A HUGE thank you to Tea Ave for the super generous sample package. Whoa did I not expect all of these goodies, including another entire set to hand over to someone else. Really unbelievably generous. (I decided my extra set would be sent over to TheLastDodo since she was extremely generous with her tea sale! I guess I must have been thinking that the generosity of TheLastDodo matched the generosity of Tea Ave. :D ) I’m not sure why Tea Ave wouldn’t just sent a sample of each of their teas to everyone, instead of the sets, as the original point was to get their teas out into the world. They would have actually saved money sending a sample of each tea to everyone instead of the sets! I don’t know, that’s just my thinking anyway. On to the first sample!
The dark green bundles have a fragrance like milk oolong: sweet, milky, with a hint of floral. The flavor is surprisingly light… also a lot like a milk oolong, milky, creamy, a little vegetal and floral. The flavor expands as the liquid cools. The second steep is nuttier, a little more vegetal, somewhat savory rather than sweet, while not getting to that really salty or brothy state. The third steep is tasty as well, getting fruitier, maybe pineapple —just an all around great oolong… the leaves could keep going for wonderful flavored steeps. The steeped dark green leaves fill up that infuser basket!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 12 ounce mug // rinse // 7 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 5 minutes after boiling // 2 minute
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
Li Shan is one of my favorite oolong of all time!