Dayuling High Mountain Spring Oolong Tea, Lot 523

Before I get to the meatier bits of this review, allow me to explain my numerical scoring of this tea in advance. My review session for this tea was interrupted by work. I started working my way through a sample pouch of this tea last Sunday, ended up having to leave my house in the middle of my review session to help my dad with some farm work, and then came back home between two and three hours later. I resumed my session at that point, but ended up having to leave again shortly thereafter to run errands for my mother. This occurrence necessitated me setting this tea aside for another hour before I could finally finish my session. These two lengthy interruptions caused something that should have taken a couple of hours take most of the day. Normally I will not assign Dayuling teas scores over 90 unless they really blow me away, but since this tea proved so resilient and adaptable, I bumped up what was going to be a score in the high 80s by a couple points. I found it to be a very good tea, but since it rose to the challenges presented by terribly fragmented, sloppy, unfocused brewing, I decided that it was only fair that I be a little more generous than usual.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a brief rinse, I steeped 6 grams of rolled tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by at least 13 subsequent infusions. In theory, steep times for these infusions were 10 seconds, 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, and 3 minutes. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that no infusions were repeated due to the interruptions to my review session chronicled in the above paragraph. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure at least two or three infusions were repeated.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of butter, cream, vanilla, orchid, and sugarcane. After the rinse, I found emerging custard and narcissus scents underscored by some vague vegetal character. The first infusion then introduced spinach and umami scents. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of butter, cream, vanilla, and sugarcane that were chased by subtler notes of orchid, narcissus, grass, spinach, and umami. Subsequent infusions introduced new impressions of minerals, lychee, apricot, peach, pear, green apple, coconut, lettuce, and cucumber. There were also some stronger umami notes plus a vague coriander presence here and there on the swallow. The series of longer infusions at the tail end of the session offered mild notes of minerals, butter, cream, and sugarcane balanced by fleeting impressions of vanilla, umami, lettuce, and green apple.

I am usually more of a fan of winter Dayuling oolongs as I find them to be more robust, but this tea offered more than enough to please me. I was kind of surprised that it did not strike me as being more floral, but that also could have been due to my usual spring stuffiness and the disruptions to my review session that limited my ability to consistently focus on identifying aromas and flavors. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to try this tea under less chaotic circumstances, but honestly, I still greatly enjoyed it. Life may have gotten in the way, but hey, it did not sink this tea.

If I had to sum up my impression of this tea in one word, it would be underwhelming. This has in fact been my experience with most Da Yu Lings. The taste usually doesn’t live up to the high price tag. This tea had a nice relaxing qi to it but isn’t very memorable flavor wise.

The dark green nuggets in a warmed gaiwan bring out a pleasant fragrance of hyacinth, daffodils, and coconut. The first couple of steeps have an almost green apple sourness bordering on astringency. This is complemented by notes of citrus, lemongrass, and balsamic vinegar. Higher temperatures bring out more tartness so to minimize this, keep steeping temperature between 185-190 F. Good viscous mouthfeel and a tingle of balsam in the aftertaste. As the leaves open up, the tea becomes smoother with more florals, a mineral sweetness, and a occasional hint of tropical nectar. The flavor drops off rather early around the 5th steep shifting to a light vegetative taste.

Overall, there was nothing about the flavor that particularly stood out to me. I wasn’t thrilled about the sourness and the other flavors didn’t really hold my interest. Taiwan Tea Crafts gao shans are usually excellent but this tea is a rare miss for them.

For a key to my rating scale, check out my bio.

I must say I prefer the winter-picked versions of this tea, but this spring Da Yu Ling is still enjoyable. Dry scent in a hot gaiwan delivers intense cream, subtle eucalyptus notes, and a slightly unpleasant stale water smell. After the first infusion, the wet scent brings out gardenias and very fresh, grassy butter. Medium viscosity but very round on the palate. First infusion is crisp and light, with a nectar sweetness, florals, and fresh cream notes. Cream quickly fades to a sour floral note. One of my favorite parts of Taiwan Tea Crafts’ Da Yu Lings is the color of the leaves – they are the most intensely vibrant shades of green (blue-green, lime-green, and the richest dark green tones I’ve seen in any tea). It’s almost as if the leaves are back-lit in the gaiwan. A surprising tieguanyin fragrance comes through in the second and later infusions. The tea actually tastes like a tieguanyin as well, only with the added tropical notes typical of Taiwanese oolong (especially honeydew melon, tangerines, and a piña colada creamy-fruitiness). As the tea loses its floral top notes in later infusions, marine vegetal notes start to poke through (sencha, matcha, etc.) accompanied by a sugarcane grassy-sweetness. Unfortunately, this tea only lasted four infusions for me (I usually expect Taiwanese oolongs to brew at least six infusions before losing flavor).

First up today is Dayuling high mountain spring oolong by Taiwan tea craft. I started by preparing my Yixing by washing it with near boiling water and then putting the rolled leaves in there for a moment to get the aroma. A nice floral, vegetal and fruity aroma came from the pot. Then giving it a wash I got an incredibly clear light liquor, and giving it just a little taste. I got fruity notes and just a hint of apple I think.

The first infusion opened up the leaves very quickly and still gave a very light clear liquor, the aroma was fairly light once out of the pot and so was the flavor, but it was quite nice and refreshing though not quite as intense as the first aroma. Fruity, vegetal, floral and apple, I got the same flavor profile as the aroma’s from the wash. I was a little surprised how much more intense the aroma was in that initial burst of hitting the hot water.

The second infusion got a little stronger, this isnt too unusual with oolong tea, and the liquor got a little darker as well. The aroma got a bit more intense as well as the leaves fully opened up at this point. Looking at the leaves in the pot, they are large and broad and very lovely looking. This is a high quality tea.

The third infusion was very similiar to the second, and I didnt pick up any different notes, but I suspect I will get at least 6 or 7 steepings from this tea.

I recommend this tea as its slightly pricey, but extremely, light floral and fruity, a great summer tea.