Superfine Taiwan Ali Shan Oolong Tea

Last night was Writers’ Group night at my house. Everyone has come to expect unlimited tea! We are trying to come up with a good name for our group and want to incorporate a reference to tea, so if anyone has ideas, let me know!

We had Golden Monkey from Harney and Sons first and everyone liked it but I have found that these folks really prefer oolongs and greens.

From one delicious smelling packet of leaves, we made about 100 ounces of this tea. If it hadn’t been so late when we started drinking it I would have had to open another packet, and we even had one member missing last night. Seriously, I inhaled the aroma of those dry leaves deeply into my lungs over and over, it was sooo good.

This was definitely their favorite. When the first person sipped it, she held out her cup almost reverentially and breathed, “Oh, THIS is GOOD!”

The color was quite pale, paler than many greens, and the flavor was silky, milky, buttery, and super smooth.

Thank you, Teavivre, for this exquisite sample!

Sipdown, 117. I get it. I finally get it. What a really, really lovely tea. Thanks again so much to Teavivre for sending me this.

So the first couple of times I had this I was a bit underwhelmed. I don’t typically looooove high mountain Taiwanese oolongs but I do usually enjoy them. My first gongfu session I used my small teapot (6oz) but that was clearly too much. This time I followed Teavivre’s gongfu instructions on the site exactly and used the gaiwan that they sent to me (3oz). The florals were just intoxicating.

I ended up having one tiny cup from each steep and dumping the rest (only enough for another tiny cup at the end once all the leaves expanded!) into a cup to drink at the end. All of them were lovely, including the final cup. Smooth, luxurious florals, fresh and green. The texture was smooth and silky, and the flavor was rich and complex in every steep. Spring in a cup, which is lovely to have at the beginning of winter.

Thank you Teavivre for this sample tea!

At first, I underbrewed this tea. It was very pale and delicate…

I let the leaves steep longer in the gaiwan, observing the transformation…playing with the water, moving the lid back and forth in a figure eight then straining the liquor.

The color had changed only a half tone and the taste was as it should be. A delicate whisper.

The flavor was a thin coat of unsalted sweet butter brushed lightly across my tongue, tingling towards the back and a subtle floral finish.

I would never drink this tea in the morning. I’d roll over and go back to sleep if this was next to my bed.

It’s too…relaxing…it…floats in my mind…like sunbeams flickering through the trees.

I’m sipping this Ali Shan and I want to sit by a stream, lay in a hammock, watch the Fall leaves waving back and forth…back and forth out my window.

This is a soft, gentle, tranquil tea.

Lovely.

Nostalgia. This smells and tastes like the agar agar jellies my mom and grandma used to make for us when we were kids. I asked mom recently why she doesn’t make them anymore and I was told that it’s a treat for children. Kids get all the good stuff!
Other than that, sweet floral aroma. Light and smooth and brothy. Yum!

Another beautiful sample from Teavivre!

This oolong’s dry leaf smells very different from the last, which was medium roasted. The scent is even sweeter, giving hints of lush floral goodness. Again, the leaves are rolled into little dark green nuggets with a stem pointing outward. I can’t smell any nuttiness in this one, as I usually do with oolongs. Interesting!

I went with 2.5 minutes again this time, as the instructions gave a range of 1-5 to choose from. The water turned to a pleasant, chlorophyll-like green. I admit I played with the used leaves in wonder when it was done. They were complete, still attached to their stem! There is even a little bit that would have been a silver tip there! The stem is literally as long as my hand. I can’t believe it rolled up so small!

The resulting tea smells more pungent than the dry leaf, and more vegetal. The flavor is so creamy. Ohhh, wow. I wasn’t expecting it at all. It’s faintly nutty, faintly veggie-like. And buttery! Again, I am absolutely loving this oolong. I feel like all the teas in this category by Teavivre are something that need to be savored and contemplated on. Mmmm.

I found this one to be thick like broth. It is buttery, vegetal, sweet, lightly floral. The aftertaste of the first mug is what I call geranium. Some call it latex. It is that quickly recognizable oolong taste. The second mug was similar with added mineral notes and lose the geranium. This is more of a contemplative cup than something to get you moving in the morning. I seldom want jolted awake so it suits me.

Having tried several oolongs in the last week or so, I think it is a toss up between this one and the Taiwan High Mountain oolong as my personal favorites. However, they were all excellent and all distinctly different.

Thank you so much to Angel at Teavivre for this wonderful sampler of oolongs! I love oolongs in the fall and winter, they are just so comforting.

This is my first experience with a gaiwan and I will definitely need more practice because I almost burnt my hand. I followed the websites steeping parameters (R, 25s,25,30,40,60,90,120,180)

The first 4 steeps were very floral and has milky aroma and mouthfeel. There is a natural sweetness.
The last 4 steeps lost a bit of sweetness and seemed a little more vegetal.

I also want to sample this with the western method so I know where I really stand with this.

Really appreciate receiving the oolong sampler from Teavivre. This one is the first one I’ve tried and it was quite enjoyable. As is typical with oolongs, I got several steeps and could have gotten more I’m sure. I haven’t been drinking oolongs too much lately, so when I took the first few sips, it immediately brought back some memories of how nice an oolong can be. I was lazy and brewed it Western style. It was lightly floral and mildly vegetal. Very nice.

Thanks, Shelley_Lorraine for this tea!

A light, spring-like oolong. It starts out with buttery like sauteed asparagus with a hint of a floral. It becomes spicy with hints of minerals at the end of the cup.

I enjoyed multiple steepings of this oolong over the afternoon. The leaf is vibrantly green, the flavor delicately vegetal & lightly floral. Each cup became milkier in the mouth, with the 3rd steep being my most favorite. Thanks to Angel & Teavivre for the generous sample.