Formosa Ali Shan

Alright, so I’m still sick so I’m not sure how well this will taste to me regardless. From what I can smell it smells slightly buttery with a little hint of wet grass on a warm summer morning. I kind of like this smell, it’s somewhat relaxing. Has kind of a heavy taste in the mouth and tastes kind of like butter salad. That sounds nasty to me but it really doesn’t taste that bad. There is also another taste in there but I can’t quit put my finger on it. I like it but I don’t love it, if only it felt lighter.

I hold out hope that I can make this tea sparkle but so far this one has only been okay for me. I followed Adagio’s directions (thinking that tea-specific directions they seem to give for the Master’s Collection might be there for a reason but apparently not) and it just made it meh. (Next time I’ll do it my way, with more leaf and a more gong fu style brewing, and see what happens.)

Anyway, I will say that it did have a nice buttery aftertaste but that’s all it has going for it. It wasn’t all that nuanced, it tasted a little flat and the initial flavor of the sip was almost sort of metallic. Even the husband, who pretty much gives any green oolong two enthusiastic thumbs up, said that this was nothing special.

Alright, Adagio. I was all for the Master’s Collection because of Yunnan Golden Curls and Anhui Keemun but you gotta do better than this with the oolongs.

Not bad, found this to be vegetal, slightly sweet, and refreshing. Tasty!

The two words that fit it best are: clean and balanced. Both adjectives are high on my list of descriptors I want for tea. It is ever so slightly oxidized taking away the vegetal, green tea taste that sometimes overpowers oolongs. The sweetness counterbalances the remaining bitterness. Floral notes add a little complexity and are (thankfully) very natural and slight.

This tea is part of Adagio’s “Masters” series. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by these teas. Although, I haven’t found one that has astounded me, they easily compete with teas from more boutiquey tea houses.

smooth taste, a bit pricy….

The Nose and Color: Smells like Adagio’s Ti Kuan Yin except more happy if that makes sense. Not exactly floral but still a very soothing smell. The color is a beautiful light green with a slight golden hue.

Tasting: Very subtle flavor
-sweet honey
-a little lemongrass
-gorgeous finish on my palate
- very calming tea. could see this being a perfect tea to help wake you up in the morning
-surprising complexity

Full Review Here: http://www.indieteas.com/home/2010/4/7/tea-review-13-adagios-formosa-ali-shan.html

I had a totally klutzy moment and knocked over the first infusion of this. Ugh.

It’s rolled up and fragrant in the tin and 5g of leaves in the gaiwan didn’t seem like much volume. But the leaves did quite an unfurl, and ended up filling the gaiwan by the end of the session.

It has a sweet dairy/floral fragrance in the cup. Very light yellow liquor. Almost colorless on the first infusion. A little more color on subsequent infusions.

I think it might be worth my while to try a Taiwan green oolong in proximity to a China green oolong to see if I can make a generalization about the differences. So far it seems to me the Taiwan ones are somewhat less buttery and more perky, but that’s based on a rather small sample and a rather unscientific comparison.

The second infusion was sweetly floral with a tad of bitterness at the end of the sip. Not an unpleasant bitterness, just a bit of vegetable bitterness like some greens have.

The third steep is similar. There’s a freshness to the taste that is quite nice.

I took it through my usual five steeps and enjoyed it. But it does seem to be a bit of a johnny one note. Not a lot of complexity to this one, not a lot of evolution from steep to steep. Which is ok, sometimes. It might make a good western style steep given that not a lot seems to be gained by multiple short steeps.

Clean . No one taste over powers the other. Smells wonderful. Tea leaves after brewed are beautiful . Awesome to watch the leaves unfold.