Snow Mist Farm Oolong

I noticed this tea on the Mountain Stream site and was intrigued, but never got around to ordering it. Thanks, Derk, for the generous sample! I steeped slightly over 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot at 205F for 30, 40, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted steeps.

The aroma of the loosely rolled dry leaves is of mango, guava, honeysuckle, gardenia, other florals, and spices. The first steep has notes of lilac, honeysuckle, gardenia, cream, mango, guava, orange, marzipan, spinach, grass, and chili. I’ve never had jackfruit, so can’t comment on whether it’s in the tea. I taste what might be camphor near the bottom of the cup. The second steep gives me mouth-watering notes of mango, orange, and tropical fruit, plus clove, chili, honeysuckle, lilac, other florals, camphor, and grass. The tea is a bit perfumey, but in a good way. The next couple steeps are more floral, with cream, camphor, grass, and some astringency. The mango and tropical fruit come out in the aftertaste. Steeps five and six are more grassy, though the mango, marzipan, and florals are still there. The grass, spinach, and kale become more prominent as the session ends, though the creamy mango and tropical fruit make me want to keep going.

I love fruity oolongs, so it’s no surprise that this one is a winner for me. The combination of lush tropical fruit and heady florals is wonderful, even though the tea became more astringent near the end of the session. The spices are something I rarely notice in Taiwanese oolong. It may have some rough edges, but it put a smile on my face while I was drinking it.

Rich florals dance off the palate as the unctuous, springwater-sweet liquor moves with grace. The taste is at first ethereal and subtly blooms with rich notes of honeysuckle, passionfruit-cream, jackfruit-vanilla and spinach, hints of mango and marzipan. The aftertaste is tangy and lemony. I feel both spicy chili pepper warmth and some camphorous cooling. Clean.

This tea is on its way to greatness. Initial few steeps are beautiful but the later steeps are more difficult to balance. Does well with very hot water and both gongfu and western, though I prefer gongfu. Best tea of the white, oolong and black tea bundle! I found a strand of moss in this bag :)