Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Oolong

I have so many samples. Not sure where this one came from.

The dry leaves looked almost like a roasted oolong instead of a green and were long and spindly instead of rolled.

Brewed at 90 C for 1 min. Instantly it was all floral. Floral aroma. Floral in the taste. This sample may be a year old or more. If this tea is this good now, I wonder how good it was when it was really fresh?

There was a slight buttery taste and silky feel to this tea too. I checked out the website and read that if you want this tea more buttery to brew it at higher temperatures. At 90C it’s more floral. A really versatile tea!

This is a high mountain Taiwanese oolong. High mountain teas are grown at altitude, usually above 1 000 m. This stresses the plants and as a result alters the taste of the tea produced from this plant. This tea is another from Goe Tea.

The uninfused leaves are dark, almost black, wirey. There is very little scent from the uninfused leaves.

The infused tea smells floral, and almost like tropical fruit.

Taste-wise this tea is splendid. I steeped 100 ml for 6 minutes and it tasted wonderful. Strong tropical fruit flavours dominate, with mango being the most distinguishing flavour. As it cools you do get a little bitterness, but I am attributing this to my ‘trial by fire’ brewing method for this kind of tea. I figure an infusion for 2 to 3 minutes with 250 ml of water would give a very smooth and tasty liquor.

I’m looking forward to trying further infusions of this tea. It’s a pretty complex brew. Very tasty.