Currently Fong Mong Tea has their Spring 2018 Shanlinxi Taiwan Sun-Link-Sea Oolong Tea featured in their shop. It’s a High Mountain Ooolong Loose Leaf.
I haven’t sipped on the Spring 2018 one YET but the Sun-Link-Sea Oolongs from previous years have been stellar!
Gaiwan Style is preferred but in a strainer always seems to get the infusing job done, too! I used about a tablespoon – maybe a little more – and let sit just until the leaves were ‘open’. This is what I like to call a ‘dancing tea’. Yup! You guessed it! The leaves dance around in the cup naturally while uncurling and steeping.
As much as I hate the term ‘mouth-feel’ I don’t really know how to describe the texture of the sip. It’s really quite amazing. It’s smooth, light, refreshing, a tad floral, a little vegetal-sweet, and even a bit fruity-sweet…maybe like a sweeter crab apple.
This tea is just begging me for multiple infusions. Of course, I had to oblige. I infused longer each time and was able to get a solid 3 to 4 infusions out of it. Delicious!
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Fong Mong Tea
Description
Located between Xitou and Ali Mountain in central Taiwan – Nantou County, Shanlinxi (Sun-Link-Sea) is famous for its amazing “sun links sea” scenery. Situated at an altitude of approximately 1200 meters, Sun-Link-Sea has an average temperature of 20 degree Celsius all year long. Shanlinxi (Sun-Link-Sea) tea tree mountains, not as high as other high-mountain tea tree ones though, with their distinctive geographic environment, gestate another different fragrance and taste which is another characteristic fine tea of Taiwan high-mountain teas.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Golden Jin Xuan Oolong/Totealy
I am one of those people that never wins anything. I do weekly giveaways on my Instagram and I LOVE to give tea samples away! But I never WIN anything. Well, I can’t say that anymore. I entered a giveaway on Totealy’s Instagram page and actually WON! WHAT?! They sent me 4 “mystery teas” and I was so excited to open them!
When I opened this mystery bag I was greeted by an incredible sweet, milky aroma. I could have sat there and smelled it all day. In all honesty, I probably sat there for about 5 minutes. I immediately knew that it was a milk oolong and I was SO excited! I have never had the opportunity to try a milk oolong and I have always wanted to! Just my luck that my first tea from Totealy would be on my wish list! The curled tea leaves were absolutely beautiful. This was going to make an amazing cup of tea.
The instructions on the card are very clear. Steep Golden Jin Xuan at 205ºF for 1.5 minutes. It then goes on to explain that brewing for a shorter time will bring out the floral aromas and longer to bring out the creaminess. It also explains that you can brew their teas multiple times.
Since I could already smell the amazing sweetness of the florals I decided to start with their recommended 1.5 minutes. I could absolutely get the sweet floral aroma when steeped for this time. It didn’t have the creaminess that I wanted so I decided to steep again. I added 30 seconds to the same tea leaves. The flavor completely transformed. It was incredible how smooth the tea was with a perfect amount of sweetness and grassy “tea” flavor. I was able to get 4 solid steeps out of Totealy’s Golden Jin Xuan. I probably could have gotten a 5th but it had lost its creaminess.
Overall, I was thrilled with my first experience with a Milk Oolong. It was exactly as I hoped and expected. Totealy has an amazing quality Golden Jin Xuan that is wonderful from the moment I opened the bag and was engulfed in that sweet floral creaminess to each individual steep.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Totealy
Description
Our sweetest tea, Golden Jin Xuan hails from Taiwan’s Pear Mountain, where it is cultivated at 3,300 ft. After harvest, the Jin Xuan leaves are bathed in natural milk flavors, resulting in a nourishing brew for both tea newcomers and seasoned sippers alike.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
2018 Autumn Laoshan Green Oolong / Verdant
An aroma sweet like passion fruit custard.
Appearance twisted, crocodile skin green. Two leaves and a bud attached to a twig. Unfurl, gently, in water not so hot. The steam rises with bouquets of asparagus. They find your lips, those bouquets, and you wonder if you are not drinking a Camellia Sinensis but a Asparagus officinalis broth.
Minerality follows, slight but rounds the flavor out nicely. Cleansing mouthfeel with a bit of astringency in the aftertaste. This oolong has a much lower oxidation level then most.
Mr. He, tea master, has produced this tea to have almost the same percentage of oxidation that a Bilouchun does according to their special note included with the box.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Description:
This tea is the He Family’s answer to the challenge that oolong is only for southern China. Despite Laoshan Village only having fifty years of tea cultivation and oolong being the most technically demanding kind of tea in the world to produce, Mr. He comes through brilliantly. The careful kneading and rolling brings out a beautiful, pure expression of the minerality of the soil and the water. This tea is processed without a roast for a true green flavor of Laoshan.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chinese Fenghuang Dancong Oolong Tea Honey Rhyme Mellow Grade One / AprTea
Ready for a tea test?
Have someone pull up this tea before you look at the type and look at a picture -What did you guess?
I chose black. Wrong. This is an oolong.
While a bit confusing in just appearance, it actually makes sense once you take a look at the processing. This is yet another superb tea by AprTea.
No aroma notes to talk about in the dry leaf. Yet it still is a nice tea to look at. Whole leaves, dark chocolate in color. Twisted with care. The best flavor comes between a minute to three and a half minutes.
The aroma cup reveals scents of sweet honeysuckle mixed with other floral hints. Silky mouth-feel with a very slight astringency in the aftertaste if steeped longer than three minutes. If steeped longer then 6 minutes… don’t do that. Just don’t.
Luckily I save a cup from my previous steep the flavor starts sweet with a mix of floral flavors spring floral leads to summer floral the longer you steep it. Longer steeps also lead to introductions with earthy tones.
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Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Apr Tea
Description:
Fenghuang (Phoenix) Dancong Tea:The main origin place of Phoenix Dancong tea is Chaozhou Phoenix Mountain, it is rare high flavor famous tea whose natural floral tea is the most lofty, has most diverse floral types with mellow and sweet taste, special charm in our tea resources.
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Li Shan/Harney and Sons. . .
This tea tastes like it was poured out of a very delicate porcelain teapot by an expert. It’s a delicate green pollen, pooling in your cup, soothing you during difficult times. It’s classic; it’s timeless; it’s fancy. It’s exactly what I’d expect to taste at a non-matcha tea ceremony.
When I was in Phildelphia’s Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, I actually accidentally walked into a class where they were teaching tea ceremonies. I didn’t realize it was a class. There was no note. There was just a person speaking to some other people, sitting on a mat. I thought it was a tour guide or something and got — unceremoniously — thrown out.
I think that, if I had stayed, I would have learned the art of distributing this tea to my companions with grace. These leaves deserve fine treatment after, as Harney’s site claims, “battl[ing] cold (sometimes even snow) and frequent mists,” resulting in a “rare and haunting” quality. I could have poured this pale yellow tea with a delicate wrist motion. People would have sipped it out of clay cups like these.
Alas, I’m drinking it out of a mug I got from Hot Topic for $5. I guess I’ll never be as classy as my tastes.
Want to Know More About This Tea?
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Harney and Sons
Description
Li Shan, considered to be among the best oolong teas in the world, comes from one of Taiwans highest mountain areas. The tea plants must battle cold (sometimes even snow) and frequent mists. This makes a rare and haunting brew, with echoes of honey and cream.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
