Taiwan 'Shan Lin Xi' Light-Roasted High Mountain Oolong Tea

This is one of those elusive teas that I feel I don’t have the right words to describe. It is a bit like a cross between Dong Ding and high mountain Jade oolong. One thing is for sure though, I like it a lot!

The aroma has a lot going on, but I really can’t place it. There are some notes of pastries and stone fruits, but that’s far from a complete list. Taste starts off vegetal, grassy, and bitter with a very sweet finish. There is a nice short-lasting astringent bite and flavours such as butter, flowers, apple, peach. Aftertaste is more floral and has notes of forest floor and pine as well as a long-lasting sweetness. As derk mentioned, there is also a strong menthol quality in late steeps. I also got a bit of a fenugreek flavour, not unlike the one you get from some wild Taiwanese varietals.

The mouthfeel is thick, oily, soft, and slightly numbing with a throat-cooling quality – this tea certainly doesn’t lack in the texture department. It is also very calming and body-warming and makes me sweat a bit. A final point to note is that it lasts a long time, I can easily get 200ml/g from it, and if pushed, even quite a bit more.

Another awesome What-Cha oolong. After the rinse, the leaves smelled of a wonderful aroma of light roast, sweet honey, some unique notes already stated in the previous great reviews. The aroma alone can put it on another level. It’s lovely. Light amber liquor also with a unique aroma.

Very smooth, sweet and creamy, a fragrant roast but light toasty roast with floral, honey and stonefruit notes. Long lasting natural honey sweet finish. Thick. The balsam menthol is very nice and makes it quite unique.

gaiwan, 6g, 203°F, 110ml, rinse, 7 steeps: 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s

Such a lovely and delicate tea. Sweet floral fragrance accompanied by a light herbal medicinal note. Produces a light golden liquor with a greenish tint. It’s thick and coats the mouth. The taste is a combination of sweet, creamy floral notes, very light herbal green bitterness and a minty cooling sensation in the throat. The sweet flowery aftertaste lingers for a long time. (I wonder what flower this is.)

Below is my review from What-Cha’s website. I’ve since spent some more time with this tea.

“Special tea. Very nice, large rolled leaves that were handled well. This tea has a very rounded profile so I’m having a difficult time picking out the distinct aromas in the dry and wet leaf. Haven’t tried the recommended brewing parameter yet but brewed in a gaiwan, the liquor is incredible. I taste a very light roast, florals, unripe peach, medicinal wood, and it’s quite sweet like a light honey. There’s a wonderful menthol that might be imperceptible if you don’t savor the tea or if you drink it with food. The menthol lightly lines my mouth and I notice it most near my sinuses. Overall, a very delightful, balanced tea. I’m very grateful to have tried this Shan Lin Xi and hope to purchase more.”

Addendum:

As is it turns out, the menthol became really pronounced in later steeps. Not so much in taste but in feel. I happen to love this; others may not. This tea makes me sweat and I was exuding a minty coolness from my armpits and chest. Like washing up with some peppermint Dr. Bronner’s soap.

This tea just keeps on giving, too. When I thought the brew might be over, I pushed it.
This was my first experience with a shanlinxi and I’ve read that they generally have a butteriness, which in retrospect I totally missed. Upon pushing the last few steeps, the butter became very pronounced and I know it’s an odd descriptor but it was chewy.

I feel like I lack the experience to adequately describe this tea. Probably easier for a well seasoned taster but I can still say I love its complex well roundedness and its longevity. Not an absolute beginner’s tea.

Bought up what I could. I hope whoever else gets their hands on the remaining amount finds it as pleasurable as I did.

A tea deserves at least a 90 from me when I crave its flavor, and a few extra points when I want to designate it as morning tea.

I know that a lot of people choose something brisk to wake them up, but the earthy tones and honeyed tang coax me to alert my senses and appreciate the subtler profiles. This mornings brew was more subdued than I’ve had it before. I got the heather honey, something like grilled pineapple, and a smooth texture, but I tasted a little bit more mineral that I was not expecting. Vague florals coated my tongue midsip that reminded me more of a Ba Xian, and I was not sure how to place them. If I could taste colors, I got an orange amber and purple despite the liqour’s tawny hue. Was I tasting lily? I don’t know. When the florals end in the honey note, it has a little bit of a violet effect amidst an earthier background from the light roast.

I hope that my notes aren’t too much of an actual exaggeration. Some are repetitive. I could interchange grilled pineapple and heather honey as the same note for example, albeit the char subtleties gave me the idea of grilled pineapple and the floral mix in a dark sweet end gave me heather honey. Nevertheless, this is a satisfying tea for my mornings, and one that I can see more experienced drinkers playing with for the flavor profiles.