Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Green Terrace Teas
Tea Description:
Li Shan, or “Pear Mountain”, is named after the abundant pear orchards that originally occupied the region. In addition to its rich soil, Li Shan’s high altitude maintains a cool and moist climate that is ideal for creating superior quality tea. Our spring harvest was grown at an elevation of about 2,000 meters, or over 6,500 ft! Tea from Li Shan has a very high demand due to its limited supply and superior quality. Floral and fruity in character, this tea also has a very clean, soft mouth feel and evokes exotic flavors such as mango and tropical fruit. Can be steeped multiple times without losing flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Yes! I love Li Shan Oolong Tea! And this Li Shan from Green Terrace Teas is OUTSTANDING!
Since this is a Li Shan, I grabbed my Yi Xing Mug and I combined the first five infusions (I steeped the tea in my gaiwan) following a 15 second rinse into the first mug full of deliciousness.
I measured out one of my bamboo scoops full of the tightly wound, deep forest green pellets and placed them in the bottom of my “easy” gaiwan – so called because it has a “straining” lid, a spout, and little “stump” handles to make it easy to handle when there’s hot liquid inside.
I poured in the hot water (I usually go with 180°F for Oolong teas, and I saw no reason to not go with that temperature today), and after 15 seconds, I strained the liquid (this was the rinse). Then I steeped the first infusion for 45 seconds and added 15 seconds onto each subsequent infusion.
And mmm! When you have a Li Shan, you can expect a creamy texture and a sweet, floral taste. But there are always little nuances that make one Li Shan Oolong offered by one tea purveyor different than another Li Shan Oolong. I’m not sure exactly why that is, but, as the description above suggests, this has a fruity note to it that’s almost like tropical fruit. And I’m getting those tropical fruit notes.
The flavor is sweet and smooth. It’s not screaming out “mango” to me, but it has that luscious sweetness of a mango with notes that are reminiscent of the tropical fruit. I can taste subtle vanilla tones and this adds a pleasing creaminess to the cup and it softens the floral tones.
I like that the vegetal notes here are really quite subdued. It doesn’t have a really strong “green” taste to it, but in the distance, I pick up on those gentle vegetative flavors.
And like many Oolong teas, this one offers quite a few infusions. I got ten infusions out of this tea (five infusions in my first cup and five in the second). The second cup was not quite as creamy as the first, and I noticed more of the floral notes and subtle vegetal notes emerging in the second cup. But this cup wasn’t sharp or bitter the way that floral and/or vegetal notes can sometimes be. It still tasted wonderfully smooth.
It’s still sweet and fruit-like with notes of tropical fruit. Again, I’m not tasting anything distinctly mango but it has notes that sometimes evoke thoughts of sweet mango, and in this second cup, I am also tasting gentle tangy fruit notes too. Nothing that makes me ready to pucker, but, it does add an interesting contrast to the sweeter notes in the cup.
A REALLY good Li Shan! I have tried a few teas from Green Terrace thus far and I’ve been a fan of what I’ve tasted from them. This is a company that I can stand behind and recommend to my readers with confidence.
Four Seasons Spring Oolong from Green Terrace Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Green Terrace Teas
Tea Description:
Grown at about 1,200 meters in the rich soil of the Alishan region, this tea is a wonderful introduction to oolong teas from Taiwan. Sweet, rich and aromatic, Four Seasons Spring Oolong (or Si Ji Chun) has a pleasant buttery and honey taste that evokes mild notes of jasmine and lily. This oolong as a mild vegetal character and has almost no bitterness – a great tea for any time of the day.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Oh … LOVELY! It’s been a while since I’ve had a Si Ji Chun, I’ve been focusing on other teas as of late and this is almost like a new tea to me now. But as I am sipping this golden cup of wonderful, I have to think – why have I been away so long, Si Ji Chun?
The aroma of the dry leaf is FRESH … like a fresh spring morning! It smells a little vegetal, and I realize it’s those vegetal notes that give it the fresh smell, but rather than smelling specifically of vegetable or steamed veggies or even of grass, this just smells like the new, fresh smells that great the olfactory nerves as spring reawakens the earth.
Sweet, sweet, sweet! This is so delightfully creamy, with notes that are reminiscent of butter and honey – evoking thoughts of honey butter! The sweet, yummy spread my gramma used to make when she’d bake fresh biscuits for dinner. Mmm! But there’s more to this cup than just a sweet resemblance of honey butter, I taste sweet floral notes and a hint of vegetative flavor.
It’s a remarkably smooth cup with very little astringency. I do notice just a hint of astringency at the tail, but, it’s very subtle. The above description suggests notes of jasmine and lily, and while I do taste a ‘floral’ taste to the cup, I don’t know that it’s jasmine and lily that I taste. Then again, this is only the first cup (infusions 1 and 2 after a 15 second rinse), perhaps those flowers will reveal more of themselves in the later infusions.
The second cup is not quite as creamy as the first was. There are still notes of butter, and it’s still a delightfully sweet cup of tea. The floral notes are beginning to emerge more in this cup, and I definitely do notice a jasmine-esque tone. It’s not nearly as obvious a jasmine note as I’d experience with a jasmine scented tea, but, there are notes here that I recognize as jasmine.
I’m also noticing a touch of citrus to this second cup as well, as if someone maybe put a drop of lime in my cup. It’s bright and adds a nice dimension to the cup.
I can still taste notes of creaminess in the third cup, but there is a gradual loss of the creaminess with each subsequent infusion. The sweetness is still there. The floral notes seem to have merged together with the other flavors of this cup, creating a taste that’s a little floral and a little vegetal, and a little creamy too. The aforementioned citrus tone is there as well, and it’s quite a delicious combination of flavors.
A really lovely Oolong. For those out there who – like me – have been drinking other Oolong teas and haven’t had a really good Four Seasons in a while, now is the time to reinvigorate your palate!
Eastern Beauty Oolong Tea from Green Terrace Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Green Terrace Teas
Tea Description:
Eastern Beauty, also know as Oriental Beauty, Bai Hao Oolong, and Champagne Formosa, is one of the most famous and unique Asian teas. During the growing process, green cicadas or “leafhoppers” bite the leaves, stimulating a hormonal reaction in the tea tree that develops its natural honey flavor. This also means that the tea is organic, as no pesticides are used during production. Eastern Beauty is more oxidized than other oolongs and has a very distinctive taste. It is delightfully smooth and fruity, with naturally sweet honey and floral undertones. Thanks to its lack of astringency, this selection is also very forgiving to oversteeping and its savory flavor persists through many infusions.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m loving this Eastern Beauty Oolong from Green Terrace Teas. It represents the first of the teas that I’ve tried from this new-to-me company, and I’m very happy with what I’m tasting thus far!
I brewed this in my gaiwan using 180°F water, and after a 15 second “awakening” of the tea leaves, I steeped the first infusion for 1 minute and the second infusion at 1 minute 15 seconds. I combined the first two infusions in one cup. For each subsequent infusion, I would add 15 seconds to the infusion time, and I would combine two infusions in one cup. (The second cup = infusions 3 and 4 … and so on.)
The first cup was lighter in flavor and texture than the subsequent cups, but even though it was lighter in flavor – it was still very flavorful! There were sweet, peach-like notes with a sharp floral tone. Beautifully sweet! The mouthfeel was soft and pleasant. There were some earthy notes to the cup as well as hints of wood-like notes. I detected no bitterness or astringency to the cup unless I really focused on it, and then I picked up on a slight dry note toward the finish. It’s barely there!
And even though I mentioned the sharp floral note, this is not an overly floral tasting tea. There is just a bit of flower there that cuts through some of the fruity sweetness – it’s enough to offer contrast without becoming a flowery tea.
The second cup had a more developed set of flavors than the first. I could really taste the peach-y notes! The sharp floral tone that I picked up on in the first cup is somewhat subdued now. It is not so sharp, and instead, it is more like a whisper of flower in the distance. This cup was more about the peach, the notes of earth and wood, and a lovely, sweet nutty tone that began to reveal itself. I like the way the peach and the nutty flavors work together.
The third cup was the sweetest of the three! The peach notes are profound, and the woodsy/earthy notes are softened, making way for more sweetness that is reminiscent of honey. This is where the honey notes really come into focus, so it’s definitely worth the effort to keep on steepin’ when it comes to this tea. The honey notes are BEAUTIFUL!
A really enjoyable tea … if it’s any indication of what I have to look forward to from Green Terrace Teas, then I’m really happy to have found this company!