for four minutes, that’s for sure. The leaves are VERY dark and VERY tightly bundled.  The flavor is smooth anyway, until that third steep.  I think I sadly give up on roasted oolongs.  They just ain’t my thing.  But it’s nice to officially know that at this point.
Steep #1  // 1 3/4 teaspoons for full mug //  rinse //  29 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4 min
2020 sipdowns:  52 (one sample sipdowned anyway)

This is one of those elusive teas that I feel I don’t have the right words to describe. It is a bit like a cross between Dong Ding and high mountain Jade oolong. One thing is for sure though, I like it a lot!

The aroma has a lot going on, but I really can’t place it. There are some notes of pastries and stone fruits, but that’s far from a complete list. Taste starts off vegetal, grassy, and bitter with a very sweet finish. There is a nice short-lasting astringent bite and flavours such as butter, flowers, apple, peach. Aftertaste is more floral and has notes of forest floor and pine as well as a long-lasting sweetness. As derk mentioned, there is also a strong menthol quality in late steeps. I also got a bit of a fenugreek flavour, not unlike the one you get from some wild Taiwanese varietals.

The mouthfeel is thick, oily, soft, and slightly numbing with a throat-cooling quality – this tea certainly doesn’t lack in the texture department. It is also very calming and body-warming and makes me sweat a bit. A final point to note is that it lasts a long time, I can easily get 200ml/g from it, and if pushed, even quite a bit more.

Another awesome What-Cha oolong. After the rinse, the leaves smelled of a wonderful aroma of light roast, sweet honey, some unique notes already stated in the previous great reviews. The aroma alone can put it on another level. It’s lovely. Light amber liquor also with a unique aroma.

Very smooth, sweet and creamy, a fragrant roast but light toasty roast with floral, honey and stonefruit notes. Long lasting natural honey sweet finish. Thick. The balsam menthol is very nice and makes it quite unique.

gaiwan, 6g, 203°F, 110ml, rinse, 7 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s

Such a lovely and delicate tea. Sweet floral fragrance accompanied by a light herbal medicinal note. Produces a light golden liquor with a greenish tint. It’s thick and coats the mouth. The taste is a combination of sweet, creamy floral notes, very light herbal green bitterness and a minty cooling sensation in the throat. The sweet flowery aftertaste lingers for a long time. (I wonder what flower this is.)

Unsealed the last 50g packet of this tea that I hoarded a few years ago. It’s a 2017 harvest and still tastes magnificent!

Not much attention paid like today’s white tea… There is some change with age, though very little. Honey with a hint of butter, cardamom, clean-sweet peppermint, dried cut grass, balsam wood, roasted walnut, black sesame seeds, background roastiness. And I think I get that grilled pineapple Daylon got as a fruity midtone. All the tastes translate into the aftertaste, where they also meet with a grassy peach skin. Eventually a very strong returning sweetness from the throat. I’m not usually a fan of Taiwanese roasted oolong but this one is something special.

A tea deserves at least a 90 from me when I crave its flavor, and a few extra points when I want to designate it as morning tea.

I know that a lot of people choose something brisk to wake them up, but the earthy tones and honeyed tang coax me to alert my senses and appreciate the subtler profiles. This mornings brew was more subdued than I’ve had it before. I got the heather honey, something like grilled pineapple, and a smooth texture, but I tasted a little bit more mineral that I was not expecting. Vague florals coated my tongue midsip that reminded me more of a Ba Xian, and I was not sure how to place them. If I could taste colors, I got an orange amber and purple despite the liqour’s tawny hue. Was I tasting lily? I don’t know. When the florals end in the honey note, it has a little bit of a violet effect amidst an earthier background from the light roast.

I hope that my notes aren’t too much of an actual exaggeration. Some are repetitive. I could interchange grilled pineapple and heather honey as the same note for example, albeit the char subtleties gave me the idea of grilled pineapple and the floral mix in a dark sweet end gave me heather honey. Nevertheless, this is a satisfying tea for my mornings, and one that I can see more experienced drinkers playing with for the flavor profiles.