Showing posts with label Taiwanese. Show all posts

Tea From Taiwan’s Hua Gang

Origin: Hua Gang area, Li Shan, Taichung County, Taiwan
Harvest: April 2015
Cultivar: Chin Shin (Green Heart)
Elevation: 2400m
I decided to start the day with this tea; I have been feeling a little off now that spring has started so please excuse my brevity. Tea From Taiwan describes this as:
This premium-quality oolong tea is grown in the Li Shan mountain range at an altitude of 2400 meters. The climate of these high mountains is ideal for growing fine oolong tea. The cool air and high humidity produce a tea with full, robust flavor and long-lasting aftertaste.
The brewed tea has an exquisite aroma and brews to an appealing amber liquor. The leaves can can be re-brewed many times while maintaining a full flavor.
Tea grown on Mount Li (Li Shan or Pear Mountain) is the most prized oolong tea in Taiwan. It is ideally suited for gong fu style brewing.
Which is a somewhat poor description for this tea, while I do think it does a good job giving a brief overview of LiShan teas, it seems kind of generic which is a shame since this tea is anything, but generic.




Dry Leaves: This is quite a stem-y tea. At first I was a little put off by the uniqueness of the tea, but there is something aesthetically pleasing about the inconsistency. For some reason quite a few of the stems remind me of canes or crab legs.  Nevertheless the leaves are mostly blue, although there is some green in there and a bit of yellow mostly in the stems.


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Honeysuckle and Butter
Flavor: Floral and Spicy
Tasting Notes: This is quite interesting. Immediately I noticed the thick buttery mouthfeel as well as a butter aroma (a friend described it as buttered popcorn, but I would not go that far). Otherwise it has the typical floral tastes common in Taiwanese oolongs, but the honeysuckle aroma was a little strange, not bad, but not something I encounter often in Taiwanese oolongs.

There was something about this tea that I felt would do better using hotter water to brew so I did decided to go up ten degrees and while I do not feel I was wrong, I do think this benefits from shorter infusions, perhaps in intervals of thirty or fifteen seconds. My intuition tells me I brewed this too long and I lost out on some nuance. Sadly I did not notice realize the errors of my ways until after I used up the entirety of my sample.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Honeysuckle
Flavor: Spicy Cinnamon, Vegetal and Floral
Tasting Notes: Wow! It’s like it took a sudden turn into the dangerous part of town. The comfortable floral notes are starting to wane and some herbaceous notes suddenly appeared. And the spicy taste from the previous infusion has become like a spicy cinnamon.



I rather enjoyed this infusion; as much as I love green floral oolongs I do like the occasional vegetal/herbaceous ones. I feel that I do not often encounter a lot of vegetal Taiwanese Oolongs and that is a shame, I can see why they are not for everyone, but I wish they were more common.

Third Steeping
Temperature: Boiling
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Green Beans and Honey
Flavor: Spicy Cinnamon, Vegetal and Ginger
Tasting Notes: Floral notes are completely gone instead there are some new green bean-esque aromas as well as honey. The tastes are pretty similar although the floral notes disappeared pretty suddenly, I did not expect them to weaken so fast.



While I do feel that I missed out on some of the nuances of this tea I did quite I enjoy it, I’m going to have to order at least 75 grams in my next order. I am not in love with this tea, but I would not say no to it. There is something comfortable about it, even though the easy to love floral notes disappear. Regardless Tea From Taiwan is currently selling this Hua Gang at $31 for 75 grams and is worth checking out if you are into herbaceous Taiwanese oolongs.


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Tea From Taiwan’s Zhong Shu Hu Ooolong

(Tea Provided For Review)
Origin: Zhang Shu Hu Village, Ali Shan, Chia Yi County, Taiwan
Harvest: November 2014
Cultivar: Cui Yu (Jade TaiCha #13)
Elevation: 1400m


Tea From Taiwan was kind enough to send me a couple samples of the teas I forgot to purchase after my review of their DaYuLing and I randomly decided to try this first. Tea From Taiwan describes this as:
Zhong Shu Hu oolong tea comes from the Zhong Shu Hu area of Ali Mountain (Alishan) - one of the most famous tea producing regions of Taiwan. The climate here is cool and moist with cloud cover and mists every day. These conditions are ideal for tea because the plants grow very slowly and produce tender, flavorful tea leaves and buds.
Zhong Shu Hu oolong tea has a sweet taste and refined aroma. Each brewing brings out new flavours and taste sensations. This tea has a complexity that provides continuous nuances with every cup.
Zhong Shu Hu oolong tea can be re-brewed several times while maintaining an excellent flavour. We recommend the Gong Fu method of preparation to bring out the best of this excellent tea.
I did not read the description until after I tried the tea and I was shocked to find out it is from the AliShan area; the tea reminds me much more of a LiShan tea than an AliShan, perhaps I haven’t had as good AliShan as this before. Many AliShan teas I have had in the past with a few exceptions have paled in comparison to this. I kind of regret not using my aroma cup on this.

Dry Leaves: The leaves are a little irregularly shaped, I’m guessing this is either a hand plucked tea or at the very least a hand rolled tea which is not surprising for a tea of this quality.

First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Cinnamon and Roast
Flavor: Cinnamon, Floral and Vegetal
Tasting Notes: I already mentioned that I thought this was a LiShan at first, mostly because of now sweet and light it is, I've been hearing for quite some time that there is a bit of a tea forgery problem for quite some time, but up till now I never really paid much attention to it. I've had a few good AliShan in the past, but for the most part I've had some pretty mediocre teas that supposedly came from there. While this tea is delightfully buttery, it does not have that thick mouthfeel that many GaoShaCha are known for, but at the same time it is not exactly thin.


So far it is outstanding, it has a very strong floral aroma and taste as well as a distinct, yet light roast taste. As you probably already know I tend to prefer the more floral Taiwanese oolongs over the more roasted ones, but this was quite different from either the greener, but floral or roasted oolongs I tried in the past. At first I was just getting the floral and cinnamon notes, but after a couple seconds I was able to tell there is some roasty notes as well, still on the lighter side, but quite pleasant nonetheless.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: Forty-five seconds
Aroma: Orchid, Cinnamon and Roast           
Flavor: Cinnamon, Floral, Vegetal and Roasted Nuts
Tasting Notes:  The liquor is becoming a little dark, yet it still taste like a greener oolong, even though it has a roasted nut flavor that I see more in Muzha oolongs. It is a little strange because it has these amazing green oolong flavors as well as some minor roasted oolong flavors. Regardless I am absolutely in love with this tea.



It has a nice mix of floral and vegetal taste. Tea From Taiwan’s description is absolutely spot on. While the cinnamon notes are the strongest of the individual flavors, I can’t help but taste the vegetal and nutty flavors as well. Whoever roasted this tea needs recognition because this is absolutely amazing! This was my favorite of these three infusions mostly because of the strength of the aroma while all the scents are still pleasant in the subsequent infusion I found the roasted scent a little too strong in the next infusion.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Roast and Floral
Flavor: Floral, Spicy Cinnamon, Spinach and Nutty
Tasting Notes: It was a little strange to see the cinnamon aroma disappear entirely and the roasted aroma become so pungent. The floral aroma is still there, but it feels a little underwhelming (it’s interesting to note that in later infusions the floral aroma becomes the sole scent remaining). As for the liquor it is becoming darker once again; while this tea does have a rather long life I got a little more than fifteen steepings out of the leaves before they felt completely used up, but the liquor tends to get very dark in later infusions. As for the flavors the cinnamon note has a new spicy edge to it which was rather nice and the vegetal taste has become distinctly spinach like.

I loved this tea. It is quite an elusive tea to describe, while it has these wonderful floral elements, it also has some slight roasted ones as well. I already mentioned how I originally thought this was a LiShan, but I have yet to mention that I was shocked to discover this is a fall tea. It has that wonderfully complexity that I associate more with winter oolongs. Regardless Tea From Taiwan at the time of writing this has this tea is on sale for $19.80 for 75 grams and that feels like a very good price for a tea as amazing as this. 




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Tea From Taiwan’s Wu Ling Oolong

(Tea Provided for Review)
Origin: Wu Ling Farm, Li Shan, Taichung County, Taiwan
Harvest: Winter 2014
Cultivar: Chin Shin
Elevation: 1800m



After being impressed with Tea From Taiwan’s Zhong Shu Hu I decided to try this Wu Ling despite the simple name. Tea From Taiwan describes this as:
Wu Ling oolong tea (wu-long tea) is our best tea in our regular collection. Wu Ling is a mountain area in Taichung county and its high altitude (more than 1800 meters) contributes to the ideal growing conditions for wu long tea.
Another reason why Wu Ling wu long tea is of such fine quality is the soil of the Wu Ling area. Wu Ling was a fruit producing region for many years until economic conditions favored imported fruit over home-grown apples and pears. Former orchards in the Wu Ling area were converted into oolong tea plantations, and Wu Ling wu long tea is renowned for its fruity quality.
Wu Ling is located on Mount Li (Li Shan or Pear Mountain) and wu long tea from Mount Li is the most prized wu long tea in Taiwan. It is ideally suited for gong fu style brewing and can be re-brewed up to eight times while still retaining plenty of flavor.
More information about the Li Shan area of Taiwan (including a section on Wu Ling wu long tea) can be found on this website about Wu Ling farm.
It sounds a bit like this is TFT’s house oolong. It’s cool that TFT list’s the farm’s website, although the English language version is currently unavailable. Although it is pretty strange for a vendor that specializes in Taiwanese teas to essentially give away their source especially when there are tons of online stores that specialize in Taiwanese Oolongs, I suspect TFT must get a really good deal on teas from the Wu Ling farm.





Dry Leaves: There is not much of a fragrance to the dry leaves, but the actual leaves have quite a strange shape, while they are tightly rolled they remind me a little of embryos. Perhaps they are hand rolled, but I am not sure.



First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: Thirty Seconds
Aroma: Cinnamon and Floral
Flavor: Floral, Fruity and Roasted Vegetal
Tasting Notes: It’s very silky. I do not think I have ever had a tea with this soft mouthfeel. Instantly I am reminded of the Zhong Shu Hu, while this Wu Ling lacks the cinnamon flavors of the Zhong Shu Hu it feels very similar. It does have that light roasted taste, but this time it feels more like roasted vegetables, more on the dark leafy green side, perhaps not as strong as kale yet.





The fruity notes are a little elusive; it took me quite some time to realize there were some fruity notes in there. So far I think I prefer the Zhong Shu Hu to this, although this has a much nicer mouthfeel.



Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Cinnamon and Floral
Flavor: Floral, Fruity, Vegetal and Sugar Cane
Tasting Notes: It is not as silky as the last infusion, but instead it is becoming creamy. I am happy to say it is starting to taste less like the Zhong Shu Hu, the roasted notes disappeared entirely and instead the vegetal notes are becoming very green. And there is a new sugar cane flavor that was quite nice, while this tea is certainly on the sweeter side it is not sickly sweet like some oolongs.





The cinnamon aroma is a little strong and overpowers the floral notes which are a little sad since there are some lovely orchid and violet notes in there.  Regardless all the flavors are very clean and refreshing.



Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Floral
Flavor: Peachy, Floral, Vegetal and Sugar Cane
Tasting Notes: It is becoming incredibly creamy! And it is starting to become a little darker, while the floral and vegetal notes are still present in the subsequent infusions the vegetal notes become more apparent and the sugar cane starts to become caramel-y. In the next infusion there is a rather interesting taste that I struggled to identify, almost like a sweet butter, but not exactly.





Regardless this is a lovely tea, I prefer it over the Zhong Shu Hu mostly for its rich flavors, while it lacks the incredible aroma of the ZSH it more than makes up for it with its incredible mouthfeel. I can see why this is one of Tea From Taiwan’s best teas in their regular collection.  At the time of writing this TFT is selling this for 75g at $29 or $4 for a 7g sample, it’s definitely worth checking out.




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Tea Ave Wenshan Baochong

Origin: Ping Ling District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Harvest: 2014
Cultivar: QinXin Oolong
Elevation: 400-800m



I decided finally write this review, I put off looking at another Tea Ave tea ever since they launched their site, not because I do not like Tea Ave teas, but Tea Ave had a very successful PR campaign leading to them being everywhere. I do not know how many samplers they sent out before they launched, but I have a feeling they sent out a lot judging by their presence on the various tea forums I regularly read. In fact when I published my Tea Ave preview I did so prematurely. I have not discussed why I publish my reviews or even what I get out of this blog. I do not make any money off this blog, but I do get the occasional samples; for every ten queries from tea vendors I reject nine of them for a number of reasons. In fact the few companies that I accept samples from I regularly buy tea from. If you have been an attentive reader of this blog you may notice I always disclose at the beginning of my posts whether or not I received samples for the sake of review.

As I already said I do not get any money from this blog, the primary reason I write this blog is that I enjoy having a space to record some of the teas I try and recommending teas that I enjoy or think are interesting. While I do try to limit the posts on this blog to teas I either enjoy drinking or at the very least have interesting characteristics I try not to post my thoughts on teas that I do not enjoy. This may come as something of a shock to some, but there are quite a lot of teas that I do not like, even more scandalous there are teas from some of my favorite vendors that I do not enjoy.

Regardless I finally feel like the various tea forums I read are not oversaturated with reviews of Tea Ave’s teas. Tea Ave describes their Wenshan Baochong as:

If oolong tea can be chic, Wenshan Baochung is it: sophisticated, refined, unctuous (save it for your fanciest friends—or for yourself). One of the most fragrant oolong teas in the world, Wenshan Baochung is known for its rich, long-lasting aroma (we highly recommend enjoying it with our aroma cup). Unroasted with floral aromas, most of Wenshan Baochung Oolong’s tea leaves are unoxidized, giving it a quality reminiscent of a green tea with a dash of Dong Ding. Floral notes and aroma arise naturally from the tea leaves.
Wenshan Baochung Oolong grows in the Wenshan region of Northern Taiwan, where the year-long mild climate and fog-filled air give the tea a distinct, refined quality. Wenshan Baochung tea turns a golden honey-green color when infused and has a delightful floral flavor with a sweet finish.
Tea leaves are bright green and twisted into long strands.

The only statement I disagree with Tea Ave’s description is “save it for your fanciest friends—or for yourself” makes this sound more like the kind of tea you want to save for special occasions, but I feel this is more of a daily drinker. I know some see the phrase “daily drinker” as a slight, as an inexpensive tea perhaps of dubious origins, but I am not using it in that sense. I like to describe some Taiwanese Oolongs (LiShan, DaYuLing, etc) as being like cotton candy, something that is quite enjoyable, but you cannot live off them; while daily drinkers are more nutrious. As much as I enjoy DaYuLings, I do not think I could ever regularly drink them, while teas like this I could easily see myself drinking this often.



Dry Leaves: The leaves are very aromatic, there are a lot of floral notes, but the strongest is orchid. The dry leaves are pretty evenly blue and green, generally in my experience in lower quality baochongs I often see leaves that are mostly blue while in higher quality baochongs I often see mostly greens; I rarely see baochongs that are equally balanced like this. While the color of the leaves do not always telegraph the quality of a tea, for a baochong I like to assess the quality by the aroma of dry leaves and the aroma of these leaves is simply amazing. I can see the occasional stem which I do not often see in Baochongs. 


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla
Flavor: Orchid, Honeysuckle, Spinach and Honey
Tasting Notes: As always with Taiwanese oolongs I did a quick rinse with boiling water. I decided to not follow the recommended brewing parameters Tea Ave lists on their website and their packaging, not because I disagree with what they recommend, but I feel that brewing this in very short steepings will not produce very different tastes and aromas in subsequent steepings and if I brewed this for long periods of time I would undoubtedly miss out on some of the subtler flavors and aromas. Long time readers may have noticed I have a template for how I write my reviews, I generally only post my notes on the first three steepings of any tea, and I feel that the first three steepings are the most important. Not surprising this is a very floral tea, although there is a bit of a vegetal notes coming out.



I rather enjoyed the honeysuckle notes more so than the orchid ones, but I found the spinach notes lingered a bit which was a nice contrast to the floral notes; while the vegetal flavors pale in comparison to more vegetal teas like senchas (etc) I always enjoy Taiwanese oolongs that have both floral tastes and vegetal ones.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla  
Flavor: Orchid, Honeysuckle, Violet, Spinach and Honey
Tasting Notes: The floral flavors are becoming more intense! I’m rather enjoying how these very strong floral notes are interacting with the spinach.



It was not until this steeping that I realized how much I liked the vanilla aroma of the tea. I do not often encounter vanilla scents in oolongs as green as this, but it was quite enjoyable although it did kind of clash with the floral notes
.

Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Floral and Vanilla
Flavor: Floral, Spinach, Nutty and Honey
Tasting Notes: I’m sad to say the floral notes are starting to become less distinct, this tea still has quite a lot of life left, but from here on out it starts to become simpler. Although I am happy to say the spinach and nutty notes do not wane until the very end.



This is a very lovely Baochong, at the time of writing this Tea Ave is selling this for $13.75 (CAD) for 25g is well worth the price. It definitely ranks pretty high on the baochungs currently being sold between $10-15, you can tell it is machine harvested, but it tastes much more like a hand plucked tea.


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Taiwan Tea Crafts Songboling Shui Xian

Origin: Songboling
Harvest: Fall 2013
Cultivar: Jin Xuan, Tres #12
Elevation: 350m


So I decided to write up a little bit on a rather interesting Taiwanese variation of a one of my favorite Wuyis. Shui Xian is sometimes transliterated as Water Fairy, Water Sprite, etc; unfortunately I don’t see a lot of them for some reason, I guess Shui Xians are not a popular Wuyi in the west, and normally a darker oolong than I normally drink. Taiwan Tea Crafts describes this as:

Some might find it unusual to see a Shui Xian tea listed in our collection of Taiwanese teas. Shui Xian Oolong Tea, otherwise known as Fairies’ Tears or Water Sprite tea, is a very famous oolong originating from the Wuyi Mountains in the northern part of Fujian Province in mainland China. Our local variation is made in the same style with a Taiwanese twist, featuring local leaf varietals grown in our local terroir and showcasing the roasting talents of our own tea master. An amateur of original Wuyi Shui Xian will find our tea quite surprising in the way it respects the distinctive aromatic characteristics of true Wuyi Shui Xians. Made from carefully twisted Jin Xuan leaves, this tea is oxidized (medium level) to retain the characteristic orchid scent, then, skillfully roasted to reveal the characteristic smooth wild honey taste and smooth finish with distinctive mineral notes. No overbearing, raspy finish here (like it is the case with some cheap Chinese variations you can find on the market)! The roasting skills of our tea master, that spans from generations of knowledge, shines despite his great humility. We are proud to showcase his skills with this deserving contribution.

I was rather interested in trying a Shui Xian grown in Taiwan, but I became a little hesitant when I read this is made with Jin Xuan leaves, although I am not sure if I could think of a better Taiwanese cultivar to use.


Dry Leaves: The majority of the leaves have an s like curve, there is quite a bit of reddish browns in the leaves, perhaps not as dark as a roasted TGY, but still a lot. And there is a little bit of roasted aroma to it, perhaps a little chocolate.


First Steeping
Temperature: 190oF
Brewing Time: One Minute
Aroma: Chocolate and Orchid
Flavor: Roast, Floral, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: This has a strangely thick mouthfeel for a tea grown at 350m, I’d be interested in seeing this grown around 1000m and see how much thicker it would be. The liquor is very creamy, unsurprising because it is made from Jin Xuan. The roasted notes are very mild, even though I do not enjoy roasted flavors that much I found this quite pleasant and was my favorite individual taste.



There some floral tastes, but they were not particularly pronounced; they were stronger than the wet stone and honey notes, but they felt overwhelmed by the roast. As for the aroma of the liquor, it was a rather nice blend of chocolate and orchid; I do not think I have ever encountered that combination before normally with roasted or baked oolongs I do not smell floral notes. Regardless I enjoyed the aroma more than the actual taste of the tea, so far nothing was wrong with the taste, but I loved the chocolate and orchid combination.

Second Steeping
Temperature: 195oF
Brewing Time: Two Minutes
Aroma: Chocolate, Woodsy and Orchid       
Flavor: Roast, Floral, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: The new woodsy aroma was quite interesting, it starting to overpower the orchid notes, but it is still quite pleasant. I am reminded of floral infused chocolate, but now there is a woodsy, almost earthy taste to it. I do not ascribe to the belief that teas or certain aromas or flavors are masculine or feminine, but if I did I would probably describe this as a nice balance of masculine and feminine. While the chocolate and woodsy aromas are certainly stronger than the orchid, but there is something memorable about how they interact.



The flavors are pretty similar to the last infusion, but they are becoming slightly stronger; although the wet stone notes are becoming a little sharp. 


Third Steeping
Temperature: 200oF
Brewing Time: Three Minutes
Aroma: Dark Chocolate, Woodsy and Floral
Flavor: Roast, Violet, Spicy, Wet Stone and Honey
Tasting Notes: Wow! The aroma is simply divine! Sadly the flavor of the tea pales in comparison to how it smells. Again there is nothing wrong with how it tastes, but this is a very aromatic tea. It feels much more aromatic than many Shui Xians from Wuyi. The more I drink it the more confused I am. I already mentioned this was made from Jin Xuan, but it feels way more aromatic than most Jin Xuans, let alone a roasted one.



I am not sure if I have ever encountered a roasted tea with floral notes this strong. This was quite an enjoyable tea. Taiwan Tea Craft (at the time of writing this) is selling this for $7 for 50g and it is a bargain. Even though it is obvious from the leaves (and the addition information section of TTC’s site) that this is a machine harvested tea, but it is obvious that a lot of work went into the roast.



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