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!
