261 Tasting Notes
This is a very green oolong from Taiwan Sourcing. I’m reviewing the Spring 2016 harvest. Dry leaves are loose, long twists.
1st infusion has a very familiar aroma like Bi Luo Chun or GABA tea, the savoury seaweed springtime vegetable smell, but with the added complexity of buttery and floral notes like a high-quality Tie Guan Yin (without any of 铁观音’s minerally or metallic tones). There was even a sticky scent of caramelized sugar in there too.
Thick mouthfeel and a wonderfully complex tea, but not my favourite to drink every day. It would probably taste pretty good cold-brewed so I’ll try that sometime.
Recommendation: Brew at 193˚F for 1:00. Tastes better lower than 195 / 200˚F.
Rating: 79
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Butter, Floral, Seaweed, Vegetable Broth
Preparation
Tastes like a roasty, chocolatey Wuyi oolong. The leaves have that similar dark green sheen.
After a 1:00 infusion, this Iron Goddess gives off a beautiful nutty aroma though slightly bitter taste.
Increasing the rating a bit because this tea is forgiving, even though I forgot about the second infusion and steeped it for 4:00, it still tasted good.
Flavors: Chocolate, Nutty
I bought 100g of the Spring 2015 harvest. This tea smells almost unrecognisable from its sample––such a strong fruity smell that I suspected they had mistakenly shipped me the Flavoured version of this tea.
I get strong notes of passionfruit, pineapple and milky peach from the dry leaf scent.
When brewed, I get the same buttery, floral sweet liquor that I got from the sample but with an intense fruity milk flavour, perhaps I just didn’t recognise it when I tried the sample. No metallic or bitter undertone like Tie Guan Yin. This is a great tea to pair with desserts.
Rinse to open up the rolled balls, then infuse for 10s, 20s, 30s, etc. I brewed at 196˚F but this tea can take up to boiling water iirc.
Flavors: Butter, Milk, Passion Fruit, Peach, Pineapple
Preparation
Can you tell me your order number? then I can help you to check it.
Thank you, the order # is 100028526. But the tin and the foil package are both labelled “Jin Xuan Milk Oolong”. Maybe if I try a sample of the Flavoured Milk Oolong then I can tell the difference.
yeah, that would be more simple to tell the difference. We can add flavoured as a free sample to your next order
To be fair, I think this Spring 2015 is a really excellent Lapsang Souchong. No bitterness when brewed at 195˚F for 15 seconds. It smells and tastes like a really fine whiskey, with strong woody and smoky notes and would be great for a snowy winter’s night by the fire.
But I’m just not a whiskey person or a Lapsang Souchong person. This tea has no sweetness or fruit or florals or any other flavours I like, just the overpowering woody smoke scent. The only way I can see myself drinking this regularly is as a pairing with savoury foods, e.g. with a gourmet cheese platter, or with a meat entree. Or even try adding milk to it. Will update after trying those.
Flavors: Oak, Smoke, Whiskey
Preparation
My rule of thumb these days is to always rinse any rolled ball oolongs. Brewed at 200˚F in my 80ml gaiwan.
1st infusion: (15s)
Really pale fawn-coloured liquor. Much lighter than the first time I brewed this tea, it tastes delicate, a lightly roasted version of the buttery green Tie Guan Yin and nowhere near a dark roasted Wuyi oolong. Heavenly.
2nd infusion: (20s)
Liquor is now a pale yellow tinged with brown. Perfect balance between the buttery and the roasty minerally oolongs I love. Easily a new favourite. Need to buy more!
3rd infusion: (35s)
Slightly overbrewed but still good. Colour is paler than 2nd infusion. Still tastes buttery
I got 6 infusions out of it before it got too light.
Rating: 92
Flavors: Butter, Floral, Mineral, Roasted
Preparation
Very fresh, subtle taste. Has that light, savoury, slightly chestnutty, fresh spring vegetal flavour similar to Bi Luo Chun but less intense (perhaps because this is fresher? I’ve never tasted a fresh harvest of Bi Luo Chun).
The leaves are cute little snow pea pods that float on the water (unfortunately they don’t point downwards in my little 80ml gaiwan like I’ve heard they should). A couple of brown stalk tops in there but overall very high-quality whole leaves.
I could infuse it 4 times at 175 – 177˚F before the leaves lost their flavour.
Rating: 82, only because I prefer the taste of sweeter and buttery teas
Flavors: Chestnut, Vegetable Broth, Vegetal
Preparation
This review is for the Spring 2015 harvest. Love the insane aroma of these leaves, so malty and sweet, with a fruity-caramel-sweetness of candied haw fruit (the kind they sell candy-coated on skewers in China). Dry leaf is delicate thin rolled threads, unfurls to full leaves when wet. Brewed in my 75ml gaiwan.
1st infusion: (20s, 206˚F)
Probably 10 – 15s would have been better. Coppery orange liquor, delicious sweet caramel corn aroma, tasted bitter from overbrewing.
2nd infusion: (20s, 208˚F)
Fragrance still delicious, but still tastes bitter. Maybe needs to be brewed at 195˚F.
3rd infusion: (20s, 195˚F)
Much better, bitterness is gone. This tea is meant to be brewed around 195.
I tested brewing this tea at 205˚F, 200˚F, 195˚F, and 190˚F.
205˚F was nigh-undrinkable and the sweetness was lost 200˚F was still burnt, bitter, not sweet and the second infusion was super astringent 195˚F was gorgeous, aromatic, not as sweet-tasting as I expected but not as burnt or bitter as the previous 2 190˚F has less fragrance, duller aroma that isn’t sweet.Verdict: The sweet spot is probably around 193-194˚F.
Flavors: Caramel, Kettle Corn, Malt
