LiShan Winter Premium High Mountain Oolong 2014
Origin: LiShan, Central Taiwan
Harvest: Winter
Elevation: 2200M
Varietal: Quingxin
Dry Leaves: The leaves are less uniform then the Special Reserve’s, but they have a much nicer blue and green color. They had a light minerally scent, compared to the Special Reserves I think this was a much prettier tea.
Temperature: Boiling (then 190oF)
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Floral and Citrus
Flavor: Citrus, Floral, Cinnamon, Fruity and Vegetal
Tasting Notes: I used about 5g of tea in my 100ml JianShui whereas I used about 7g for the Special Reserve because I tend to find Winter Oolongs tend to have much more flavor. This was a much more subtle oolong then though Special Reserve, although I am not that surprised. A lot of winter oolongs I’ve tried have been blunter then their spring counterparts, whereas the teas BTT sources tend to be more nuanced and complex than the earlier harvests. This had a nice buttery mouthfeel, much nicer than the Special Reserve on par with similar winter oolongs grown at this elevation. I liked the cinnamon and vegetal notes in this tea, it was a nice contrast to the citrus and floral ones. In later infusions it became more vegetal than anything else.
The winter leaves are a little smaller, but considerably thicker. I almost want to say they are in not as good shape as the Special Reserve; they look like they have been rolled tighter and you can certainly see even after ten infusions the leaves are still somewhat furled although I did notice that this tea had a lot more leaves per stem, whereas the Special Reserve had two to three leaves per stem on average. This time I got seventeen infusions. I definitely am going to buy some more before it sells out, $19.99 for 2oz is an amazing deal for this.
[Pictures and more at: http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2015/01/beautiful-taiwan-tea-2014-lishan.html)