Li Shan High Mountain Oolong from Green Terrace Teas

LiShanHighMountainTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Oolong

Where to Buy:  Green Terrace Teas

Tea Description:

Li Shan, or “Pear Mountain”, is named after the abundant pear orchards that originally occupied the region. In addition to its rich soil, Li Shan’s high altitude maintains a cool and moist climate that is ideal for creating superior quality tea. Our spring harvest was grown at an elevation of about 2,000 meters, or over 6,500 ft! Tea from Li Shan has a very high demand due to its limited supply and superior quality. Floral and fruity in character, this tea also has a very clean, soft mouth feel and evokes exotic flavors such as mango and tropical fruit. Can be steeped multiple times without losing flavor.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Yes!  I love Li Shan Oolong Tea!  And this Li Shan from Green Terrace Teas is OUTSTANDING!

Since this is a Li Shan, I grabbed my Yi Xing Mug and I combined the first five infusions (I steeped the tea in my gaiwan) following a 15 second rinse into the first mug full of deliciousness.

I measured out one of my bamboo scoops full of the tightly wound, deep forest green pellets and placed them in the bottom of my “easy” gaiwan – so called because it has a “straining” lid, a spout, and little “stump” handles to make it easy to handle when there’s hot liquid inside.

I poured in the hot water (I usually go with 180°F for Oolong teas, and I saw no reason to not go with that temperature today), and after 15 seconds, I strained the liquid (this was the rinse).  Then I steeped the first infusion for 45 seconds and added 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion.

And mmm!  When you have a Li Shan, you can expect a creamy texture and  a sweet, floral taste.  But there are always little nuances that make one Li Shan Oolong offered by one tea purveyor different than another Li Shan Oolong.  I’m not sure exactly why that is, but, as the description above suggests, this has a fruity note to it that’s almost like tropical fruit.  And I’m getting those tropical fruit notes.

The flavor is sweet and smooth.  It’s not screaming out “mango” to me, but it has that luscious sweetness of a mango with notes that are reminiscent of the tropical fruit.  I can taste subtle vanilla tones and this adds a pleasing creaminess to the cup and it softens the floral tones.

LiShanHighMountain2I like that the vegetal notes here are really quite subdued.  It doesn’t have a really strong “green” taste to it, but in the distance, I pick up on those gentle vegetative flavors.

And like many Oolong teas, this one offers quite a few infusions.  I got ten infusions out of this tea (five infusions in my first cup and five in the second).  The second cup was not quite as creamy as the first, and I noticed more of the floral notes and subtle vegetal notes emerging in the second cup.  But this cup wasn’t sharp or bitter the way that floral and/or vegetal notes can sometimes be.  It still tasted wonderfully smooth.

It’s still sweet and fruit-like with notes of tropical fruit.  Again, I’m not tasting anything distinctly mango but it has notes that sometimes evoke thoughts of sweet mango, and in this second cup, I am also tasting gentle tangy fruit notes too.  Nothing that makes me ready to pucker, but, it does add an interesting contrast to the sweeter notes in the cup.

A REALLY good Li Shan!  I have tried a few teas from Green Terrace thus far and I’ve been a fan of what I’ve tasted from them.  This is a company that I can stand behind and recommend to my readers with confidence.

Pyin Green Tea (2014) from Shan Valley

Pyin_GreenTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Shan Valley

Tea Description:

This tea hails from Pyin Long within Northern Shan, Myanmar. This is also a first flush tea and is an everyday drinking tea. This tea is a reddish color.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

How lovely!

I was a little surprised when I first opened the pouch of tea and took a good look at the tea inside.  It looks like a black tea … or at the very least a well-oxidized Oolong, but the label said that it was a green tea.

And even though it looked like a black tea, the dry leaf possesses the aroma of a green tea!  A very strong vegetal scent, much like the smell that fills the kitchen when I’m steaming green veggies.  The leaves produce a fairly dark liquid (darker than what I usually see with a green tea) with a vegetative scent.

The flavor is not quite as vegetal as I would have expected, given all the veggie smells I was picking up in both the dry leaf and the brewed tea.  Yes, I do taste a grassy/vegetative flavor, but that’s not all I taste, nor is it the strongest flavor that I taste.

I taste notes of flower and fruit (somewhere between apple and melon), and a lovely buttery overtone.  The vegetal notes taste very fresh and invigorating – it’s a very refreshing and satisfying beverage.  It has a well-rounded flavor and while it is a thick, broth-like tea (in both taste and texture) and the buttery notes are strong, it doesn’t feel heavy as I sip it, nor does it leave the palate feeling coated with that buttery sensation.  It is very easy to drink, with a pleasant flavor that is sweet – but not too sweet – and savory.

Another GREAT tea from Shan Valley!

Kyaukme Black Tea (2014) from Shan Valley

Kyaukme_Black2Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Shan Valley

Tea Description:

This is a first flush black tea, and is the highest quality black tea that Shan Valley offers. It is from the Kyaukme Northern Shan state. The tea leaves are evenly grinded and have a strong flavor. It has a coffee-like look. 

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

When I opened the pouch of this Kyaukme Black Tea from Shan Valley (a 2014 Spring Flush!), the first thing I noticed was the grind to the black tea leaves.  This CTC tea has a very fine chop, resembling some of the finest ground coffee I’ve ever seen.  But don’t let that dissuade you!  I find that with fine CTC teas like this, the flavor is more robust – like a good kick in the pants for the days when you need that sort of thing!

But one thing to be aware of when you have a finely chopped tea leaf like this one is that the brew time should be adjusted.  There is more surface area that is exposed to the boiling water, and therefore it releases more of it’s flavor quicker than a whole tea leaf would.  It also releases more tannins into the liquid, which means that if you steep this tea too long, you could wind up with a bitter tasting cuppa.  So, cut the brew time here, I wouldn’t recommend a longer brew time than 2 1/2 minutes, especially to start out.  After you’ve tried it, you can adjust the time to your own particular tastes.

The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me a little bit of coffee – like the earthy background notes of coffee.  There are notes of earth, wood, and even hints of grass and flower to the dry leaf.  The fragrance of the brewed tea is very similar to the dry leaf, except that it smells more unified.  I smell fewer distinct ‘earthy’ or ‘grassy’ notes to the brewed liquid, and more of a melded scent that is composed of many less distinguished notes.  It is a very satisfying aroma, though, like the kind of scent that you want to experience first thing in the morning:  like a wake up call in the morning.

Kyaukme_BlackThe flavor is strong!  Like I said in a previous paragraph, the fine CTC chop means a good, strong brew, and this tea proves that statement.  This is a BOLD tasting tea.  This tea will give you that much needed kick to help shake the sleep that you’re still feeling when you first wake up.

It’s rich and satisfying with a very pleasing flavor.  Robust and earthy, with notes of fruit (reminds me of something between plums and raisins), with a nice, molasses-y sweetness.  It’s not bitter (although, as I said before, if I had oversteeped this, it would definitely be bitter … so watch your steep time with this one!)

The sip starts out with a sweet note that builds into an earthy note.  There are wisps of smoke and tones of wood in the distance.  I taste notes of grass to this too, but not in a green tea sort of way.  It tastes more like what I’d imagine some fresh grass that had been roasted might taste.  Still barely insinuating a vegetal note without actually admitting it outright.  It has sweet undertones with dry fruit notes.

As I near mid-sip, these flavors I’ve mention develop.  I taste very distant floral notes, most of which are hidden behind the more forward earthy notes.  As the sip approaches the finish, a dryness is introduced, similar to what you might experience with a dry wine.  The finish is dry and the aftertaste is clean.  The astringency here is dry, clean and I feel a slight puckery sensation across my palate well into the aftertaste.  It’s not unpleasant … it feels very clean and refreshing, actually.

A really rewarding cup of tea.  It’s quite unlike any other black tea that I can remember, but at the same time, it has similar qualities to those familiar favorites.  I’m enjoying this.

Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea from Teavivre

Te Gong Huang Shan Mao FengTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Teavivre

Tea Description:

The historic Huang Shan Mao Feng is well-known as one of the ten famous Chinese tea. This Ming Qian Huang Shan Mao Feng is a kind of pre-ming green tea. Pre-ming tea has strict requirement of the picking time and its making standard, thus the bird-tongue appearance could been perfect formed, as well as the brisk flavor. Both of which are favored by tea lovers.

Our Nonpareil Huang Shan Mao Feng Green tea is Te Gong grade. Te Gong refers to two Chinese words: 特(tè) and 贡(gòng). 特 is short for 特级, which means the tea’s grade is nonpareil; while 贡 is short for 贡品, meaning that the tea was used to be paid as tribute to the emperor.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

What a pleasure it has been to try Teavivre’s newest green teas from this spring.  They taste so fresh and wonderful!

This Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea – quite a name! – is lovely.  I am a fan of Mao Feng Green teas anyway, they’re one of my favorite of the ‘ten famous’ Chinese teas.  I enjoyed two infusions from one measurement of this tea, and I found both to be quite good.

The first infusion was delicate in flavor at first, and I found that the flavor developed as I continued to sip.  I’m not sure if this is because the tea was cooling slightly or because the flavors developed on the palate after taking a few sips.  Either way, this is a tea that requires a patient palate, but don’t worry, that patience will be rewarded soon enough!

It is a beautifully sweet flavor with notes of fruit.  I don’t often experience fruity notes with green tea (usually I experience grassy or vegetal notes, but not so much of a fruit note as this Mao Feng offers), and it reminds me of a combination of sweet grapes, melon and apple.  There is no tartness to these fruit notes, so think only of the sweetest grapes and apples, with the lush, juicy taste of a sweet honeydew melon.  This is a tea you want to slurp to get the most out of these fruit notes!  Aerate the tea on the palate and you’ll be happy with the result.

I added thirty seconds onto the steep time for the second infusion.  This cup offers a deeper flavor with even more sweetness.  You definitely want to take this tea for a second steep!  There is a lot of flavor to this second cup.  Sweet with nutty flavors, and the fruit notes are still there too.  This time, I taste less of the grape and more of the melon.  There is a little bit of vegetative taste that comes through now too, but there is more fruit than vegetable to this cup.  It’s a very refreshing cuppa!

Of the two infusions, the second is my favorite, but the first was certainly worthwhile too.  I enjoyed both and what I liked best is that both were so different from one another – it was like taking two adventures with one tea.  An exceptional Mao Feng!

Lu Shan Yun Wu Green Tea from Teavivre

Lu Shan Yun Wu Green TeaTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Teavivre

Tea Description:

The fresh tea leaves of Lu Shan Yun Wu are picked under strict requirement of one bud with one leaf or one bud with two leaves. After processed, the leaves will shape into tight, curly and strong strips. The liquid presents bright and green color while showing brisk fragrance. The scent of roasted chestnut lasts long. This Lu Shan Yun Wu is better to be brewed with big glass. It will has brisk and refreshing flavor and sweet taste. After several steeps, you will see the tea leaves tenderly stretched and showing its soft and light yellow appearance.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I know I mentioned it in a previous post, but, I LOVE when spring arrives and with it – the new flushes of spring teas!

That’s actually my favorite part of spring.  Oh sure, I love the flowers and the fresh new buds of life on the trees and bushes but I’m not particularly fond of the pollen that comes with all of nature’s new spring life.  Or more accurately, I’m not particularly fond of the allergic reaction that comes with the arrival of the pollen.  Then again, there’s really very few things that are more soothing than a cup of hot tea!  Yeah … like I really need inspiration to drink more tea!

So I was more than happy to try the new spring teas that Teavivre has added to their collection, including this Lu Shan Yun Wu Green Tea.  Oh yum!

When I opened the pouch, I inhaled deeply to take in the fragrance of the dry leaves.  While dry, I noticed a leafy green type of scent, evocative of a trip to the produce market – the smell I notice when I’m walking along the wall where all the leafy greens are housed.  But once the tea starts brewing, I noticed less of the vegetative aroma and more of something much more exciting . . .

Chestnuts!  Yep.  The description above suggests an aroma of chestnuts, and this does have a strong chestnut fragrance.  There’s also a delicious chestnut flavor to go along with it:  sweet, nutty, roasted.  It even has that creamy taste and texture that I’d experience if I were eating a freshly roasted chestnut.  Mmm!

Most green teas have a vegetative flavor to them, and this is no exception to that, although I’m finding that this Lu Shan Yun Wu has less of a vegetal note and more of a sweet nutty flavor.  For those of you who tend to shy away from green teas because you don’t really care for that overly vegetative taste, I think you’d do well with this tea.  It’s really quite sweet and wonderful!

As I continue to sip, I notice the roasty-toasty flavor developing.  By the time I was nearly finished with the cup, this sweet, roasted flavor was intense, and it kept me sipping and thirsty for more of it.  It’s a very comforting flavor, and it seemed to nourish my soul.

Nice, especially after enduring these bouts with my allergies.  And yes … I take allergy medication and I even use locally harvested, raw honey that I drizzle on my morning toast, but, I still have a few days when the pollen just wins out.  Not fun.  This tea makes these days not only more tolerable, but a JOY!

A really BEAUTIFUL green tea from Teavivre.  I have a few other reviews of Teavivre’s new green teas from this spring’s harvest that will be featured in the coming days … watch for them!