Milky Jinxuan High Mountain Oolong from Oollo Tea

MilkyJinxuanTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Oollo Tea

Tea Description:

The true milky Jinxuan oolong tea with natural cream milk accent and luscious texture. The Alishan family farms tea trees that were bought from our family in 1990. They practice zero pesticide natural farming.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

It’s no big secret that I absolutely adore a good Milky Oolong tea.  This Milky Jinxuan High Mountain Oolong from Oollo Tea is one of the very best I’ve tried thus far.  It’s so delightfully sweet and creamy but the creaminess isn’t heavy.  It’s not overwhelming my palate.

I love the texture to this first cup (infusions 1, 2 & 3 – yes three infusions in one cup, I’m using a smaller gaiwan today), it’s very silky and softly creamy.  Smooth!

The flavor is sweet with notes of orchid.  It’s not sharply floral because the creamy buttery taste helps soften the floral taste without overpowering this delightful flowery essence.  It’s not bitter or astringent.  It’s just … lovely.  Oh so delightful.

My second cup (infusions 4 – 6) still has some of that silky texture, although much of the milky taste has waned.  This is much more floral than the first cup.  It’s sweet with spun sugar notes.  I taste light vegetal notes to this too.  I am also tasting a light nutty flavor that almost tastes “popcorn” like to me.  As the tea cools slightly, some of the creamy notes seem to develop so it’s not completely without that milky note.

My third cup (infusions 7 – 9) was softer in flavor than the second.  Not as creamy as either the first or second cup, but still beautifully floral with more nutty flavors and even a hint of peach can be detected!  I still get that light, spun-sugar type of flavor that I really like.

What a lovely tea!

Limited Edition AliShan High Mountain Black Tea from Oollo Tea

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Oollo Tea

Tea Description:

Alishan Mountain is known for its amazing mountain oolong teas however it also produces small limited batches of black teas. This particular 2014 harvest brews a prominent cacao chocolate flavour with wooden musky aroma.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Ohhh … lovely!  This Limited Edition AliShan High Mountain Black Tea from Oollo Tea is absolutely wonderful – just exactly the tea that I needed this afternoon!

This isn’t as robust a black tea as an Assam or even a Ceylon might be.  Instead, imagine an AliShan Oolong meets a top-quality Fujian black tea.  That’s what this tastes like to me – like the love child of a marriage between an AliShan Oolong and a Fujian Black.

I get those sweet notes of cacao that I’d taste in a Fujian Black but I get the soft, almost creamy body of an AliShan Oolong.  It’s rich and full-flavored but not as robust and aggressive as a typical black tea.

And it’s smooth!  Oh so smooth.  I am getting very little astringency and no bitterness.  I taste notes of a woodsy flavor and the aforementioned cacao.  Hints of sweet, buttery caramel.  Notes of flower and peach.

A truly remarkable tea.  This is the kind of black tea that I’d recommend for afternoon tea drinking – it isn’t as robust as I would want from a breakfast tea.  But don’t let that dissuade you from trying this tea – because you really should try this tea.  It’s so good!

Sky High Oolong from Dachi Tea

skyhighOolongTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Dachi Tea

Tea Description:

Fresh and delicately balanced with a lotus flower and magnolia bouquet aroma, the semi-oxidized Sky High Oolong is the original High Mountain Oolong. The Sky High Oolong is notable for retaining its nutrients and the flavors of the unspoilt environment in which it is grown. Soft elements of crisp mountain air, natural earth and spring water pair well with its smooth mouthfeel and sweet aftertaste.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

This is my fourth and final tea to try from Dachi Tea’s inaugural collection – Sky High Oolong.  As I often do, I saved the one that I thought I’d enjoy most for last.  The name of this tea suggested to me that this would be an AliShan and indeed, it is!  And you know how much I love me some AliShan Oolong!

Oh!  My!  Goodness!

I’ve tried many Alishan High Mountain Oolong teas in my years as a tea reviewer, and I’ve loved all that I’ve tried.  At least, I can’t think of any that I disliked.  But this Sky High Oolong from Dachi Tea might just be the very best Alishan High Mountain (not to be confused with Jin Xuan Oolong) that I’ve yet to try.  If not the best – then it is in the top three and one that YOU SHOULD TRY for yourself!

skyhighOolong1

To brew this tea, I measured 1 bamboo scoop of leaf into the bowl of my gaiwan.  Then I heated the water to 180°F.  For the rinse, I poured in just enough of the heated water to cover the leaves (the gaiwan was about 1/3 full) and I let the leaves steep for 15 seconds and then strained the liquid off the leaves and discarded it.  Then I filled the gaiwan with heated water and let the rinsed leaves steep for 45 seconds.  For each subsequent infusion, I added 15 seconds onto the steep time.

I strained each infusion into my YiXing mug that is designated for AliShan Oolong.  The mug is large enough to hold at least 4 infusions and sometimes I can fit 5 infusions.  This time, I stopped at 4 infusions.

My first cup (infusions 1 – 4) is absolutely EXQUISITE!  It’s creamy and buttery.  Not quite as milky as I’d experience from an AliShan Jin Xuan, this has more of a silky, buttery taste and texture than a heavy cream flavor/texture.

There is a lovely floral tone to this cup.  The Dachi website suggests a balance between the flower of a lotus and magnolia blossoms, and I’m inclined to agree with that assessment, although every once in a while I also pick up on a note that is distinctly honeysuckle-ish.  The sweet floral notes are really beautiful.

Something that I’ve picked up with this particular AliShan that I don’t often notice with AliShan Oolongs is a light ‘crispness’ that evokes thoughts of the air you might ‘taste’ when hiking in the mountains.  That clean, exhilarating freshness that you’d experience from the air that surrounds you on such an excursion.

Further, the texture of this, while it is indeed creamy/buttery/silky – it isn’t a heavy texture that you might experience in another Alishan Oolong – it doesn’t feel heavy and ‘coating’ to the palate.  It feels rather clean and light.  In the aftertaste, I pick up on light mineral-y notes.

My second cup was a little lighter in texture than the first cup.  This cup isn’t quite as creamy but I found that with the lighter texture, some of those floral notes really emerged strongly.  This is a delightfully floral cup – light and refreshing – with an incredibly smooth character.  I get next to no astringency and no bitterness, just a very smooth flavor that is floral and sweet.  The aftertaste is sweet with only hints of the mineral notes I noticed with the first cup.

If I were to have to choose which cup I preferred, I’d say the first, only because I really enjoyed that silky creaminess, but I like this second cup too.  I love the floral notes.  About mid-cup, I start to notice a subtle fruit note that evokes thoughts of peach and just a hint of sweet citrus.

Overall, a truly amazing tea experience from Dachi.  If you’re a fan of AliShan tea – this should be on your “MUST TRY” list!

Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong Tea from Fong Mong Tea

AlishanHigh MountainTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Fong Mong Tea

Tea Description:

Developed around 15 years ago, the tea estates on Alishan area produce the newest type of high mountain oolongs. At the elevation of 1000 meters, the mountainsides are covered with fog or clouds which are ideal for growing Oolong. The tea estates are nestled in a beautiful scenic area with a 1000 years old forest nearby. 

Due to the unique local climate and selection criteria for the leaves, this tea is a high quality grade Alishan Oolong. The tea liquor has a pale yellow hue matching its faintly fresh aroma. Once tasted, the tea presents itself with a fresh taste followed by a faintly sweet aftertaste.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

There are very few teas out there that make me happier than a lovely Alishan Oolong like this Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong Tea from Fong Mong Tea.

I brewed this tea in my gaiwan.  I start with a bamboo scoop of tea in the bowl of the vessel and then I heat the water to 180°F.  I add just enough of the hot water to the gaiwan to cover the leaves and I let them steep for 15 seconds to rinse them.  Then I strain off the liquid and discard it.

I fill the gaiwan with hot water and let it steep for 45 seconds.  I add 15 seconds to each infusion that follows.  And because this is an Alishan – I strained the tea into my designated YiXing mug.  My first cup was the combination of infusions 1 -5 and my second cup was the combination of infusions 6 – 10.

The first thing I note is that the Alishan High Mountain is a little less creamy than the Alishan Jin Xuan.  This tea is more a celebration of floral flavors than the creamy, milky texture and flavor of the Jin Xuan.

This is sweet and delicate with beautiful floral tones – I taste orchid! – and very subtle butter tones.  Hints of rice mingle with the buttery notes.

In the background, I pick up notes of fruit.  This is a pleasantly sweet cup with some contrasting sharp notes from the floral notes.  It’s smooth from start to finish:  no bitterness and very little astringency.  The mouthfeel is thick and broth-y.  The aftertaste is sweet with notes of flower.

My second cup was not quite as thick in texture as the first and I noticed that more of the floral notes as well as some of the fruit notes have emerged while the whispers of vanilla that I experienced in the first cup have diminished.  This cup is still very sweet from the fruit notes and I’m picking up on distinct honey-esque notes now.

A beautiful, contemplative tea.  Really lovely – put this on your must try list!

Ali Shan High Mountain Oolong Tea from Green Terrace Teas

AliShanGTT1Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Green Terrace Teas

Tea Description:

Ali Shan is one of Taiwan’s most famous tea growing areas due to its high elevation and rich soil.  The cool and moist climate allows the tea leaves to grow more slowly, developing a higher level of complexity and flavor.  Our premium grade Ali Shan High Mountain Tea, or “gao shan cha” in Chinese, is grown at elevations of 1,300 meters (4,265 ft) and above.  It has a sweet buttery taste with a creamy body and mild floral undertones.  The tea becomes more vegetal after a few steepings, bringing a pleasant variation of tastes among each infusion.  Overall, this is an exquisite and savory oolong that can be enjoyed at any time of day.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Love!

No matter how many times I drink Ali Shan Oolong, it seems like my very first reaction after that first amazing sip is “Oh my god!  Oh wow!”   And that’s because Ali Shan is just that good.  There’s a reason why it’s my favorite Oolong teas (and one of my very favorite teas of all).

And this Ali Shan High Mountain Oolong from Green Terrace Teas is one of the best I’ve had.  It is so incredibly sublime that it feels like I’m floating in the clouds when I’m sipping it.  Yep, it’s heavenly.

The leaves look very much the way I’d expect an Ali Shan tea too look.  Vivid green leaves that have been tightly wound into pellets that unfurl slowly in hot water to release their flavor.  The aroma of the dry leaf is floral – an intense floral note.  The brewed tea keeps that floral note, although it is softened significantly.

To brew the tea, I reached for my gaiwan and added a bamboo scoop to the bowl of the gaiwan.  I heated freshly filtered water to 180°F and added enough liquid to cover more than cover the leaves and let this ‘steep’ for 15 seconds.  Then I strained off the liquid and discarded it.  (I rinsed the leaves!)  Then I refilled the gaiwan with the hot water and let the tea steep for 45 seconds.  I strained this first infusion into my special Yi Xing mug that is just for Ali Shan teas.  Then I continued the process, adding 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusions, until the mug was full (4 infusions).

AliShanGTTThe first sip of this first cup (the first 4 infusions), elicited the aforementioned response of:  Oh my god.  Oh wow!  And then my second sip elicited the response:  Oh that’s lovely!  It’s a good thing that my Ali Shan Yi Xing mug holds 4 infusions because I would have finished the whole cup before I was able to get any sort of lucid comments about this tea for the review.

This is sweet and lusciously smooth.  It’s like what I’d imagine drinking liquid silk to be like, only much tastier.  Maybe liquid silk mixed with thinned honey.  Even then, I wouldn’t quite have captured the true flavor of this delightful tea, because it has so much complexity.  So many delicious layers of flavor.  The top layer is floral, reminiscent of orchids but I also want to say that I taste honeysuckle too.

To illustrate what I’m experiencing with this floral note, I’ll use an example that I’ve used many times in the past:  my bedroom in my grandparent’s former house in California.  When I was young, they had a honeysuckle vine that grew just outside the window of the bedroom.  And when the Santa Ana winds would make their way through the area, the breeze would pick up the amazing scent of the honeysuckle and bring it into my bedroom and I’d smell that delightful aroma and even taste the air.  Now, if my grandmother also had an orchid plant or two outside my window … the combined “air” that would filter into my window would be what I’m tasting right now.

Other layers of this tea offer a soft, buttery taste and texture.  Hints of vegetation.  Honey.  Very soft, very silky, very sweet.  And a pleasure to sip.

My second cup (infusions 5 -8) was just as lovely as the first (and perhaps even lovelier!) with it’s sweet, creamy, honeyed notes.  The floral notes are soft, they seem just a tad softer than they were in the first cup.  The sip starts out smooth and silky and it maintains this texture all the way to the finish.  There is very little astringency to this.  And when I say ‘very little’, that is to say that there is only a hint of dryness toward the tail.  That’s it!

A beautiful tea from start to finish and offers so many lovely infusions, making this not just a lovely tea to sip, but a good value too!  If you’re looking for THE one Ali Shan to add to your tea cupboard, I highly recommend trying this one – it’s an excellent Ali Shan.  I’ve had some really amazing experiences with Green Terrace Teas and I think I saved the very best of those experiences for last.