Lishan Oolong

Bought this recently when Tea Ave was having a sale. I generally like floral, green oolongs. This one was quite nice. It was somewhat vegetal and had notes of sweet grass to it. It was very good. I gave it eight steeps and I think it would have gone a couple more. But I figured it wasn’t puerh that can usually be pushed to twelve or fourteen steeps. I bought several more teas from Tea Ave and I hope they are all this good.

I steeped this eight times in a 110ml teapot with 7.1g leaf and 190 degree water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

A good oolong but a bit forgettable. I am coming off an oolong I loved which was extremely floral and in comparison this was more marine. But they shared a thick and pleasant mouthfeel.

Backlog.

Thanks to Tea Ave for providing a sample of this tea. The dry leaf has a fantastic sweet floral aroma that’s heightened after steeping. The first infusion is vegetal with bitterness masking the high mountain flavor. Some sweetness and mineral notes start to emerge with the second steep. The tea really begins to unveil its flavor with the 3rd and 4th steeps. Most of the bitterness has faded and the tea develops a thicker mouthfeel. Nice balance of nectary sweetness and vegetal. There is some honeysuckle although the floral aroma doesn’t really come through in flavor. Not a whole lot of complexity but enjoyable nonetheless. By the fifth steep the bitterness is gone as the tea transitions to a smooth, well rounded flavor with a hint of citrus. A seaweed flavor greeted me on the sixth steep signaling the tea had reached the end.

Overall impressions – an enjoyable everyday jade oolong with more of a vegetal character and wonderful aroma.

I’m not one for green oolongs, and this Lishan is pretty green, however this oolong is pretty solid. It is super fresh (despite me having it in my stash for almost a year!) and the notes are strong, crisp and clean. I’m getting fresh grass and a strong zesty green mango flavor with a nice lingering aroma of fruity.

This tea was in a bag and I hacked up the bag to put the leaf in gaiwan. The leaf looks excellent, untouched and huge intact leaf.

If you love green floral fruity oolongs you are gonna love this tea! As more of an stronger oxidized tea drinker, the fragrance and strong notes win me over too.

I’m really excited to be trying this tea as Tea Ave mentions that this is the tea that inspired them to open up their own shop! That has to count for something, right? I know that this type of oolong is loved by many for its incredible flavor. I personally have liked other oolongs a bit more, but I’m always willing to try others.

The scent of this tea is sugary sweet and incredibly floral. It really does remind me of a buttercream icing with the essence of flowers. Lovely! Sipping… I wasn’t expecting such a thick mouthfeel, but it does feel rather heavy on the tongue. It isn’t buttery so much… but luxuriously weighty. I mainly taste flowers with a bit of a mineral background. The flavor brings to mind lacy petals and leaves – it’s delicate, but strong enough to take center stage. I do catch a bit of sweet butter and sugar towards the end of the sip, but it’s really all about the flowers. There is also something that reminds me of apricot or peach, but it’s very faint and doesn’t last long. It’s strange, because while this tea feels thick and bold, the aftertaste is light and ethereal, leaving just a memory of what was a strong flavor.

I think this is a very special tea and would be ideal for someone looking for a well-balanced oolong. It seems to have a bit of everything.. a bit like a tea that can’t make up its mind, but in a good way. Balanced, tender yet bold.

Picked this one up from Tea Ave recently. I’m finally getting to steep some tea in my gaiwan, which is something I haven’t had the chance to do much of lately.

I had a few steeps of this and it is very vegetal. It smells buttery but doesn’t taste too buttery to me. I’m picking up a bit of floral but to me, this has a bit of marine/seaweed/mineraly flavor that reminds me more of an Iron Goddess of Mercy than the LiShans I’ve tried in the past. I did three steeps, at around 30 seconds for the first two and then 10 seconds for the third. I wish I was getting more out of this, maybe I’ll need to try it soon as a cold brew? It’s ok but my least favorite of the Tea Ave’s so far I think.

Another good oolong from Liquid Proust! My review may be a little bit skewed because it’s an older sample, but this tea has one of the better mouth feels that I’ve gotten so far. Like others I’ve had, it’s kind got a texture like butter. As for the flavor, it’s fairly consistent with each steep, being grassy, creamy, and barely floral. Otherwise, it’s blander compared to the others that I’ve had. Does not detract from the mouth feel, though.

(Tea Provided for Review)

Lishan Oolong
Origin: Lishan Mountain Region, Taichung City, Taiwan
Cultivar: Qinxin Oolong
Elevation: 1700m

Dry Leaves: The leaves were the most underwhelming of the three; this had a light floral scent. The leaves had a lot of yellow and green and not a lot of blues.

First Steeping
Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Floral and Fruity
Flavor: Floral and Sugarcane
Tasting Notes: This has a nice thin-ish mouthfeel, not as thick as teas grown at higher elevations, but not what I normally expect for teas grown at 1700m. Regardless it was nice. It is a little vanilla for my taste. I could taste honeysuckle, hyacinth and lilies, other than that I could taste sugarcane. It was very mellow. I imagine it would brew a lot better for longer times.

Depending on the price I might buy this again. I tend to prefer more complex oolongs.

[From http://rah-tea.blogspot.com/2015/02/tea-ave-preview.html]

Tiny 3.1g sample in my 100ml gaiwan, and I tried not to fill it up as much as usual. 90-100C water. First steep 60sec, second 80sec, still going. :) The aroma of this is really cool. The wet leaves after the rinse were had a sweet, floral scent, but after subesquent steepings smell like spinach or seaweed, rich and green. The liquor smells sweet and floral in the first steep, with vegetal notes emerging in subsequent ones. The flavour is very crisp and refreshing, lightly vegetal like cucumber or fresh garden vegetables, with a creamy mouthfeel and a long finish, and floral notes in the aftertaste.

The dry leaves in a warm gaiwan smell like roasted seaweed. Interesting start. The scent after rinsing the leaves is a really bright floral nectar smell, sweet, with notes of honey, little notes of seaweed still in the background.

Really unique flavor. I’m not even sure how to describe it. It’s creamy, tastes a lot like some kind of fruit or flower, like a tropical fruit… maybe little hints of mango or papaya? Maybe even nectarine. It has a bit of toasty flavor, but mild.

Second infusion is a little more floral and overall similar flavors. Not quite as creamy or sweet. A lingering peach aftertaste.

Third infusion is much like the second, but stronger flavor. By the fourth infusion it’s even more floral tasting and less fruity. It’s more the kind of floral that can be kind of borderline offensive to me, hinting at soapy. This is the usual type of floral I experience in taiwanese high mountain oolongs. Sometimes I simply have to brew lighter to avoid them. With other teas, it is just innately overwhelming to me (mostly Alishan… in my experience). With this Lishan though, it’s not too much, but definitely there.

By the fourth infusion the floral has backed off and it is back to the fruity notes. I really liked the first and maybe the later infusions of this tea, but some of the middle infusions with the bright floral taste were borderline harsh for me. It’s hard to decide how I feel on this one because that tropical fruit taste is just really unique and unlike anything else I’ve tried, but the flavor is not consistent throughout infusions, nor does it change in a good way, since the first infusion was the best. Hmmm. Still a good tea though. Worth trying for it’s unique tropical fruit notes, and if you like pretty floral oolong teas, then there is probably nothing to fear here at all.