I’m being lazy and writing all the tea notes on one page, but I may do a detailed review of each one later. I got this with 50 grams of the 2019 Lishan, and was ecstatic. This package was my 2021 end of the year self care pick me up.
I’ve gotten through half of the teas so far, so I’ll list them based on the order I tried them in as I backlog.
No. 540 Li Shan 2021 – 1800m
15-20 sec increments, repeated a 20 second rinse 4 times, and then longer minute steeps after based on aroma and color.
Insanely good and sweet smelling, having a great mix of savory vegetable with floral, sweet, and tropical ones. It smelled like fruit loops cereal, and initial steep had a sweet corn butter taste, and later steeps got vague fruitier and more floral with some healthy buttered and sweet greens in the body, bordering on caramelized despite being a greener Qing Xin. Maybe it’s the barley note they write about? Definitely a fan.
No. 540 Li Shan 2021 – 2000m
Same methods as above, and definitely more delicate and floral. The comparison I made in my head was between the lower elevations caramelized sugar, and this one was more like soft, powdered sugar. I got baby’s breath for some of the florals, definite orchid. Zhao Zhou describes this one as greener with a goat milk density to it, and it is. Both teas are very similar, and oddly enough, carry a bit of a chamomile like milky profile. Insanely uplifting, and has a clear meditative quality that’s really nice. I prefer the lower elevation overall, but I think I would have to always get some of this in comparison for a calming afternoon or evening.
No. 547 Wenshan Baozhong 2021
Of course a bazhong was next
15 sec parameters, 20, 15, 20, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80.
LOOOOOOOOVED this one. I was surprised how complex this one was, and it meshed insane floral and fruity qualities that were more pronounced in the lishan. I’m gonna be basic and use Zhao ZHou’s description:
“It has a lily of the valley scent, which changes slightly to other flowers later, slight hyacinth, rose, chamomile. Great experience to meet this tea. Its taste is characterized by deep green notes, florality, a bit of citrus, and later some buttery biscuit. Delicate throbbing, focus. A great accompaniment to hot summer days from morning to afternoon. We hope your tasting is as enjoyable as when we first met this tea.”
It’s still green, but I was hit with jasmine, rose, citrus, butter, bready notes, and freshly steamed and sweet snap pea green. Hugged myself with it. Sad I only had 5 grams.
No. 539 Shan Lin Xi 2021 – 1400m – 10 g
I had 5 grams of it. 20 sec steeps in increments. They compared it to the 2017 vintage, which I had in the previous oolong sampler I got from them, and like that one, had a lot of coconut, butter, almond, and lots of spinachy green goodness and umami. Some gyurko qualities like they describe, but more nuanced and not quite as marine. I really like it, but Baozhong is my favorite so far because of its complexity.
Here’s what I got left to try:
No. 218 Formosa White Jade 2021
No. 341 Taiwan Primeur Green 2021
No. 546 High Mountain Gaba 2020 – 10 g
No. 648 Red Jade Ruby 2020
I know I should just make my own notes for each. However, I can just copy my drafted reviews and make pages when I have the brain power….I mean…“discipline.”
Other than that, I HIGHLY recommend this sampler for Taiwan Tea lovers. I’m a little bit dodgy about the Red Jade varietals, so it will be interesting to see how they taste. More notes soon…I’m behind.
