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!
Si Ji Chun Tea from Camellia Sinensis
Tea Type: Oolong Tea
Where To Buy: Camellia Sinensis
Product Description:
From the high mountains of Taiwan this green wulong offers a rich cup with a touch of nutmeg and an edge of fresh vanilla. Explosive floral nose and an echo of caramel in the aftertaste.
Quantity of leaf / 250ml of water 1 tea spoon
Infusion Time 3-4 minutes
Infusion temperature 95 °C
Tasters Review:
I don’t think I have used the phrase “Crazy Good” yet on SororiTEA Sisters as a description so today will be that day and this tea will be the one that busts-out that funky-phrase…because…well, it’s just THAT good!
Seriously…This IS a crazy good oolong!
This is so different from any oolong I have tried! AND I LOVE OOLONG!
First…the aroma is mild but floral. The color is a very light yellow. The taste is smooth, sweet, juicy, and very fresh! I can taste a sugary caramel type taste but also a vanilla type taste. There is a subtle hint of something else which I assume is the hazelnut hint they mention in the description…but I want to stress it isn’t a loud hazelnut and all flavors that I stated are on the sugary-sweet side but naturally-speaking!
This is truly unique and FAB! Give it a try! You won’t regret it!
Si Ji Chun from Camellia Sinensis
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Camellia Sinensis
Product Description:
From the high mountains of Taiwan this green wulong offers a rich cup with a touch of nutmeg and an edge of fresh vanilla. Explosive floral nose and an echo of caramel in the aftertaste.
Taster’s Review:
An exquisite Oolong!
The aroma is intense – very sweet and floral. It reminds me a bit of that fragrance I experience when I first walk into a florist’s shop! It is very beautifully floral.
The tiny, tightly wound pellets unfurl slowly, offering many delicious infusions. I recommend steeping this one in a covered gaiwan to take full advantage of the aroma and flavors this tea has to offer.
And the flavor is so delightful, you’ll want to enjoy all the infusions this tea will produce! The flavor starts out delicate, but develops quickly and becomes more pronounced in the third and fourth infusions, once the leaves have had a chance to begin to open up and release their flavor.
The flavor has pleasant notes of flower with a faint note of vanilla in the background. This delicious vanilla note lends a lovely sweet creaminess to the cup that is enhanced by the soft, buttery mouthfeel. There is a nutty flavor to the cup too that IS a bit like nutmeg (just as the product description above suggests).
The layers of flavor here is very enticing. The light floral quality lingers into the finish, where I experience just a hint of astringency. The astringency is barely there, but, it is just enough to wipe the palate clean so that it doesn’t feel overwhelmed or heavy from the texture of the tea.
I really enjoyed this cup. If you are an Oolong enthusiast, this is one that you should definitely add to your list! It’s awesome!