Nonpareil Taiwan Li Shan Oolong Tea

The smell of green oolong will always remind me of that time I was unemployed for half a year. It was when I really started to get into teas, and this was the kind of tea that first drew me in. I started each day with a lovely green oolong session as the sun flooded my kitchen with light. This Li Shan is exactly my favorite kind of tea. The scent alone forces you to slow down and appreciate the freshly bruised green aroma. Then you get the velvety smooth liquid in your mouth and it’s like swallowing spring flowers. It tastes like new life.

These days I take great tea for granted. Time to slow down and focus on the good things in life. Lately world news seems to get more depressing everyday. Need more tea breaks.

My first tea from the Teavivre oolong tasting. Thanks a bunch, Angel!

The dry leaf is tightly rolled and dark green. Before the water hits it, the tea smells vegetal and faintly like the sea. There’s also a hint of nuttiness. I’m a little intimidated, but curious. I’ve been very impressed with Teavivre’s oolongs in the past, so I am prepared to be surprised.

I steeped this in a glass teapot and took a minute to watch the leaves bounce up and down, slowly expanding and unfurling. The water transitioned to a pleasant yellowy green. After three minutes, I stopped them. By that point, I could see that many of the leaves were whole from stem to pointed tip. Beautiful.

The aroma of the finished tea is on the pungent side. However, the flavor is much more tame. The first thing I notice is umami. It’s brothy with a tiny note of seaweed. I’m also tasting salt… that’s a new one for me. But all that is balanced with floral, springlike flavors, and oolong’s nuttiness. It’s a very satisfying tea with a lot going on!

Time to rejoin the real world, with much regret. I have been an overstuffed, lazy, derping in front of the TV watching stuff or gaming, lump. In order to celebrate my return to normalcy post holiday, I decided to play with rocks! I went through my mom’s (she gave me a few really pretty pieces, including a very dirty Savannah River Agate) and I collected a few of my old gemstones I had left with her for safe keeping. I then spent several hours researching the Carolina Bay’s geology and formation, spoilers, it is really cool.

So, enough about my nerding out about rocks (though don’t be surprised if they start showing up in my photos) it is time for some Oolong! Today’s tea is Teavivre’s Nonpareil Taiwan Li Shan Oolong Tea, one of Taiwan’s Gao Shan (high mountain) teas grown at an altitude of 2,000ft on Li Shan. This specific tea is called a Gao Leng (woo, I learned a new tea phrase!) meaning high (I knew that much) and cold, referring to the environment the tea is grown in, this in theory makes the tea sweeter and more valuable. The about section on the website has a lot of neat info about Taiwanese teas, including which ones are grown at different heights, difference between high and low mountain Oolong, and so forth. Li Shan is not the highest grown tea, but it is certainly up there. The aroma, well, often I find myself going ga-ga over the roasted oolongs, but wow, when I have a dance with a Gao Shan I wonder, why did I ever get seduced by roasted tea? It is so sweet and so very floral, like a bouquet of honeysuckles, hyacinth, orchids, and lilies, it is intensely floral and at the same time very delicate, no worry of being blasted in the face by a perfume shop. There are also notes of chestnut and cream with a very sweet nectar finish.

I should point out that I am still not on the best terms with the gaiwan I am using for this tea review, it is a great gaiwan from a functionality standpoint (or I would have smashed it) but it is so not ok visually, grumble grumble. May I will give it a full review tomorrow, spoilers, it won’t be pretty…but I digress. The aroma of the steeped leaves is so immensely sweet, I want to hug it with my nose but that would be just odd. Again with the flowers, it is a blend of honeysuckle as the dominant, hyacinth, lilac, and spicebush. This transitions to a bit of creaminess and honey with a finish of chestnut. The aroma of the liquid (hehe, my notes in my notebook are crooked, always a good sign) is as expected very sweet, a delicate blend of flowers, primarily honeysuckle, osmanthus, and spicebush, this transitions to a sweet finish of chestnut.

First steeping sipping time! First steeps always excite me, they are liking starting a story or journey, you get an idea of how things are going to go, but there is room to grow and evolve. The mouthfeel is quite smooth, it coats the mouth and fills it with floral, sweet, happiness. This steep is pretty mellow, a nice sweet nectar start that blooms into hyacinth, orchids, and honeysuckles. The finish is a delicate honey sweetness with a lingering floral note.

The road goes ever on and on, ok, no…Gao Shan is not really a hobbit tea, it is more a tea you would expect the Sindar who dwelt in Gondolin to sip while writing poetry about how they are better than everyone else. The aroma is again, quite yum, the floral aroma has ramped itself up from delicate to intense, there are notes of spicebush, honeysuckle, orchid, osmanthus, hyacinth. So many flowers! There are also notes of chestnuts and a touch of creaminess. And yeah, the taste is sweet and floral, as expected, where the previous steep was flower nectar, this is full on flower essence and creamy chestnut sweetness. You also get a little bit of green fresh vegetation. The aftertaste is floral honey that lingers for quite a while.

Ok, quick question, have any of you ever licked the condensation of the lid of a gaiwan after steeping tea, if you have not, really I suggest doing it because it will be the best thing ever. So super sweet and like the essence of tea distilled into tiny droplets. The aroma is so much flowers, really it smells like a pile of springtime air while visiting a fancy garden, it is so sweet and full of flower nectar that I swear I can smell spring time. The taste is crazy mellow, very smooth and floral with lots of honey and chestnut, this transitions to a touch of mineral and a finish of spicebush that lingers for a while.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/11/teavivire-nonpareil-taiwan-li-shan.html

I am 32 weeks pregnant. Only 8 weeks left! I can’t believe it. We still have so much to do. I need a nice relaxing cup of tea before I tackle bolting the bookcases to the wall in the nursery. Thanks to Angel from Teavivre for this free sample!

The dry leaf aroma is fresh green oolong and a scent that I love. The brewed tea aroma is even fresher and greener. It’s such a comforting aroma. The tightly rolled leaves have fully unfurled into giant whole leaves with a vibrant green hue. They look like they’ve just been picked off the branch. The liquor is a light golden color.

The flavor is exquisite. It’s vegetal, a tad both floral and nutty, and buttery most of all. As the cup cools, it loses its floral quality somewhat. The second infusion was for 2.5 minutes. It’s similar but not quite as flavorful and a tad astringent. The third infusion was for 4 minutes. It was good but definitely the last cup for me. Overall, this tea is delicious and I can confidently recommend it to others.

I ache. I have been cooking and cleaning all day preparing for tomorrow and I needed a quiet tea break desperately. My husband and youngest daughter said they would like to have a bit of tea as well and we have made three steeps western style so far.

This smelled really nice right off the bat. It is milder in aroma than the amazing and delicious Ali Shan I have been drinking lately that smells strongly of kale. This is buttery and creamy and a little lighter. It is relaxing, just as I wanted.

I asked my husband what words come to mind as he drinks this and he said, “Good.” I meant how would he describe it, expecting him to say “green”, “floral”, something along those lines, but “good” fits the bill. Now time for bed so I can get up and start again early in the morning!

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

Thank you, Teavivre, for the sample to try!

Thank yoy Angel at Teavivre for this sample. This is good tea. I will probably buy some from Teavivre in their Black Friday sale, we shall see if this tea is on sale. The notes of floral, roasted and broth sum this tea up for me. It has a certain amount of natural sweetness and just a little bit of that characteristic oolong bitterness. At first I thought to describe the roasted not as roasted barley but I think that just roasted is a better description. I do not know if this oolong tea is actually roasted. A little sugar brings out a honey sweetness in this tea. I don’t know if it would have been there without the sugar.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 6.8g leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

This one is pretty roasty, but not overly so. It has a slight slant towards a more green, floral oolong, but the primary flavor is the roast. It’s smooth, and not too harsh or in your face like some roasty oolongs are.
But it’s just a nice and smooth Li Shan. Makes for an enjoyable cup (:
Thank you for the samples, Teavivre!

Thank you Angel and TeaVivre for the sample!

This oolong is floral, sweet and vegetal, with a light toasty baked flavor! Really lovely lingering taste on my tongue. There might be a hint of a mineral note, something I can’t quite put my finger on. Quite complex and a refreshing change from the strongly vegetal green oolongs!

I’m 15 tasting notes away from 1,500 tasting notes! Whoa. My goal is to have 10 sipdowns from my tea cupboard before I get to the 1,500 tasting note.
Another sample to try – Thank you Teavivre! This one is very similar to another oolong I’ve tried from Teavivre, though I’m not sure which one it is now… I’ve tried many of them! It’s one of the savory types of oolong. The bundles are very green and have the scent of fresh vegetables. I used two heaping teaspoons for my 12 ounce mug.

Steep #1 // 7 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 minute steep
I really think I’ve figured out steeping green oolongs now. They seem to have perfect results this way. I can’t remember how many oolongs I was waiting around a half hour after boiling to steep in the past — that means I wasn’t tasting those oolongs at their best. I can tell this is a savory oolong even from the scent from the mug – brothy/soupy, hints of salt, buttery… not really floral or fruity at all. It’s very delicious when it’s the type of oolong I’m looking for.

Steep #2 // couple minutes after boiling // 2 min steep
This is another cup that tasted deliciously similar to the first steep, but with very potent, strong flavors. Super soupy! It seems like this oolong could be resteeped forever, but it also doesn’t get astringent. But I’m amazed at how flavorful this one is… I could have probably steeped a teaspoon and a half leaves rather than two.

Steep #3 // couple minutes after boiling // 3 min steep
Another solid cup. The steeped leaves are gigantic, a very dark green – as usual, amazing that the leaves can be bundled so small. This is a very nice example of a savory oolong (the flavor never tastes floral or fruity) and the flavor stays very consistent. I love that there are different oolong flavor types… keeps it interesting! Though I would imagine I could drink one really nice oolong all the time anyway.
http://www.teavivre.com/black-friday-sales/

I don’t know if this got contaminated or what, but the dry leaf smelled so buttery and creamy and almost cake like. It was in a plastic bag stacked I a pile of my other samples in plastic bags so it’s possible.

I started with a 15 sec rinse, and did three 1 minute steeps. 7g 8oz boiling water.

The rinse was sweet and buttery and creamy and cake like, which I think might have been contamination. The first steep wasn’t as dessert like as the rinse, furthering my conclusion, but it is still buttery and creamy and a bit sweet, but less so than the rinse. The second steep loses more of the sweet, but remains buttery. The third is less buttery, and a tad bit astringent, so I stopped there.

This was surprisingly buttery which I enjoyed, and I’m glad I got to try it.