Pear Mountain Oolong (Fall Pick)

Fall 2020 harvest.

Had quite a few sessions with tea thanks to the extra 15g that Mountain Stream Teas generously provided with my sample. High mountain oolongs are so unpredictable that I seldom order anything but samples these days.

Opening the bag, I was greeted by a pleasant aroma of flowers and ripe fruit. This turned to buttered beans after dropping the leaves into a heated shibo. A flowery clover like aroma emerged following a rinse. First steep was buttery with an almost pear-like fruity flavor. Next few steeps settled into a light and slightly sweet flavor with muted florals. Thin bodied and flat in the mouth. Very little of the wonderful aromatics found their way into the brewed tea.

Compared to other Li Shans, this one lacked fullness and staying power. I did have better results with ambient brewing but then again, that’s not really the point.

Sample sipdown! I had half of a foil sample pack of this inside a mini Adagio fandom tin. (Speaking of which, I checked the Adagio site and they have an adorable holiday sampler available now… NO, I do not need it!)

I’ll admit, I don’t generally gravitate to high mountain oolong teas, as they often tend to be too floral for me. Regardless, here we are.

This one has some elements of Li Shan oolongs that I’ve had before, but is also quite different. There is a strong stonefruit presence, but instead of the usual sweeter peach, it’s quite tart, and reminds me of an underripe plum or apricot. Perhaps with even a hint of lemon? The slight sourness lasts throughout the sip and is particularly present in the aftertaste. There is floral here as well, and it’s the type that is not my favorite, though I don’t know enough about flowers to pin it down. I would describe it as more heady and perfumey than sweet. I get grassiness, and a “leafy” sort of almost-but-not-quite vegetal flavor. Maybe something nearing arugula? There’s also a sparkling clear minerally spring water note, and a lovely hint of warm cinnamon near the end.

And, of course, let’s not forget that thick, silky, creamy texture that is the hallmark of green oolong.

Very pleasant, and a bit surprising, but still not something I could see myself drinking regularly as it’s just not my favorite genre. Still happy to try it nonetheless!

Maybe 25% oxidation is too low for me. I have tried many 고산차’s at this point, and most of them are just ho-hum to me given the expense. It’s easy to see why the category is appealing for many, but I seldom crave this sort of high mountain stuff. I don’t dislike it. It’s just not something I’m going to seek out.

And lastly, the fall pick. I find it to be the most enjoyable of the 4, although it’s not as delicate and complex than the snow pick. It has a stronger aroma than the spring pick, with a nutty, floral and vanilla notes. There are a lot of florals in the smell, most notably osmanthus I think. The taste is strong from the very start of the session. It is quite multi-layered, delicate and mineral. The flavours include ones like custard, cream, grass, orchid, brown sugar and apricot pits. Mouthfeel is lubricating and body is medium I’d say.

Recently, I haven’t been paying as much attention to tasting as I’d like.

The dry leaf is very fragrant with notes of vanilla, cream, florals and vegetal. Warmed was vegetal, lemon, sugarcane, cream and floral. With the rinse, I could also pick up on some pine. Brewed gongfu in a clay teapot, I noticed how fragrant the tea was, just overall pleasant. I did not notice much change in flavors, with the dominant notes being florals, lemon, cream and a brown sugar sweetness with some vegetal on the swallow. And dang, what a swallow. The liquor was very smooth and thick with oil, only a little astringent.

Brewed western in a glass mason jar, it was even thicker, almost like the leaves were suspended in a thin gel matrix. However, brewed this way, the astringency became much more prominent. I also noticed the minerality of the tea more and some kind of stone fruit, maybe apricot? It’s not like the apricot of puer tea, though. On the second steep, there was a strong aftertaste of something like spaghetti squash. Not sure, but definitely squash in character.

Brewed grandpa in a thermos, both the oiliness and astringency really stuck around. My tongue was slick for a few hours with no food. Here the brown sugar and spice notes that Daylon R Thomas talked about were very prominent. I could see Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I think I liked it best brewed grandpa because of that quality.

I don’t think this is my favorite of the four Lishan I’ve tried in the past few months, but it is worth picking up a larger quantity and having better attention paid to it. I’d also like to try brewing it at a temperature lower than the recommended 100C to see if that will tame the astringency.

I got the Four Seasons pack from Pear Mountain, and I am enjoying all of them. However, I am going to have to constantly rewrite notes as I crank them out and backlog, and likely talk about the samples in unison.

I tried this tea out first and foremost as I gong fu brewed it. The first 20 sec steep was milky and sweet like spices and brown sugar amidst a faintly green background, and the second 15 steep was like milk soaked in cinnamon toast crunch, hitting a high sugary note that enveloped the back of my throat, and then my sinuses. The cinnamon and brown sugar notes kept going steeps 3-5, but then faded out into osmanthus ever so gradually. I got some slight stonefruit notes that I’ll have to pick a part when I drink it again, but the sugary notes and the spice accents were the most prominent.

That said, it was vegetal, but more viscous than herbacious. The vegetal notes were otherwise very faint and light like coriander since the texture dominated the steeps with the sweeter flavors. The greener notes showed up in the later steeps, developing a more citrus like edge into steep ten. It’s a tie between this tea and the snow pick so far, but I will say this is a very good Li Shan at a great price for $25 for 100 grams. I’d be interested to see how my next visit with this gem changes. I noticed a difference in the vessels for drinking the snow pick, so I’m curious what it has to offer.