Taiwan Mei Shan 'Jin Xuan' Oolong Tea

I’ve had this a few times now, and I’ve found myself just a little disappointed each time. Mouthfeel, florals, creaminess all just feel a bit middling to me. A sort of teasing-at-grass-emptiness along for the ride. A riddle.

More than drinkable… might take this to work for some grandpas.

Very smooth Taiwanese green oolong. Better brewed hotter.

Dry leaf: Floral.
Wet leaf: same.
Taste: Floral, cream, pear.

2020 Spring Harvest

Aroma: Creamy, floral, with the touch of sugar

I had not planned to order this one. Like I actually thought I’d selected an Ali Shan oolong up to the point that it arrived and was like “oh yeah, I went with this Mei Shan oolong for some reason.” I didn’t even register (read) that this was a Jin Xuan either… and this is all just my way of saying that I’m not always the most discerning or detail-oriented consumer.

This definitely tastes like a nice, creamy Jin Xuan. It’s light, smooth, and almost watery (think cucumber) until the creaminess sinks in (cucumber and cream makes me think of raita or taziki, but this is much more mild and buttery.. It also does not taste of onions, thankfully!). There is a kind of tangy but equally mild sweetness to finish in the second steep. It reminds me of apples, believe it or not. Some of this might be attributed to the intense amount of coffee that is being ground in the kitchen right now, which has since permeated through the whole house.

Steep Count: 3 so far. This is a sipdown though so I’m going to try and drink this until the sun goes down!

This was another of my November sipdowns. I think I finished what I had of this tea during either the third or fourth week of the month. As unroasted Taiwanese Jin Xuan goes, this one was excellent. I especially appreciated the complexity, longevity, and thick, full mouthfeel of its liquor.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After the rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 194 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 15 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 10 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of cream, butter, custard, vanilla, and gardenia. After the rinse, I detected new aromas of sugarcane, grass, and daylily. The first infusion brought out a meaty, brothy umami scent. In the mouth, the tea liquor presented notes of cream, butter, custard, gardenia, grass, daylily, and orchid that were chased by hints of sugarcane and powerful umami notes. Subsequent infusions brought out aromas of cucumber, daylily shoots, and sweet corn along with subtle orchid scents. New impressions of cucumber, daylily shoots, minerals, sweet corn, spinach, pear, green apple, and seaweed expressed themselves in the mouth alongside belatedly emerging vanilla notes. As I ended my session, I could still detect subtle mineral, daylily shoot, cream, butter, sugarcane, green apple, and sweet corn impressions that were underscored by hints of cucumber, spinach, umami, and seaweed. Interestingly, the faint spinach presence swelled after each swallow, leaving the taste of spinach in my mouth for a short time after the end of the session.

I tend to feel that Mei Shan oolongs do not get enough appreciation compared to those produced in some of Taiwan’s more prestigious terroirs, and teas like this one only reinforce that notion. This was a fantastic offering, one that stood head and shoulders above some of the other Taiwanese Jin Xuan oolongs I have tried recently. If you are looking for a Jin Xuan oolong that provides plenty of longevity and delivers all of the cultivar’s best traits, look no further.

It smells amazing, and tastes just as good. A wonderful creamy, floral taste. I steep it Western style in a small pot, and get 3 or so steeps. It’s a lovely dessert tea. I made some delicious ice cream out of it!

Thank you so much Alistair! I was pretty pleased with this Jin Xuan. The milk taste that this tea is known for was more pronounced and the body was very well balanced. It was a little bit grassy, but it was more creamy overall. The florals were definitely there being something like orchid, hyacinth, and barely honeysuckle going a little towards gardenia, but they were not super pronounced and more generalized in a creamy category. I brewed it starting off with a minute, another minutes and 15 sec, 1 min 45 sec, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min. It was sweeter in the first steep having more creamer qualities there, more florals and creamy grass in the middle, and an end with a light rise in green sweetness. The creamy texture and florals definitely compared to an Ali Shan and was better than quite a few I’ve had that were flat. I still prefer the Li Shan from What-Cha as my favorite.

I also got this tea to compare to Spirit Tea’s Mei Shan. They were practically the same. Spirit’s version was thicker, but this one was lighter and a hint less grassy. The differences were fractions of a decimal though. I recommend this one over that one because it’s half as much for the exact same quality.