Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong

We’ve been drinking tea & watching ‘Captain Phillips’.
I’ve been sharing steepings of this, & the previous oolong with Tony. The 4 Seasons was much more floral, this one is sweet, creamy, & starchy in comparison. Tony likes this one better, he described it as, “More flavorful”. I’ve enjoyed them both. :)

Brewed up a cup of this according to the instructions on the packet. Used 14 oz of water to the packet of oolong and added a little less than a teaspoon of sugar because unsweetened oolongs of any type make me do the shudder and face and I hate that and I’d rather taste the actual tea than just BITTER because I am super oversensitive to bitter.

Waiting for this to cool a little while I clear my palate from the muffin I ate earlier and another cup of the Razzleberry Iced Tea from Frank. Still good. The cup is still too hot to hold so I think I have enough time to finish my glass.

The tea for this first steep (2 minutes) is very much green oolong. I don’t have great oolong tastebuds so that’s all I’m going to get until I taste it I think. There’s a certain suggestion of forests and if I breathe the aroma in deeply several times, I get a sharp spice note in the back of my throat.

Tasted warm, this is a very nice delicate green oolong. I get more flavour along the back of my tongue and aftertaste than I do upfront. It tastes pretty floral, though I couldn’t tell you what flower. I don’t have a lot of experience with flowered teas except when they overwhelm me or there are a lot of them in the blend.

This tea suffers from my lack of absolute love and experience with oolong. If the next few steepings change anything, I’ll be sure to update this note.

ETA: Second steep brings out even more floral and even a bit of fruit. This has gotten a bit too floral for me so that’s the end.

Oh wow. I don’t even know where to begin.

This is my favorite tea so far from Steepster Select.

The delicate smell and taste of sweet perfume and fruit are out of this world.

The leaves unfurl beautifully.

I’m looking at enchanting lush photos of Shan Lin Xi (http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=shan%20lin%20xi) and imagining the journey these leaves have taken to get to my tea-pot.

♡Love this Tea♡
My favorite from Steepster Select.
Nicely floral,but pleasantly sweet with just a touch of stevia.
With the second steeping I get a bit of fruitiness and honestly
I steeped this about 3 times…I simply enjoyed it all throughout the day.

Second steeping. I let it steep pretty long this time. The flavor was a strong due to the steep time. It was more buttery than the first steep.still delicious

Received this tea in January 2014’s Steepster Select box.

The aroma of this steeped is similar, to me, to an unsteeped four seasons oolong. The colour is close to that of a yellow highlighter… It’s almost glowing in my glass cup.
Tastes slightly like some fruit. The included card says pear, but I don’t get a pear taste. Can’t put my finger on it, but I do like it.
Kind of similar to an older tieguanyin.
Overall not my favourite ever, but a very interesting tea to have. I wouldn’t mind having more in my cupboard.

Shan Lin Xi means “Pine Forest Stream”, named for the region this tea is grown. I learned this after doing a little research online. Not surprisingly, I already had this image in my mind, as the aroma and taste of this tea evokes thoughts of pine trees damp with mountain rain.

The aroma seems to me an infusion of pine and rose. On the first couple steepings, the flavor starts with sweet rose and pine notes then gradates to a malty taste, then finally it finishes in a very peculiar aftertaste that is slightly astringent and I’d even say a little salty. It really lingers on your tongue. By third steeping the flavor has deepened away from the heady floral notes and down to a more fruity pear-like taste. The transition to the more malty taste is less pronounced and overall the flavor is more mellow, less astringent, and the aftertaste has become a bit tangy.

This tea is incredibly calming and definitely brings to mind thoughts of the outdoors, so for that alone this tea has value to me. It’s like a fine incense that transports you out of the confines of your dwelling and into the open air of nature. I am very impressed by the changing flavor and the complexity and highly recommend this Wulong. My only regret is that I didn’t think to use my aroma cup sets that are typically used to enjoy Taiwanese Wulong. Luckily Steepster Select sends two samples.

As for brewing, I decided to ignore the recommended brewing strategy on the sample and brewed it the way I brew most rolled green Wulongs, so I brewed this in a porcelain gaiwan for just 1’00, adding 0’30 for each additional infusion. I used 4.5g of leaf per 100ml of water and 194F/90C water.

Oh I love my Eco-Cha oolong sampler. This was a surprise! As evidence of my limited oolong knowledge, this most closely reminds me of…American Tea Room’s Lavender Sencha. I’m guessing other lavender teas similarly have that round, floral, warm, back-of-the-throat taste, and this oolong does too, but of course on a light, green oolong base instead. I didn’t know oolongs were ever that floral. It’s really working for me, and I’ll definitely keep this around.

I didn’t read the description on this tea before trying it, so I was impressed with myself for being able to tell the style (lightly oxidized rolled oolong) just from smelling the dry leaf after tearing the packet open, before looking :D

Brewed, it smells very much like a Tie Guan yin, floral and creamy and sweet, but the flavor is more buttery, reminiscent of Samovar’s Four Seasons (also a lightly-oxidized Taiwanese oolong, that one is actually cultivated from a Tie Guan Yin varietal). I’m also getting a bit of vegetal green flavor on the front now, on my 3rd steep, though the back-end and aftertaste are still very floral. Think water lilies.

This is lovely, I was going to say it’s a bit weak, but the 3rd steep actually has a lot of character – maybe my 2nd was just a bit short. I’m still planning to do the other sample gong-fu style, for comparison’s sake.

1 sample pack, 8oz water, 3 steeps so far

Origin: Nantou, Taiwan
Leaf Appearance: Rolled brownish green balls with scents of butter cookie
Method: Western style – one cup – 200F 2.5 minutes
Liquor: Floral scent
Flavor: Bitter, floral

I’m not going to follow Eco-Cha’s directions anymore and lower the temp on their teas so they don’t turn out bitter