Takachiho Koshoun

2025 sipdown no. 18

Cha Yi sent this as a sample in my order!

I was intrigued to see this oolong is from Japan. I mostly found this to have a creamy flavour with subtle florals (much more subtle than a Si Ji Chun). As the tea is almost fully cooled, more vegetal flavours come forward. Otherwise, it’s a very clean flavour and I quite enjoyed it. I would happily pick 50g of this one up.

The first cup was quite light in flavour as I lowered the steep time. I found the longer steep time allowed this tea to shine more.

1st steep 4 minutes
2nd steep 5 minutes

First tea of the morning today!

For the most part my body is still very used to getting up for work at the normal, pre corona virus hour that I used to have to get up at. As I’ve discussed, I’m working reduced hours right now to avoid higher traffic commute times on the metro so I technically have an extra hour and a half in the AM to either sleep in or do other stuff. I’ve mostly been using that time to have actual, proper breakfasts and a first mug of tea at home for the day…

Last time I drank this tea was Gongfu and it wasn’t quite working for me, but this time I followed the instructions on the sample bag for making it as a Western mug and it came out insanely good! Light to medium body and very soft, gentle mouthfeel without any bitterness/astringency. Flavour was delicate fresh florals like gardenia, lilac, and peony mixed with sweet vegetal notes like snow pea/garden peas with this sugar cane sweetness on the tip of the tongue. I don’t think I could have asked for a nicer cup to start my day with today, and this is exactly the lovely profile I remember the tea having when I first had it at the Montreal Tea Festival that shocked me so much and convinced me to buy this tea in the first place.

Mmmm….