1705 Tasting Notes
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.
I need that sighing “AAAaaaahhhh” ring tone that Sherlock has for Irene Adler every time I drink this tea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM4R2wV-K9A
Thank you Eco-Cha!
I got this sample as a club member, and it was pleasant. I was a little underwhelmed overall despite some nice florals and texture gong fu. It was certainly milky and green, starting on a weird high floral note that was almost like plastic, going into honeysuckle, spinach, hyacinth, vanilla, green apple, mint, and ending with a vegetal but crisp finish. There were some shifts in later steeps with a little bit more green apple, but the tea did not change all that much. I am going to have to try this one again because I was too bored.
I did not expect this tea to be good as it was. I was looking for a descent loose leaf while I was down in FL, and since this company’s teas were offered, I had to get at least one tea straight. You don’t normally see more mainstream American companies carry more than one type of Dan Cong. The other selections looked decent, but more expensive. I got a whiff of the phoenix mountain one they carried, and it was nice and heather like, but I know what a Dancong like that tastes like, so I opted for the Ba Xian that was more floral.
My brewing parameters were more ad hoc than usual since I used a Ninja Machine for some hot water and a smaller than normal strainer. The shortest steeps were at 45 seconds including the water pouring at 4 grams for a hefty 12 oz mug, the lighter were three grams at 3 minutes.
The lighter I went, the creamier and the more floral it was. The company claimed the tea “offers a creamy, velvety texture with generous notes of warm, buttery cinnamon buns and a lingering, orange-flower-honey finish” and I can see where they were going. The mouthfeel was the highlight, and the notes edged around cream, violets, cinnamon, yeasty sweet rolls, and almonds. Viscosity was a given. The honey notes were in longer steeps or with more leaves-that’s when I got the citrus touch I associate dan congs with, though not quite as fruity as the many others I’ve experienced. The touch was actually kinda welcomed.
It is on the light side, but it did not lack in flavor. It only lacked in staying power giving me 2 to 3 brews on average. Grandpa was also not a bad way to go for this one.
Ordinarily, I would have rated this one in the eighties, but after tasting some of my more “prestigious” teas at home, a part of me is re-evaluating that. The fusion of the cinnamon note and the creamy Dan Cong florals is what made it stand out to me. It was very easy to drink, and it might be a selection I’d welcome to lighter tea drinkers. I’d be interested to see what other people would think of this one, but for me, it was nuance done right.
$16 for 50 sachets, i.e. 150 grams of oolong tea is a deal. I highly recommend a purchase for those in need of a floral oolong with all the convenience of a sachet form. Here is my review of it, along with a little epiphany in my tea journey about the osmanthus note.
I’ve had osmanthus oolongs before, and they are the floral hot Sprite of teas for me. I do like them when I have them, but I usually do not search for them because there is normally something I nit pick about the leaf base, whether the body is too roasted or faint. Given my experience with this companies oolongs as of late, I knew that the body of this tea would have a viscosity at the minimum, and the Jin Xuan base was heavily flavored with Osmanthus, which would transition into the tea since the taste is naturally a part of the tea. The heavy flavor also helps give the dry leaf sachets in the bag a candy sweet osmanthus scent amidst the lenin like smell of the bags.
The tea’s aroma brew varies from buttery floral greens to the same candy sweet osmanthus. Like the scent, the taste of each sachet has been slightly different, and I usually go for a western at 2-3 minutes, or let the sachet grandpa out in a mug. There are times where I can taste the Jin Xuan’s body more than the flavor, but that is not a bad thing since the Jin Xuan notes are actually better than others I’ve had. The texture is always thick and the notes always have a buttery honeysuckle floral taste in the body as a background for the osmanthus. A dryness appears every once in a while that reminds me of steel cut oats, which I know is a weird comparison. I’ve seen some red in the leaves of the sachet, so could it be from slight roasting? I don’t know. The tea is still very, very green and smooth.
Other times, the osmanthus is the star with the same body, but a lighter and sweeter overall taste. Here’s when I get a little bit of vanilla or a bit of a lemon approximation. I will say sweetening the tea hot or iced with a lemon slice really brings out the osmanthus and creamier notes. Sometimes, the tea can be so sweet and smooth that it reminds me a little bit of a Li Shan…which is a fairly hefty comparison that I would have not previously made.
Here is that epiphany: I like me some osmanthus notes in my oolong. There is no doubt that this is a Jin Xuan in how it tastes, but the osmanthus again adds a sweet quality that I usually get from my higher mountain addictions. I can now see why people use Osmanthus to describe the taste of the Li Shans and Ali Shans more, making this a deal of a daily drinker for my preferences, and osmanthus the descriptor I need to look for with sugarcane while shopping for oolongs.
The cold brews of this tea are also fantastic, and a little bit sweeter and crisper. It has saved my tookus in a few workouts, both refreshing me and giving me a stable, but light caffeine buzz while doing so.
Man, I filled too much space on this one. To sum it up, this is a great daily tea for Taiwaneese oolong lovers in sachet form. There can be a little bit of variety from bag to bag in terms of how strong the osmanthus is, but that really is not a problem with a good jin xuan for the base. It is approachable for newbie drinkers, especially those getting into greens, with sugar or honey, but especially lemon as an additive. I’d be interested to see what my more experienced friends might think of this one.
I am not home, so I do not have access to the ones I’ve been itching to write about. I was, however, able to stumble on this brand at a Spice Shop in Cocoa Village, FL. I’ve been meaning to try this one. I almost picked the Lemongrass Oolong since it was an bergamot blend, but there was something off about the smell. I also hesitated with this one since the dry leaf sample smelled like a dried up orange rind, but I went with it anyway. The dry leaf from the fresh package was much better. This blend had lemongrass too, and citrus and Florida go together.
So trying it out, it ORANGE dominates followed by a lemony accent and a little bit of a jasmine hint. I got the oolong in the body with a light to medium viscosity and an overall green feeling. Otherwise, the orange rind is so prevalent that it almost reminded me of a vitamin c tablet. It’s like fruit loop milk when it’s good, but the latter when I overleaf it.
The main stay is the orange and the citrus, which are things that I personally like, but I could see it being detracting. The taste really is not artificial, but there was too much orange for me personally. 80 in terms of taste, 75 in terms of price.
