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Note 1000!!!! Thank you, Alistair, for this lovely gem at my request! Yeah, I wish I got the 25 grams of this one.

Jun Chiyabari is officially one of my favorite terroirs, and I had to get this one for the natural citrus notes. The first time I had it was while I had conjunctivitis and some post nasal drip, and the slight acidity helped cut through the mucus and reignite my taste buds. Before I get too ahead, I’ll describe it by aroma and flavor.

The dry leaves are very pretty to look at. There are greens, blacks, small amounts of auburn, and lots of hairy silver. I would have that this was a black and white tea blend, never mind the better comparison is to a first flush tea. Smelling it, there are some hay and grain notes accompanied by the orange blossom and a savory pastry note. It kinda reminded me of sunflower or sesame seeds, but more so, like a buttery croissant….I know, pretentious.

Anyway, the same can be said after 2 minutes brewing it western. The citrus is more pronounced, but it still has the savory butter quality it had before. Tasting it was the nice part. The first thing I taste is the actual texture, which was smooth and (you’ve seen me use this adjective way too many times) creamy. The notes immediately come in as the floral orange blossom, , and it ends with grains and savory honeysuckle.

The same notes could be said in the second steep right now, but after the orange blossom, there was a citrus peel hint closer to lemon peel than orange. It was a little sour, but very pleasant and still as soft and smooth as ever. Did I mention that the citrus taste lingers on the tongue?

I’m only on steep three today as it is a sipdown, but I got as many as six cups when I was brewing it western. This tea has some good longevity, and the later steeps become softer and more of a white gold yellow, but the taste becomes a little creamier with the same orange blossom and citrusy profile. I kept on thinking of vanilla, albeit faint and perhaps confused with the lemon peel or even lemon grass as it gets creamier.

As you can tell, I deeply enjoyed this tea. It is very brisk as a black tea, but also very bright and on the lighter end of the spectrum. Like anything that resembles a first flush, the notes make me think more of oolong and white tea notes, especially the white tea like dryness, but it has enough body to make the drinker think black. Or those who have a brain and experience think black, but more so think of where the tea actually comes from.

I’d highly recommend this one to first flush lovers and white tea lovers. I think that the profile is sweet enough as a tea to welcome someone into enjoying straight teas, maybe with some lemon or sugar if they are not so easily converted. It is also very easy to drink. This is also a good fit for more experienced drinkers. The might want a little bit more complexity although this tea does not lack nuance. Either way, I might get an ounce to savor myself if not more. I personally would not drink this one super often to enjoy it once a week at minimum. I can also see myself drinking this tea season round, though I’m impressed with how much I enjoy it in the summer.

I finally got to try the tea regarded as the Taiwanese president’s choice of oolong, so I took care to follow the directions carefully, and treat this tea with well time respect. I actually took written notes for this one.

So here it went:
Water just under boiling, 6 grams to my Manual Tea Infuser of 5 oz, or 125 ml.

20 sec initial rinse
Not too much in the aroma, distant florals. The taste is nice, having something like rice milk in flavor and creamy texture with a little of greenness to it. The pectin maybe? Otherwise, some florals coming up like honeysuckle and perhaps hyacinth.

The leaves themselves had a ripe fruit smell like pineapple before I refilled the vessel with hotwater. It had me looking forward to the future.

15 sec
Lilac smell, not too much taste, so I let it cool down. Tasting after letting it sit for a little bit, intense CREAM notes, lilac, lime hint, maybe something like cucumber, and a clementine finish with a lovely and silky mouthfeel.
More cool down made the tea a little softer.

20 sec brew
Fuller flavor with a sweet lilac smell almost bordering on lavender. This steep had a bit of an fresh evergreen note with a long lasting floral finish as well. The leaves definitely opened up this time, and as it cooled down, more fruity notes popped up. It was something between pineapple and asian pear, but it was not nearly as ripe as before. It was almost like a pineapple that was a hair to young to cut, almost white in color. More cucumber flavor and texture in the cool down.

Before brewing, the leaves had an asparagus like smell.

25 second brew
Great nuanced aroma, more lilac, and an almost breeze like presence through evergreen forests before the ocean. The flavor was sweet touching on brown sugar, but more like agave. There was a floral explosion of lilac, lavender, hyacinth, and honeysuckle. I’m surprised I did not taste osmanthus.

25 sec again
The last steep was a little heavier than I wanted, so I went with a lighter approach. It was still generally the same: creamy, floral, lime, cucumber in that order.

30 second brew
Pine, more fruit notes like honeydew and light coconut milk in the texture. A little bit more nectary.

The next three more brews were pretty much the same in flavor edging on a fruitier profile towards the last steep. I got a fuller body of flavor giving me some magnolia finally, and something milky like iris. It was unctuous overall, and the last few brews were quite sweet and surprisingly my favorite.

I was going to make this my 1000th note, but I was a little disappointed with this one despite its longevity and rich mouthfeel. It was without a doubt an excellent tea with host of nuances, but I paid nearly a dollar per gram for this tea and would have liked a more forward flavor. This might change the next and perhaps last time I drink it, but I was expecting more power with the same sophistication I got since I’ve had other Lishans that were just as finessed and flavorful for cheaper. I know I am being brutal to an exceptional tea, but I’ve had better. Perhaps I do not appreciate this tea as much because it is more subtle. I do, however, still recommend it. I got this tea for the sake of experiencing it, and I am glad that I did it once, and I also know that this tea could have been much more expensive anyway.

Not a bad Lishan. I did not quite get the pine notes that were described in the smell, but I got a nice evergreen smell with a little bit of brown sugar and nutmeg. Much of the same could go for the tasting notes yesterday. It was not as fruity as other Lishans I’ve had, but it was certainly sweet with some great nuances in the viscous texture gong fu. The brown sugar, nutmeg, and osmanthus notes were fairly nice and welcoming. It was very soft overall, and I will write more about it in the future since my time right now is kinda limited.

I’ve been drinking nothing but oolongs lately that I just had to try …another oolong. But this is no ordinary one, as it is something new from Darjeeling. And I’ve had a hard time drinking it some days-not something I expected to think or write.

I was very excited about this one because it was something new. Heck, the leaves are gorgeous by having a tea rainbow of autumn and spring colors shifting from yellows, to browns, to greens, to auburns, and whites. The smell has that spicy hay floral note I associate with Darjeelings, and brewing it up lightly western, it has it too.

As for the tasting it, it is aromatically earthy, but also very acidic and slightly tart. The texture is smooth and lovely with a sweet pear note and a very pronounced cotton note that makes it a very summery tea, but there is a green spiciness like a green pepper or dryness that I am having a little bit of a hard time with. That does not really make sense considering the smooth profile and lack of bitterness or astringency, but I’ve had a hard time finishing the cup because I get overpowered by it.

I need to get to know this one a little better before I rate it. It is without a doubt a great quality tea that is very reflective of its Darjeeling terroir, and awesome for its distinctly more oolong flavor profile compared to the other Indian Oolongs I’ve had, but it this tea has a power to it that I struggle with.

I should write more about this one, but I will keep it simple until I find more original adjectives to describe this tea. I got 8 great infusions out of this one, and thank heavens it was an Alishan that had some desserty notes to its back bone. I got this one because I knew it would not be subtle, and like Dave wrote, this is a good converter tea. Drinking this easy beauty was like drinking floral custard, with some nice fruity accents like asian pear and honey crisp apples. There was some lilac, but the florals were a little bit sunnier and more tropical than that note alone. Looks like I’ll have to take my time with it. But hey, this is a tea that I have zero complaints about for its price point.

This is the 2018 Spring Version that I am backlogging, and I was quite pleased with it. I do not think that I’ve had tea from this mountain before, but the second I saw “peach” in the notes, I knew to get this one.

And I also need to write another note on this because my description is going to be limited. As usual, I improvised the brewing in accordance to the intensity of the aroma and smell with a 10 sec rinse. These gradually opened up, but the scent was similar to blossoms. It was creamy, vaguely fruity, and green. Well, the color of the tea has a little bit of a gold hue to it making it somewhat darker than the other greens I’ve drank which makes me like this one more. The same could be said for the taste of the rinse. It was light, but had a great accent of flavor telling me this would be good. The first and second steeps were the best, starting off creamy vanilla, then going into a great peach note ending in a the slight spice note amidst the buttery Gaoshan body. The second steeps aftertaste had a more pronounced cinnamon note that I would have expected from the Dong Ding, but it was very nice. The later steeps were much the same with the nice peachy note becoming stronger with a nice dryness that picked up especially in the latter steeps six and the final seven after 5 minutes.

The only complaint that I had about this one was the mouthfeel. The flavor was perfect and the viscosity was good, but the texture was thin despite the coating I got. I will brew it again with a more precise temperature, but otherwise, this is something that I could see myself getting. It is fruity enough for a new comer and a great standard for a gaoshan. I gotta say, though, that the peach and spice notes kinda made it standout from the many Goashans I’ve had which are usually floral and buttery. Here’s to the next time I write about this.

…Today….
Better texture and more vanilla notes along with some Gaoshan Green Sugarcane. This makes me happy. So in the end, I recommend this one to fruity Gaoshan Lovers. It is a little bit pricy, but it is very flavorful with its own nuances.

Not a bad light roast. This was the first I sampled of the Tillerman teas, and I was pleased. The notes online describe nutmeg and cinnamon in the notes, but I did not get those until the third steep after 50 sec gong fu. I was not super precise in my brewing, but I did get a 10 sec rinse in, 30 sec, 45, 50, one minute and two minutes. The first steep was vaguely floral with an orchid note, but definitely buttery and oddly drying. The second steep was much more pronounced having an overall walnut like flavor, even having a bit of dry film in the mouthfeel like a shell which was likely from the light roast. The orchid was more in the smell that time, but it was nice with a bit of a smoky aftertaste. The third steep was the best starting off with an oily butteriness that went directly into a higher floral mid sip, having a vanilla hint, but ending with a spicy nutmeg note. This was good. There was more nutmeg and roasted vegetal notes in the last two steeps making me a little bored.

I liked this one, but I am a little curious about it western. It might be better with heavier leaves gong fu, but my 14 gram sample is not super impressive to say the least, so western might be the way to go. This is daily drinker tea, and it would make a very good one because the roast is very nicely balanced with the florals in the tea. I might rate this higher, but for now, it’s an 85. I think this is more of a fall tea anyway, but I could drink it again and be totally wrong.

My first of the club, and I so wish I joined before they sent out the Phoenix Village Dong Ding, because man, that one looked good. As for this one, it is certainly unique and the kind of tea my palette likes.

First off, the leaves are very unusual and very colorful. They have a blue black color tented by splashes of auburn red and highlights of yellow and white in the stems. The dry leaf has a great plantain juicy fruit smell with some headiness, and the same can be said for the wet leaf, but it draws out a raw honey sweetness in the process. I went lighter with this tea at first, going 4 grams in 5.5 fluid oz, and got mostly fruit and heady honey notes. The taste starts out faint, and then thickly explodes into juicy papaya and banana notes with a mega honeyed and sticky finish. It was almost like I was eating raw honey straight from the comb. I only got three brews of it gong fu, however. The notes fluctuated in the later two steeps. The front end was sweeter in the second cup, and then it broke out into more floral fruit notes in the middle, then back to honey with another citrus splash. Honey and light papaya were more prominent in the third steep.

Although the advice online was to brew this lightly, I got personal better results from longer steeping western with 5 grams to 10 oz after 3 minutes the first time. The texture was thicker with the same notes I described, and it got me glowing. It also kept me up because I was very focused, but hey, I got good sleep anyway.

I’m playing around with it right now with more leaves, 6 grams in my 5.5 oz vessel, and the first was a little overdone at 45 sec, but it was still good and a little woodsy like an Oriental Beauty. It is like other GABA’s I’ve had in that it had the immense fruit-candy notes, almost bordering on grape candy but beyond the horizon of dried papaya, but it really stands on its own because it has little astringency and no bitterness. It’s also so frickin sweet. I personally have not detected a lot of subtleties other than the weird florals and the flavor explosions, so it is not a complicated tea and very easy to drink.

I will say that I’ve had one better GABA tea, this one does outrank a lot of the others because it does not have the overripe funk that others can have. The fruit notes are very fresh and juicy, and I can a lot of people enjoying it because it is very refreshing. My only knit picks are from my experience with other teas.

I forgot to mention that I gong fu’d it last time. This time, I brewed it western and the tea’s body was better because of it. Artichoke, and creamy jin xuan texture with some light but heady Alishan florals, and a slightly green apple aftertaste. Overall, the tea is still fairly vegetal and milky. I am glad that I tried it, but I personally would not reach for this any time soon. Not a bad example of a Meishan, however.

Lord knows how long I’ve stared at the screen for this one before I got it. I’ve actually had quite a few light roast Shan Lin Xi’s for cheaper, and while some were good, they were typically earthy, roasted, and a little sour. I was also iffy about the balsam notes-the tea could either have a great tang or be overwhelming. Thankfully, this one had the tang was approachable.

I’ve only brewed it lightly via western and grandpa not above 3 grams so far, and I can that this tea is roast done right. Sometimes, I’ve been short and done it in only two minutes at first and slowly increased the brew times later one using 3 grams. 6 minutes grandpa was solid…3—4 min western using 2 grams was better. Alistair was spot on with the notes-it is very smooth, oily, and indeed has the balsam and honey notes. In my personal taste language, it distinctly reminded me of grilled pineapples in their sweet and savory glory. Better yet, it was very similar to the Aromatic Zealong in terms of the aroma and the balsamic taste. The Zealong is a little bit peachier, but this tea does have at least a peach seed quality when it dries up. White balsamic and honey are better approximations, however.

Although I’ve never had an actual balsam drink before, it did taste like a white balsamic oil sweetened with honey and it was not overwhelming. The longer steeps of say four minutes or over in later steeps brought out a little bit of the roast, reminding me a little of cooked herbs, but the oily accent reminded me of truffle oil or truffle mushrooms. Very pleasant indeed.

I do have to try this Gong Fu once before I rate it, but as a the review on the website suggested, there is something about this tea that makes it better for longer steeps. I think that I’d get more roast and florals gong fu, but I need to try before I judge. I’m also going to hold off on the rating. This is a drink on occasion tea rather than “I need this!”

And obviously, this one is for more experienced drinkers and the adventurous. The honey notes make it an easy drink, but the oily nature is a hit or miss.