Shanlin Xi High Mountain

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Coconut, Cream, Floral, Fruity, Honeysuckle, Papaya, Pineapple, Spinach, Sweet, Tropical Fruit, Vegetal, Apricot, Cantaloupe, Lily, Nectar, Wildflowers, Citrus, Grass, Green, Green Beans, Herbaceous, Narcissus, Orchid, Rainforest, Sap, Butter, Creamy, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruit Tree Flowers, Honey, Jasmine, Pear, Pine, Tropical
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Marshall Weber
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec 13 g 502 oz / 14847 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

1 Image

1 Want it Want it

2 Own it Own it

5 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Might be an off day for my palate? This is one I was anticipating enjoying quite a bit. 25 seconds for first steep, 30 second, 55 third. Just not getting much flavor out of it honestly. Think I...” Read full tasting note
    95
  • “Spring 2021 harvest. If I were rating this tea based on the first 2-3 infusions, it’s close to a perfect 100. But longevity is important too and unfortunately, that’s where this tea is lacking. It...” Read full tasting note
    93
  • “I’ve been looking forward to trying this Shan Lin Xi for a while, and finally finishing a 150 g pack of another Shan Lin Xi gave me the perfect opportunity. (I actually forgot to post a note on...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “I was pouring tea for a couple of friends (outside! Socially distanced!) and this was a very lovely tea for a lovely Oregon spring day. The first infusion was extremely buttery and a very sweet and...” Read full tasting note
    95

From Wang Family Tea

From the website:

Location: Shanlin Xi(杉林溪)

Cultivar: Qingxin Oolong(青心烏龍)
Garden Elevation: 1200m

Season: Spring 2019

Roast Level: Unroasted

Harvest Style: Hand Picked

Tasting Notes
Dry leaves are forest green in color, and have a light aroma of grassy sweetness with some florality. After rinsing, the florality of this Shanlin Xi permeates the air. After brewing the first round, I immediately smelled the gaiwan cover. I was greeted by the smell of freshly cut grass and blooming flowers. The first round has a distinct high mountain flavor; woodsy, floral, and altogether refreshing. The second round further increases the florality of this tea. The tea liquor for this round is creamy, and delivers a strong sweetness during the aftertaste. The third round continues to show the sweet-floral nature of this Shanlin Xi, but now there is also a delightful green bean scent to this tea. The aftertaste is strong and sweet, and lasts for long after you finish drinking.

We recommend drinking this tea in the morning; it will lift your spirit for the day to come!

Brewing Parameters

Leaf/Water: 7g/100ml

Water Temperature: Boiling (100° C)

Quick Rinse

1st Round Brewing Time: 55 Seconds

2nd Round Brewing Time: 45 Seconds

3rd Round Brewing Time: 55 Seconds

About Wang Family Tea View company

Company description not available.

5 Tasting Notes

95
140 tasting notes

Might be an off day for my palate? This is one I was anticipating enjoying quite a bit. 25 seconds for first steep, 30 second, 55 third. Just not getting much flavor out of it honestly. Think I need to try again another time. Will hold off on final judgement until then :).

UPDATE: Tried some again the following day and BOOM. Flavor hit me this time for sure! Adjusting my rating appropriately. My palate was not feeling it yesterday. Weird how that happens! I didn’t adjust brewing parameters or anything.

Anyways, this is mostly tropical fruit in smell and flavor and I love it! Not as rich as the Fushou Shan, but still fairly rich. Great value for the price. Would be interesting to do a side-by-side brew of this and the one from Eco-cha. Hard to say which one is better at the moment tbh.

Mild sweetness, no astringency or bitterness. Longevity is 4-6 infusions. Mouthfeel is creamy and rich. Notes shift more vegetal in the later infusions.

Harvest: Spring 2023
Cultivar: Qing Xin
Location: Shanlin Xi
Elevation: 1200 m

Dry leaf: Sweet
Wet leaf: Papaya, sweet, tropical fruit
Flavors: Sweet, vegetal, papaya, pineapple, tropical fruit, cream, floral, coconut, honeysuckle, creamed spinach.

Flavors: Coconut, Cream, Floral, Fruity, Honeysuckle, Papaya, Pineapple, Spinach, Sweet, Tropical Fruit, Vegetal

Daylon R Thomas

This one is better Western, and Eco-Cha’s can be better gong fu. The last few times I’ve had Eco-Cha’s I’ve actually preferred this one because of it’s bright energy. Eco-Cha’s can be more floral, and previous crops were fruitier, though recent crops from 2020 and 2019 and 2018 for me were more floral/vegetal.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93
676 tasting notes

Spring 2021 harvest.

If I were rating this tea based on the first 2-3 infusions, it’s close to a perfect 100. But longevity is important too and unfortunately, that’s where this tea is lacking. It peaks very early and the flavor drops precipitously.

The initial steeps are exquisite. Full bodied with a rush of complex florals and a texture that feels like liquid silk rolling around on your tongue. Notes of wildflowers, lily, and honeysuckle. This is accompanied by a juicy mélange of tropical fruit and nectar sweetness. However, the tea drops off quickly after the 3rd steep becoming more muted as the floral-tropical flavor fades into the background. After 5 steeps, it goes completely flat and has little if anything left to offer. Rather disappointing as most gaoshans give at least 6-7 decent infusions.

Flavors: Apricot, Cantaloupe, Floral, Honeysuckle, Lily, Nectar, Tropical Fruit, Wildflowers

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C
Marshall Weber

That’s unfortunate. Have high hopes for Wang Family Tea based on general perception of the company in the tea community. Have you had a similar experience with their other teas?

Daylon R Thomas

I’m going to bud in Lucky Me-The Jasmine Scented Shanlinxi lasted longer for me, and same with the Cuifeng and the Wild Versions of the Shanlinxi and hybrids. However, most of them last 6 or seven resteeps going flat even those individual cases. Most of the other teas require longer steep times, but didn’t always rebrew as strongly. I still personally love them and I personally don’t always need endless rebrews since I’m on the move a lot, but it does impact cost ratio. This Shanlinxi’s still one of my favorites for the taste and L-Theanine combo.

LuckyMe

With any tea shop there’s always going to be a tea here or there that’s lacking in some way. But I still recommend Wang Family Tea. I’ve tried a bunch of their teas and all of them are solid. They’re currently my go-to for Taiwanese oolongs.

Like Daylon said, most oolongs last about 6 infusions. This one peaks a little early but it’s still crave-worthy.

Marshall Weber

It’s great to hear that you like their teas so much! I’m super excited to give them a try. They’re just a bit expensive haha.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

92
413 tasting notes

I’ve been looking forward to trying this Shan Lin Xi for a while, and finally finishing a 150 g pack of another Shan Lin Xi gave me the perfect opportunity. (I actually forgot to post a note on that tea, but fortunately, I have another bag.) I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot using boiling water for 55, 45, 55, 65, 75, 90, 120, and 240 seconds, plus several uncounted steeps.

The dry aroma is of pineapple, orchids, and grass. The first steep has orchid, pineapple, coconut, woodsy, and grassy notes, with some other unidentifiable florals mixed in. The next steep has a touch of astringency and the sappy quality I get with many teas from Shan Lin Xi. I also notice cream, green beans, and sweeter florals (narcissus?), and as Daylon said, it kind of reminds me of a fabric softener sheet. The aroma at the bottom of the cup is particularly floral and fruity. Steeps three and four are full of cooked pineapple, herbs, orchids, sweet pea flowers, beans, grass, and veggies, with maybe a hint of citrus. The tea is becoming increasingly vegetal and green. The next couple steeps feature more coconut and pineapple in the aroma, but more spinach and grass in the taste. The final long steeps are mostly vegetal with hints of florality.

This is a highly drinkable tea, as shown by the fact that I’ve had three sessions with it in the past few days and will finish my 25 g bag shortly. I love the tropical fruit and sweet florals, but the strongly vegetal flavours and lack of longevity bring my rating down somewhat. Nonetheless, this is a tea I will consider buying again, if only because it’s substantially more affordable than the SLX Wild Garden.

Flavors: Citrus, Coconut, Cream, Floral, Grass, Green, Green Beans, Herbaceous, Narcissus, Orchid, Pineapple, Rainforest, Sap, Spinach, Vegetal

Preparation
Boiling 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

95
4 tasting notes

I was pouring tea for a couple of friends (outside! Socially distanced!) and this was a very lovely tea for a lovely Oregon spring day. The first infusion was extremely buttery and a very sweet and smooth finish. The second infusion, grassy notes mingled with the butter. But the third was a revelation, the grass was overshadowed by heavy floral notes that appeared. One of my friends thought I’d switched out for a jasmine tea! Really lovely, will drink again.

Flavors: Butter, Floral, Grass

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec 20 g 1000 OZ / 29573 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

97
1704 tasting notes

Love this tea, and one that I thought I added and wrote about on Steepster, but alas, no.

I am working with the same year, 2019, and it’s one of my favorites. It’s got all the notes I associate with Shan Lin Xi-coconut, pineapple, pineapple skin, fresh greens, creamy texture, lingering after taste, and floral aroma that’s so lush and soft that it’s akin to a fabric softener sheet. It’s a little bit more vegetal than some other Shan Lin Xi’s I’ve had, but it’s definitely sweeter and more floral. It’s got enough complexity to boot gong fu going from floral, green, woodsy (slightly), dew, mountain air, jasmine, hyacinth, fruity, to honey and more floral mid steeps, and then sweeter, and it’s well rounded western or even as tumbler grandpa fuel if you are light on the leaves. I got asian pear in steep three yesterday, and it made my easter morning.

What I like about this particular Shanlinxi of the many I’ve had is that it’s incredibly forgiving and has a great energy. The L-theanine-caffeine combo is great and gets me through my mornings. It’s also got decent longevity going up to ten or twelve brews if you really leaf it and flash steep it, but it’s better to have a medium approach and medium to longer brewing time. It’s rarely astringent or too green.

The only downside is price. It costs $10 American Dollars for 25 grams, and though the price is lower as you go up to $28 for 75 grams, it’s still an investment for a tea that is worth the amount, but something that will hurt the pocket if it’s drank daily. Although it’s been my regular ShanLinXi for the last year and a half, it’s mixed in with the other assortment of teas I spend too much money on just to try. I do want to at least keep 25 grams of it around at a time because I like it that much.

Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Fruit Tree Flowers, Green, Green Beans, Honey, Jasmine, Pear, Pine, Pineapple, Tropical

Leafhopper

LOL, some Shan Lin Xis indeed remind me of fabric softener due to their combo of heavy florals and vanilla. Also, based on my experience, US$10 per ounce is fairly normal for Shan Lin Xi. The one from Camellia Sinensis is slightly less, given the exchange rate, at about CAD$11 per ounce. The offerings from Floating Leaves and Tillerman are maybe a few dollars more. Let me know if you can find a good SLX for less. My wallet would be grateful!

Daylon R Thomas

You know I will. Actually, me and Liquidproust were on a quest for one four years ago. We didn’t find anything perfect, but a lot of what we got was from farmers, ebay, etc. I used to get Lishan from Berylleb King Tea along with Dayuling that was cheaper than some others. I would recommend that company if it weren’t for the change in name. The $6 new customer discount at Wang Family tea also made a huge difference.

Daylon R Thomas

The most affordable Shanlinxi staple we found at the time was Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s Misty Mountain. I’m not sure what the Canadian Rates are or the current price. I stopped buying from them because there was a season that I did not like, and then I took a break from them and explored other companies.

Daylon R Thomas

Their traditional Dong Ding is very good and peachy.

Leafhopper

Daylon, sorry, I just saw your comments. I might order from BTTC in the future. I had a Jin Xuan from them that was nice. Your Shan Lin Xi quest sounds fun.

If it weren’t for their hefty shipping charges, I’d give Wang Family Tea a try, and I might do it anyway because their teas sound so good. However, I’ll wait till the spring teas come out and I have fewer oolongs in my stash!

Daylon R Thomas

Good idea. I’m curious to see what the spring is like this year, too.

Leafhopper

Apparently there’s a drought in Taiwan, which could reduce the amount of tea produced by 30 to 50 percent. I’m not sure if it would affect the quality. Fingers crossed!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.