Tag: Oolong Tea

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Everspring Tea’s Alishan High Mountain Tea

Alishan High Mountain Tea by Everspring Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$19.99 for 100g

First Impressions

Alishan High Mountain Tea was one of those impulse grocery store purchases (yet again). The golden tin on the shelf just called to me (and it didn’t hurt that it was also on sale). It’s a metal tin with a plastic bottom to it. Beneath the shrink wrap and under the lid, there’s a plastic seal that peels out. Inside of that, however, is the vacuum-sealed gold foil pouch of tea.

There isn’t a lot of informtion on the packaging – just that it’s oolong tea and it is a product of Taiwan. Alishan is a mountain in Taiwan, so that also checks out. The leaves themselves are tightly bunched up leaves, with the colouration varying from a bright green to a dark green that’s almost brown. The aroma is lightly floral with a touch of grassy aroma in the background.

Preparation

Everspring Tea recommends steeping Alishan High Mountain Tea in “hot water”.

I opted to use 195°F (90°C) water and did an initial steep for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Alishan High Mountain Tea steeps to a pale yellow. It has a sweet floral aroma to it. The flavour to Alishan High Mountain Tea is grassy, floral, with a honey sweetness to it. There’s a thin texture to it, but the flavour coats the mouth well. I like the sweetness to Alishan High Mountain Tea, because it’s at the tail end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Alishan High Mountain Tea five times, six steeps total with the same leaves. The flavour of Alishan High Mountain Tea got more grassy and less floral, while the sweetness lingered and then slowly waned. The colour of Alishan High Mountain Tea became a darker yellow with the subsequent steeps before it started to fade in colour again.

My Overall Impression

I loved Everspring Tea’s Alishan High Mountain Tea. The flavour is enjoyable, and the pricing was decent for the amount of tea you get in the tin (100g). The tea has a nice aroma, resteeps well, and the leaves look beautiful! Not a bad grocery store purchase on a whim.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Teakan’s Honey Oolong

Honey Oolong by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$38.00 for 61g

Honey Oolong is part of Teakan’s Volume 6 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Honey Oolong makes up 15g of the 61g kit.

First Impressions

Honey Oolong comes in the very familiar packaging from Teakan – a sealed and resealable kraft paper pouch with a minimalistic white and black label. On the front, the label details the location where this tea comes from (Minjian, Nantou, Taiwan), the type of tea (oolong), and when it was harvested (spring 2021).

Single origin teas are always a treat to enjoy, because everything from the amount of rain, sun, altitude, soil and fertilizer quality all make a huge difference on the tea plants for the growing season.

Honey Oolong has tightly bunched up leaves that are a mix of cream, deep green, and brown in colour. The aroma of the leaves are sweet, fruity, and floral. It’s really an inviting fragrance for the senses.

Preparation

Teakan has steeping recommendations for both western steeping and gongfu steeping.

For western steeping, Teakan recommends using 90°C (194°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes.

For gongfu steeping, Teakan recommends using 90°C (194°F) water for 30 seconds.

My initial steep of Honey Oolong was done western style, and I used the recommended water temperature and steeped for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Honey Oolong steeps to a light yellow. The aroma is (unsurprisingly, given the name) sweet and floral. The flavour of Honey Oolong is sweet, with a floral undertone. The floral notes remind me of peonies, if I had to pinpoint a specific flower. I found that the texture of Honey Oolong has a slight thickness to it, with a pleasant mouthfeel. There is no bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

Honey Oolong’s leaves opened up so much after the initial steep. I resteeped Honey Oolong six times (seven leaves total with the same leaves), and found that the flavour remained fairly consistent throughout, only decreasing in intensity after the second resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Honey Oolong. This oolong was a treat for the senses from the dry leaf to the steeped tea, and even examining the spent leaves. Honey Oolong has a beautiful flavour and aroma, it was quite enjoyable to steep and drink. I enjoyed it hot, but I also had a cup that had cooled down so I think this tea would be great iced as well – the natural sweetness is a nice touch.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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DMDQ’s Tie Guan Yin

Tie Guan Yin by DMDQ
Oolong Tea / Straight
$7.27 for 250g

First Impressions

This Tie Guan Yin was one of those grocery store impulse buys from my favourite Asian grocery chain. The packaging caught my eye because of the decorative knot on the side. And for the low price of under $8 for 250g of oolong tea, it turned out to be an easy impulse buy. Plus, the packaging was nice. Sadly, there was no website or any other information.

The tea itself comes a vacuum-sealed foil pouch that’s sealed (but not resealable), and came inside of the cardstock carton with the decorative knot on the side. There’s minimal English on the packaging, aside from what’s required. The ingredients are: tie guan yin oolong tea from China.

The aroma of the dry leaf is lightly floral, the leaves tightly bunched up. There’s a blend of spring green to dark green – it’s a pretty dry leaf to look at.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions that I could find on the packaging, which was fine. I used my regular steeping temperature and time for an oolong for this Tie Guan Yin. I used 195°F (91°C) water and did a steep for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Tie Guan Yin steeps to a pleasant yellow, with some fine tea dust that escaped the stainless steel infuser that I was using. The aroma is lightly floral, and grassy. The tea itself has a smooth taste to it, with a light floral sweetness. I found it to have a crispness to it, with a pleasant mouthfeel. I found that there’s a slight creamy undertone to the tea, despite having a lightness to it.

A Second Cup?

I did five resteeps of the same leaves, six steeps total. The subsequent steeps had an additional 30 seconds on top of the prior steep time. The flavour deepened and got a bit more creamy, with a fuller mouthfeel.

My Overall Impression

I loved DMDQ’s Tie Guan Yin. I found that the tea was tasty, and resteeped well. It has a very familiar flavour and is very similar to other tie guan yin teas that I’ve had previously. This Tie Guan Yin is pleasant to drink and have a nice afternoon resteeping session with, and the tea also has the benefit of being inexpensive for the volume of tea.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.