Mountain Stream Teas

8g in the 10g bag, meh. So much for two 5g sessions… threw it all in my porcelain.

Curious. Tasty. Aroma from the wet leaf is so distinctly high mountain Taiwan floral, and becomes herbaceous later on. Scent of honey and (I’d agree with MST’s note of) candied plums off the liquor. Taste is soft and fleeting, difficult to pin down but with notes of honey and fruit tree flowers. The color does brew up young sheng-golden, and has some bitterness.

I thought I’d be delighting more in this oolong/sheng crossover album, but I find myself feeling instead like it’s a bit non-committal. Perhaps just young. I don’t suppose I’d keep drinking it now, but maybe it’d be interesting to check on in a few years.

I’m sipping this tea while catching up on tasting notes and saw that Courtney also just reviewed the 2022 harvest… and after reading her comment, all I can taste is rose! XD The power of persuasion.

I drank it yesterday as well and found it very mild and soft, but not particularly sweet. I’m really struggling to pick up on any honey notes. Today I’m also getting something slightly acrid? Strange. Maybe I overleafed it today.

Warmed leaf smells like Grand Marnier. So many alcohol references from me lately.

I wanted a nice full session of this, so I put the whole damn 10g in my pot that normally takes 7g. I figure half is pomelo peel, so… caution to the wind!

Aroma is orange liqueur almost exclusively… which has its own set of implications, of course: overripe and fermented fruit, vaporous and funky. Marmalade. Triaminic orange cough syrup, for a non-boozy reference… god, I loved that stuff as a kid. Liquid is quite transparent and progresses from straw- to caramel-colored.

Taste is the delicate, filmy version of all this — a “marnier and water,” if that were a thing. The real kick is in the smells here, but the scent is not separated and floating above the flavor (as so often happens with flavored teas) — they are well-integrated and become a singular experience. The black tea base doesn’t really announce itself, which lets the pomelo shine. There is some bitterness from the pith that shows up, but it’s not distracting and balances the almost-cloying sweetness. Provides some tongue tingling in later steeps. Eventually the bitter keeps on steeping, the nice things fade… and here we take our leave.

For the record, 10g was not too much material at all. Long steeps didn’t become astringent or too pungent. Seems like this would be great iced in summer.

Very much in the spirit of What-Cha’s Taiwan Wild Shan Cha Black. Dark berries and roast, from the dry leaf through the nose to the sip to the bottom of the cup. Wet leaf is like a rich, caramelized blackberry preserve. I even get some of the same wet dog here and there, lol. Some of these high mountain teas from Taiwan are just so special… black or oolong, light or dark roast, they give and give and give.

Drank this again this morning, bowled, and lost much of the intensity. A shame not to have the wet leaf to poke around in between steeps, as that was half the pleasure of my first session. Pleasant this way, but not captivating.

Light umami and… mint(?) on the first short steep.

Good god, so many flavors at once. The top of the gaiwan was light mushrooms and bright cooked peas for a couple seconds, then dried to sugary fried things, like an elephant’s ear from the fair. Wet leaves are creamy vegetal like overcooked-asparagus soup — turned over a little, they give up gorgeous spring florality. Liquor is so pale it looks clear until it’s 1/2" deep, then it’s the palest yellow. Smells like a lighter and wispier version of the leaf aroma. Creamy mouthfeel and taste, surprisingly delicate vegetals versus the smells, but not at all unsatisfying. Cooled, the wet leaves are allll flowers now. Incredible.

Wet leaf has morphed to green bean and orchid. Taste remains delicate; I think it could probably frustrate some drinkers who enjoy and anticipate more of that fat, cooked vegetal green that’s on the nose, but I loved it.

Third steep is close to last. Fluff of flour. No astringency.

Now that I take a look, the website recommends grandpa at 195-205F. A couple more fuggedaboudit steeps did bring some astringency, so I’m not altogether convinced on the temp/time recommendation — but this was honestly a delight. I might do the final 5g of this in a bowl and just tuck in.

The oolong base here is distinctly Jin Xuan, though a little under-equipped for the job of supporting pomelo flower fragrance. Quite “green” tasting; I don’t think the base necessarily needed to be more floral, but it could have done with less bitter-green and more creaminess. Disjointed. Might cold brew and try it iced.

This one has an immediate, but not overwhelming, waffle-honey sweetness against a medium body. There’s naturally a smooth maltiness as well. I mean, Taiwanese High Mountain teas are my all-time favourite, but I loved this one so much upon my first cup, I went and ordered more XD. I really love that this comes from a female tea master as well. Thankfully I managed to snag some before it sold out — the following day!

I hope they keep stocking this one because it’s a winner!

1st steep: 1 minute
2nd steep: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

2024 sipdown no. 20

I picked this up in my last MS order and it is just as delightful as last year’s harvest (2022). The red fruits add an incredible sweetness, yet the tea is ‘soft’ and smooth.

I would absolutely order this one again!

Harvest: July 2023

2023 sipdown no. 65

This tea is light, bordering on medium-bodied, with hints of malt hidden amongst subtle, sweet red fruit flavours (a mix of strawberry, cherry, and red currant). A really lovely cuppa and one I would order more of if given the chance.

1st steep: 1 minute
2nd steep: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

Harvest: late spring 2022

2023 sipdown no. 63

This has has a subtle dark chocolate scent once steeped. The taste is fairly light-bodied with some cinnamon hints throughout, especially as the tea cools (and even more in the second steep). This was a really lovely tea overall!

Sipdown! (17 | 139)

Finished off the small sample size that I received in a Tea Thoughts countdown box.

This one is interesting. It has a fairly predominant molasses note to me, with some burnt sugar as well. But I wouldn’t call it a sweet tea, it’s actually a bit tart. Definitely fruity, mostly I’m tasting prune, but with savory undertones. So maybe more like a plum sauce served with a savory Chinese dish? But then there are also some slightly herbaceous flavors that remind me of the caraway notes of a Fujian black tea. Some mellow vegetal notes as well, like Summer squash.

Definitely an interesting mix of flavors going on. I don’t think I would order this one, but it was fun to try and I enjoyed my few cups worth.

I noticed this tea on the Mountain Stream site and was intrigued, but never got around to ordering it. Thanks, Derk, for the generous sample! I steeped slightly over 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain pot at 205F for 30, 40, 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 150, 180, and 240 seconds, plus some uncounted steeps.

The aroma of the loosely rolled dry leaves is of mango, guava, honeysuckle, gardenia, other florals, and spices. The first steep has notes of lilac, honeysuckle, gardenia, cream, mango, guava, orange, marzipan, spinach, grass, and chili. I’ve never had jackfruit, so can’t comment on whether it’s in the tea. I taste what might be camphor near the bottom of the cup. The second steep gives me mouth-watering notes of mango, orange, and tropical fruit, plus clove, chili, honeysuckle, lilac, other florals, camphor, and grass. The tea is a bit perfumey, but in a good way. The next couple steeps are more floral, with cream, camphor, grass, and some astringency. The mango and tropical fruit come out in the aftertaste. Steeps five and six are more grassy, though the mango, marzipan, and florals are still there. The grass, spinach, and kale become more prominent as the session ends, though the creamy mango and tropical fruit make me want to keep going.

I love fruity oolongs, so it’s no surprise that this one is a winner for me. The combination of lush tropical fruit and heady florals is wonderful, even though the tea became more astringent near the end of the session. The spices are something I rarely notice in Taiwanese oolong. It may have some rough edges, but it put a smile on my face while I was drinking it.

I drank this gong fu’d during the bork, and western just today. I preferred today’s cuppa by a mile. Might be a good bowl tea. “Peach” in the gong fu session tasted unripe, like bitter skins. And tomato vine — I understand the descriptor now. Western, the peach is more peachy — not overripe, but pleasant. Quintessential oolong flavor for two good steeps and a third cling-on. Not a reorder for me, but decent.

The dry scent is quite dark chocolate-y and the steeped scent of this really gives the absolute best parts of Laoshan Black (that I remember) — dark chocolate with hints of light maltiness cut through. The first sip of this tea is so smooth it’s like drinking silk. The taste is medium-bodied with a light maltiness and that dark chocolate flavour mid-late in the sip. This tea has a matching name, scent, and taste. Despite this being the first cup, I’m quite sad I only order a 25g sample of this one.

The second steep is nearly as flavourful and still delightful.

Sipdown 30

Sweet and slightly floral. Slight stone fruit thing going on. Just okay and not really memorable, but certainly not bad.

Sipdown 20

I haven’t been immensely impressed by the Mountain Stream offerings I’ve tried, but this may be the best.
Notes of honey, delicate florals, and a distinct bug-bitten quality.
I’d certainly repurchase this at some point.

2023 sipdown no. 49

This tea is great quality and very unique, but ultimately not my personal favourite. The orange blossom is very apparent and mixes well with the oolong base. I would say neither take over one another and they meld nicely together. There’s a yeasty flavour to it as well.

2023 sipdown no. 34

This one has a creamy vegetal steeped scent, with hints of bitterness. The taste is very smooth with a natural creamy sweetness and just the most subtle edge of bitterness as it cools.

I’m not completely sure if this is the correct tea, the name on the bag is Chilaishan Oolong and the steeping parameters on the bag note:

Amount: 5g+ per 100ml
Water: ~100C
Gongfu: 30, 40, 60 sec. steeps then +15 seconds to taste
Western: 3-5g per mug, 1-2 minute steeps

Ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge | October 2023 | A tea that relaxes you

I found this tea to be very relaxing when I first had it… it reminded me of jasmine, which is such a comforting scent/flavor to me. Unfortunately the final cuppa was absolutely full of dried orange bits, making the whole thing a bit too zesty and pithy. :( My fault for not shaking the package enough in the past, I guess!

2023 sipdown count: 50

Starting off the work week (and a wild day of meetings) with this tasty little number from Courtney! The dried leaf smells lovely — it actually reminds me of the first proper tea I ever really loved: scented jasmine pearls from Teavana. (One time I bought an obscene amount at the store because I didn’t understand how pricing worked, but damn if I didn’t enjoy it!) I had my partner take a sniff and he said he was getting full-on nag champa… basically, head shop vibes. XD

The brewed cup still has notes of jasmine, but there’s also a little bit of creamy citrus zestiness. I’m actually surprised at how heavy and robust the cup is — it’s got chew to it! There’s also a hiiiint of bitterness, but that could be down to my brewing.

SIPDOWN

This was a nice, light oolong, somewhat creamy and came out a beautiful golden color. We actually had it late yesterday afternoon gong fu but I was so busy and distracted I could hardly pay attention to it. I saved the leaves and brewed them Western this morning for breakfast and the color was so stunning that I took a photo.

Not your usual breakfast tea, but I don’t normally seek huge caffeine hits early in the day anyway, plus I drank a whole pot of it by myself.

Sipdown 8

Just okay. Mostly toasty, a bit green. Very forgettable and average.