Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
Taiwan Ali Shan Oolong is a typical kind of Taiwan High Mountain Tea. This tea is from Ali Mountain, which is the birthland of High Mountain Tea.
The tea garden where Taiwan Ali Shan Oolong Tea grows locates at the altitude between 800 meters to 1400 meters. On the high mountain, climate is cold and cloudy. Sunshine time is short, as a result, the astringent substance in the tea leaves is reduced, thus the tea becomes sweeter. In the mean time, temperature in daytime and in night is distinctive, which make the tea tree grows slowly. Therefore, the leaf is soft and thick with high content of pectin substance. This is the unique feature of Ali Shan Oolong Tea as being a type of Taiwan High Mountain Tea. What’s more, the tea trees are irrigated with spring water on Ali Mountain, making the tea carries a sweet flavor of spring water.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yay! Ali Shan! I love Ali Shan tea!
Yeah, I know you’ve heard that before from me.
But I get very excited when I get to an Ali Shan Oolong in my stash of teas. And this Superfine Taiwan Ali Shan Oolong Tea from Teavivre is certainly worth the excitement! It’s so good!
I brewed this the same way I’d typically brew an Oolong tea – in my gaiwan – but with one significant difference. Instead of combining the first two infusions in my first cup, and the next two infusions in the second cup, and so on, I combine the first six infusions into my special “Ali Shan” Yixing mug, and then, infusions seven through ten are combined in my mug for my second cup. Because of this, I’m unable to really delve into the individual infusions as much as I would do with other Oolong teas.
My first cup was creamy and sweet and floral, with hints of vegetation and distant notes of fruit. The floral tones were much more up front and mingled with the creamy notes that were a bit more like milk than butter or heavy cream. I like the way the smooth feeling glides over the palate. The sweet creamy notes linger into the aftertaste. This creaminess is a light creamy texture, thugh, and it never feels overwhelming … I never feel like my tongue is being weighed down by the creaminess of this tea.
The description of this tea from Teavivre suggests notes of gardenia and I’m getting that. It’s a beautifully fragrant tea – a lot of fun to steep! Not just to watch the tightly wound pellets of deep, forest green leaves unfurl in the hot water, but to experience the beautiful aroma.
My second cup was not as creamy as the first, but there was still plenty of flavor in this cup – and this is infusions seven, eight, nine and ten! I would have thought that these leaves would have been exhausted of their flavor, but, they delivered ten very flavorful infusions! Bravo!
The second cup was still floral, and as I said, not quite as creamy. I noticed more of the fruit and vegetative notes in this cup. It is still a pleasantly smooth and creamy experience … and certainly worth the effort to brew these extra infusions!
A truly magnificient Ali Shan! What else can I say but: Teavivre delivers a top notch tea yet again!
2011 Douji “Nuan Jiang Shan” Ripe Puerh Tea from China Cha Dao
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: China Cha Dao
Tea Description:
Douji’s Riped Puerh Series.
2011 Douji “Nuan Jiang Shan” (Warm River Mountain) Ripe Puerh Loose Leaf Tea 200g
Recommend Douji Product, good for collecting, limited product due to its low production!
Aroma – Mellow, unique.
Flavor – Thick, Smooth and Sweet.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
With my first sip of this 2011 Douji “Nuan Jiang Shan” Ripe Puerh Tea from China Cha Dao my first reaction was one of surprise! I couldn’t believe I was sipping a Pu-erh! This tastes so sweet and fruity! Where’s the earthiness I was expecting from a ripe Pu-erh? After a couple of sips, a slight earthiness does develop, but only after I had the opportunity to explore the other flavors that this unique Pu-erh has to offer.
The aroma of the dry leaf is sweet and mildly earthy. The wet leaf has a stronger earth note, much more like what I’d expect from a Pu-erh. The brewed tea has very little fragrance.
The sip starts out pleasantly sweet – not at all cloying – and the sip is abundant with fruit notes. Like juicy, ripe peaches and melon. There is a distinct vanilla tone to this as well … almost creamy! As I continue to explore the tea, I notice notes of wood.
The earthiness doesn’t reach the palate until I’ve consumed about half the cup, and even then, it is such a faint hint of earthiness that if I wasn’t so intently focused on everything I was tasting … I might have missed the earthy tones all together. This is the kind of Pu-erh I’d recommend to someone who typically avoids Pu-erh because of that earthy/fishy/brine-y sort of taste … because I’m not getting that at all.
After reading TeaEqualsBliss’s thoughts on this tea, I found myself surprised again … because I just didn’t get the earthiness that she experienced from this tea. I got a delicious, delightful sweetness and an incredible smoothness. This is a lovely Pu-erh – one I’d highly recommend to all tea lovers out there!
PS: I’d love to hear any of your thoughts on this tea as well!
Organic Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea from Butiki Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Oriental Beauty is organic and utilizes the Chin Xin oolong varietal. Originating from Hungshan in the Anhui province of China, this oolong is crafted by tea master Shan Zhen Chen. Our Oriental Beauty is made from young shoots and is heavily fermented (60-70%), heavily withered (13-25%), and lightly roasted. This gorgeous tea contains leaves that vary in color, including: silver, gold, forest, auburn, cocoa, and charcoal colors. Rich honey notes linger and mingle with apricot, macadamia nut, and orchid notes. Some pastry-like notes are present and pairs well with the sweetness of this oolong, which provides a flavor somewhat reminiscent of funnel cake.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The first note I noticed with my first sip of this Organic Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea from Butiki Teas was the orchid. How lovely! After experiencing the orchid, I discovered a strong peach-y/apricot-y flavor. These notes were so sweet and nectar-like that I could almost feel the fruit pulp! It amazes me how the pure tea leaf so perfectly captures the essence of the fruit.
I brewed this Oolong tea the way I usually brew an Oolong: in my gaiwan, using short steeps and combining two infusions in one cup. After a quick 15 second rinse, the first infusion was 45 seconds, and then I added 15 seconds to each subsequent infusion. The first two infusions combined produced my first cup, and the second cup was infusions 3 & 4 … and so on. I took this tea through its paces and had five lovely cups of tea (a total of 10 infusions.)
My first cup was very orchid-like. Of the five cups I enjoyed of this Oriental Beauty Oolong, the first cup was the lightest in texture. It felt somewhat thin in comparison to the other cups, but, there was a little bit of soft texture to it. The apricot notes came through after the orchid, and then there was a sweet, honeyed finish.
The second cup was my favorite. It was much more luxurious to sip, the texture was soft and sumptuous, and the apricot notes were prominent. The orchid notes remained a focus with this cup, and hints of the nutty flavors promised in the description start to emerge as well as a distant note of “pastry.” Definitely a yum cup!
The third cup was very much like the second. The orchid notes were a bit softer, and there was a little more astringency with this cup than in the previous two. The nutty tones were a little stronger, as were the buttery pastry notes. The fourth and fifth cups were less floral and more fruity/nutty. The astringency seemed to be strongest in the third cup, with the fourth and fifth cups offering a softer astringency, and a slightly thinner texture than was experienced in the second and third cups.
Overall, this was a truly lovely afternoon spent with this Organic Oriental Beauty Oolong from Butiki Teas, proving once again that this is definitely a company worth exploring. I’ve not yet been disappointed by a tea from this company. This is one of the nicest Oriental Beauty teas I’ve encountered!
Wen Shan Pouchong Oolong Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pouchong
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
This delicate oolong is so light in flavor that it frequently causes many a Chinese tea connoisseur to compare it to a green tea. Baozhong has been grown on the mountain slopes of the rural Pinglin District of Taipei since the eighteenth century. Yezi’s Baozhong is brought to you by local tea farmer Gao Xiu Chen. Needless to say, after over two hundred years of cultivating and harvesting it, the tea farmers of Pinglin do an excellent job with their Baozhong.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, this Wen Shan Pouchong Oolong Tea from Yezi Tea is so deliciously light and delicate in flavor. But, even in it’s delicateness, it’s so full of flavor. It almost seems a contradiction to say that, but if you were to taste this tea, you might better understand what I mean.
With each sip, the palate is covered with a soft, silky, creamy texture that fills the taste buds with a subtle vegetative quality and a beautiful sweetness. The vegetative notes do not last long, they soon make way for the emergence of an exotic floral taste. Orchid. Lovely!
The description on the Yezi website suggests notes of lemon … and with the first few sips up until mid-cup, I wouldn’t have agreed with that. But, after taking a few moments in between sips, I notice a bright lemon-y note in the aftertaste. Not a sour, pucker-y lemon, more like a sweet, creamy, lemon curd type of lemon note. This note emerges more as I continue to sip now, and appears close to the finish.
This pouchong can be enjoyed through several infusions. The flavor is very soft and gentle for through the first three infusions, and then by the fourth infusion, I notice the flavors become a little stronger. By the sixth infusion, the flavors begin to subside a little bit … but it’s only a minor shift in flavor and there are still a few more infusions to be enjoyed. My personal favorite infusions were the second and the fourth … so it is definitely worth taking this tea through it’s paces to get as much out of each measurement of leaves that you can!
Yet another wonderful tea from Yezi Tea!
Gao Shan High Mountain Black Tea from Yezi Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Yezi Tea
Tea Description:
Bittersweet moments often make for the best memories, and there’s no reason to assume that it should be any different for tea. Yezi is proud to bring you the bitter yet sweet Gao Shan high-mountain loose-leaf tea.
Gao Shan is grown high in the Nanhu Mountain range on the outskirts of Fuqing City in the Fujian province of China. At these elevations, the near-incessant fog cover and the extreme temperature difference between night and day help make for teas with a complex and diverse flavor palette. Gao Shan is a deep red-brown tea, and its strong, satisfying flavor makes many a tea connoisseur compare it to Kung Fu black tea. A brew of Gao Shan is ideal for firing you up on a dreary day when you could do with a burst of acceleration.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh, yeah, now that’s what I’m talking about! This Gao Shan High Mountain Black tea from Yezi Tea is a seriously awesome tea! I’m loving every sip of it.
The dry leaf smells earthy with notes of leather. It’s a very pale scent … I was about to say “delicate” scent, but the aroma is so masculine that I didn’t feel that delicate was the right word. The fragrance isn’t in your face, it doesn’t blow you away when you open the package because it’s so aromatic. It’s a soft masculine scent. The brewed liquid smells very much like the dry leaf, although the brewed has a stronger aroma than the dry leaf.
I think that the above description did a really good job at describing the flavor of this tea. It is a strong, satisfying black tea with plenty of gusto. There are sweet and bitter notes … but that’s not a “oops, I oversteeped the tea” kind of bitterness … rather, it’s more like the bitterness you’d experience from a dark cacao.
This is a complex black tea with caramel-y undertones and stone fruit notes, reminiscent of a ripe plum. The flavor is earthy, rich and it has that delicious fresh-baked kind of quality, like the chewy, caramelized crust of a freshly baked loaf of bread. There is a fair amount of dry astringency.
A very rewarding cuppa. This is the kind of tea that I’d turn to when I want something to help shake me to alertness. It’s invigorating and delicious. This is my first experience with this company – Yezi Tea – and it’s a very positive experience indeed! I look forward to trying the other teas that I have from them!