Yunnan Sourcing's 5 Years Aged Da Hong Pao

Yunnan Sourcing's Description
This is a Da Hong Pao varietal grown in the Wu Yi Mountains (Fujian Province) and harvested in May 2010. It was kept in large clay jars and then roasted each year to dry it out. The result is a darkish roasted tea with a red-orange tea soup and strong sweet aroma.

My thoughts
If there is a single perfect tea for warming up after shoveling a driveway full of snow in sub-freezing temps, I think it must be Da Hong Pao. By now you've had to have noticed my love for Wuyi oolongs, and by my standards, there is none better than a good roasty DHP.

Dry leaf - As soon as I open the bag, I'm met with a potent roasty aroma. This tea has been roasted yearly since it was picked and dried, so that's not surprising as it probably needs a bit of time to mellow out yet. The leaves range from a dark brown to flat black.

Brewing parameters - 212F, 10s first, +8s after

Tasting notes - Roasty, sweet, carob, cocoa, mineral, nutty

Mmmmm, just smelling this tea starts to warm you up. The roastiness is front and center, but isn't overpowering. Instead, it brings out notes of carob, cocoa and just a hint of roasted nuts. The aroma fills the room with its roasty sweetness. The broth brews out to a dark amber hue, as expected from a Da Hong Pao.

Tasting this tea is as much of a treat as you'd expect. The smooth carob blends with the sweet cocoa, and brings out just a touch of the Wuyi minerality. The roastiness isn't as strong in the taste as in the aroma of the dry leaves, but it is still certainly the dominant flavor here, lending its warming, soothing aspect to the flavor profile.

After a couple steeps, the roastiness does mellow out and lets the carob/cocoa flavors take the lead. Alongside the slight minerality, a hint of roasted nuts also comes into play. My only real complaint about this tea is that the leaves aren't terribly generous; they tend to peter out after 6-7 steeps, while most Wuyi oolongs can go for 10+. Overlooking this small flaw, I'm still left with a fantastic DHP, likely the best I've had.

If you're not a fan of roasty teas, you may want to give this one a miss at the moment. While I absolutely love it, it could stand to mellow out and give the roastiness a couple years to fade. I'm excited to see how this tea matures in the near future, as more age could only turn this from a great to to an exceptional one.

You can buy this tea from Yunnan Sourcing here and here.

What-Cha's Taiwan 2003 Aged Green Heart Oolong

What-Cha's Description
An aged Oolong dating from 2003, possessing a deep and complex taste of walnut shell and ripe fruit, which evolves with each steep.

My thoughts
Let me preface this review with a disclaimer: this is my all-time favorite tea, so if I begin babbling incoherently halfway through this post, just bear with me and I'll try to pull it together by the end.

While my overall favorite class of oolongs tends to lean towards the heavier roasted and/or medium oxidized family, this one is such a unique standout that it has virtually no competition. This one falls into the odd category of a light-medium roasted, unoxidized oolong (well, oxidized enough to not be a green tea anyway). I first tried this tea nearly a year ago on a whim with an early What-Cha order, and knew immediately I had found a winner. I'm not one to stock up on a single tea (I rarely have more than 50g of anything that isn't a puerh cake), but I'm currently sitting on roughly half a pound of this one.

Dry leaves - Rolled in the traditional Taiwanese way, the leaves have a deep bronze sheen with forest green undertones. They look a lot more roasted than the actually are. I don't know if that's a product of 12 years of age or what, but it certainly looks like it'd be a much darker oolong than it is. The aroma is where this tea begins to take a step above the rest: a wonderful blend of dried herbs, overripe stonefruit, a hint of malt, and deep, rich florals all mingle together to create some of the most unique smelling tea leaves I've ever encountered.

Brewing parameters - 200F, 20s first, 5s second, +5s after. A longer steep at first to wake the leaves up, then short gongfu style steeps after that.

Tasting notes - Overripe stonefruit, black walnut, dried herbs, floral, honey, wheat, minerality

This incredible tea starts out with a rich, full flavor of way overripe fruit. I can't really pin down which fruits in particular, but it makes me think something from the drupe family. Apricot maybe? Or cherries. Maybe strawberries. Ok, those aren't a stonefruit, but whatever. The fruitiness is accompanied by the flavor of dried herbs, most akin to basil and oregano I think, followed closely by a honey sweetness and the distinct flavor of black walnuts. It will take you a few cups to really catch everything that is going on in this tea, because the flavor profile is so complex.

With each progressive steep, the profile changes. I mean, this is true of most teas, but the difference between steeps here is remarkable. As time goes on, the herbal flavor slowly mellows as the walnutty flavor intensifies. The fruitiness mostly stays the same, however, In later steeps, a sweet florality starts to take hold, alongside a mild taste of wheat. Not so much malty, more like a baked bread kind of flavor. Even a trace of minerality pops up in the later steeps, which is fairly unusual for a Taiwanese tea.

As amazing as this tea is, I think the most unique aspect of it is the incredibly long-lasting aftertaste. I've talked about teas here that have a nice aftertaste, but none of them can even touch what this tea brings to the table. The flavor is one of an intense peach blossom and honey, and will hang around in the back of the mouth for nearly an hour after you finish the cup. I really do mean an hour. It's pretty impressive, this tea's staying power.

There, did I make it through without going completely incoherent? If the above is mostly unreadable, here's the TL;DR: buy this tea right now.

You can buy this tea from What-Cha here, and from Mountain Tea here.

What-Cha's Fujian Wuyi 'Zi Hong Pao' Purple Varietal Oolong Tea

What-Cha's Description
A most unusual Wuyi oolong possessing a thick and smooth taste of roasted plums with a sweet finish.

My thoughts
This one has all the aspects of my favorite teas: highly oxidized, Wuyi, purple varietal, and it's even from What-Cha. I mean, how could it go wrong at this point? This is a newer offering from What-Cha, and I received 10g of it as a sample with my last order. I had a 50g bag of this tea in my cart, but then removed it because I was spending too much money already. So I was quite excited to see that Alistair had included a sample of it.

Zi Hong Pao is a naturally occurring purple varietal mutation of the classic Da Hong Pao varietal.

Dry leaves - Yup, it looks like a yancha. Dark twisty leaves with an amazing fruity, roasty, mineral aroma that makes my mouth water. Notably, this one is quite different from any of the Wuyi oolongs I reviewed from last month's Verdant tea club. Not that I could ever get tired of drinking tea from the Wuyi mountains.

Brewing parameters - 212F, 5s first, +3s after. I brew lots of different teas in many different ways, but yanchas and dianhongs are always brewed gongfu style.

Tasting notes - Smooth, sweet, candied plums, floral, roasty

Based on the sweet roasty plum aroma of the leaves, I really expected the soup to be purple. I was only briefly disappointed when it turned out a light golden hue rather than a royal violet. The aroma of the liquor is one of candied plums, mild roastiness, and a touch of minerality to give it that distinctive Wuyi feel. This tea is almost like a candy in liquid form. Something something visions of sugar plums...this would make a great tea for the holidays.

The first steep is much like I expected from the aroma: sweet roasted plums and a bit of that Wuyi minerality, and it goes down wonderfully smooth. It has an almost lip-smacking sweetness to it that persists for a long time after finishing the first cup.

Steeps 2-5 balance out quite a bit, with the sweetness mellowing out slightly, and the roastiness and minerality bringing the candied plums down a notch. But only a little. This is still an extremely sweet and fruity tea, and it quickly becoming one of my favorite Wuyi oolongs.

Steeps 6-9 don't change the profile much, but a mild florality has cropped up under the roasted plum taste. It really compliments the plum flavors well, and was kind of unexpected this late in the session. Not that I'm complaining. I don't think I could find anything wrong with this tea to complain about anyway. Steeps 10 onward are much more subdued. It seemed to drop a lot of it's flavor after #12, but I still went through 15 total. The sweetness is still there, but most of the individual flavors have disappeared.

This is a fantastic tea, and one of the best Wuyi oolongs I've tried so far. I was honestly surprised it was not only so different from a typical Da Hong Pao, but markedly different from any other tea I've ever had.

You can buy this tea from What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/new-teas/china-fujian-wuyi-zi-hong-pao-purple-varietal-oolong-tea/

Verdant Tea's November Tea Club - Wuyi Oolongs

Going to try something a bit different here. I received my first box from Verdant's tea club recently, and rather than review each tea separately, I'll post a slightly abridged review for each tea here. At least then this blog will have some sense of organization. I mean, I like to think it does anyway.

This month's theme are all Wuyi oolongs from Li Xiangxi's farm in Tongmu, Wuyishan in the northern slice of Fujian. They are all new to Verdant's site and were just posted a day or two before I received my box. All were brewed gongfu style with 5-6g of leaf in roughly 120ml of water.

Bai Ji Guan
Brewing parameters - 185F, 5s first, +3s after

This is the greenest of the five oolongs, and one of the most unique Wuyi oolongs I've had thus far. All Wuyi oolongs are fairly heavily oxidized, but this one falls on the low end of that spectrum. The leaves are a mottled bright green, yellow and deep burgundy and smell strongly of florality and minerality.

A quick 5 second steep in 120ml of water, and these leaves produce a light pale green soup that emits a wonderful floral/mineral/vegetal aroma, most reminiscent of cherry blossom and honey with the classic Wuyi minerality. Cherry blossom and lotus come through prominently in the taste, followed by sesame seeds, mineral, and just a tinge of honey.

Bai Rui Xiang
Brewing parameters - 208F, 5s first, +3s after

Wuyi oolong #2 is a much darker variety than the Bai Ji Guan. The Bai Rui Xiang leaves range from dark green to flat black, and smell of vanilla, incense spices and minerality.

As soon as the water hits the leaves, a wonderful tangy aroma arises. It's still distinctly Wuyi, but it delivers an citrusy, spicy lily, and almost jasmine aroma. If the tea liquor is anything like the aroma, I'm sold.

And the tea does not disappoint. The broth is wonderfully complex and brings notes of vanilla, mineral, cream, and lily florality, all with a slightly roasty overtone. It mellows out gradually with each steep, and the vanilla and cream elements take over the forefront of the sip.

Huang Mei Gui
Brewing parameters - 208F, 5s first, +3s after

The darkest oolong so far. The aroma of the dry leaves is significantly less pungent than the previous two, but release a mellow infusion of rose, minerality, and roastiness. The leaves are a dark flat brown and mostly uniform in color.

The leaves create a light amber brew that is highly floral, but still much heavier than the last two. Rose, nectarine, barley, mineral, and roastiness all combine into one to make a mellow, yet flavorful brew. I was able to detect a hint of raw cacao coming out in the later infusions as well. While this is still a great tea that I thoroughly enjoyed, I think it's probably the least unique of the group. It's fairly similar to what you'd expect from a mellow Qi Lan.

Mei Zhan
Brewing parameters - 208F, 5s first, +3s after

I've been looking forward to this one for a while now. Not really sure why, it just piqued my interest for some reason. The dry leaves are almost as dark as the Huang Mei Gui, but are slightly larger and less uniform in size. They also have a similar aroma, but more pungent, mixing sweet orchid, mineral and roastiness.

Wow, this one is aromatic. The smell of thick, sweet orchid and rose blends with roasted almonds to fill the room. The taste is just as wonderful, with the roasted almonds taking the lead, followed by a smooth creaminess and just a touch of florality and grain at the finish. The soup was surprisingly less floral than the aroma, and the minerality isn't as strong as the previous teas.

Fo Shou
Brewing parameters - 208F, 5s first, +3s after

The fifth and final tea from this box, and also somewhat of an outlier from the other four. The thick and chunky leaves don't have much special in the way of aroma, but they are easily twice the size of any of these other teas.

The taste contains a woody element that I hesitate to call cherry, but it's something in that neighborhood. Rosewood maybe? I'm not familiar with that taste, but it reminds me of rose, but without the cloying florality. It is accompanied by vanilla, cinnamon and only a bit of roastiness, while the minerality is the weakest in this tea. I can also detect a slight fruity aftertaste as well.

These are all excellent teas, and if you missed out on the club this month, you can still pick up each of these from Verdant's website (click the name of each tea above for a direct link). I think my favorite of the bunch was the Bai Ji Guan, simply because of the green uniqueness of it.

What-Cha's Fujian Zhangping Light Roasted Shui Xian Cake Oolong Tea

What-Cha's Description
Possesses an incredible floral aroma and taste as expected of the best Shui Xian oolongs with a smooth texture and a very slight detectable trace of the light charcoal roast.

My thoughts
I reviewed the heavy-roasted version of this tea in the very first review on this blog back in September (see here), and that one is outstanding, so when the light-roasted version showed up at What-Cha a bit later, I knew I had to give it a shot. Green oolongs are very hit-or-miss for me. Some are excellent (i.e. Taiwanese Jin Xuan), while others are just deplorable (i.e. green tieguanyin, seriously, green TGY is a heresy). Knowing how good it's darker brother is, I had high hopes for this tea.

Dry leaves - Like the heavy roasted version, these are pressed into loosely packed square cakes, roughly 10g each. Coloration ranges from a bright chartreuse to an autumn orange to a dark forest green. Quite the color contrast going on here. The aroma is a light springtime floral/leafy scent, with just a hint of charcoal.

Brewing parameters - 185F, 15s first, +5s after

Tasting notes - Smooth, daffodil, lilac, lily of the valley, sweet citrus, charcoal

A light fruity citrus takes the forefront of this tea, followed closely by a smooth, sweet florality that just screams springtime. The citrus is more of a sweet tangerine than grapefruit like the heavy-roasted version has. The thick, vegetal/soybean element that I tend to associate with green oolongs is not present here in the slightest, which is nice. After 2 steeps, the cake was still mostly intact, so I broke it apart before the third steep.

Steeps 3-5 really took the floral sweetness and knocked it up a notch (bam!). Breaking the cake apart brought out the flavors quite well, and rather than just a general floral taste, I can detect daffodil and lilac quite easily, and even a touch of lily of the valley towards the finish. The tangerine/orange is still present and is present throughout the sip, but not overwhelming. I can taste just the tiniest hint of the charcoal roast long after the sip as well.

Steeps 6-9 mellow out significantly and the flavors become a little bit muddled. The charcoal flavor is just barely hanging on underneath the floral/citrus tones, and I can no longer pick out individual floral notes. It's still quite sweet though, and is incredibly smooth.

Like it's heavy-roasted cousin, this tea is a bit pricey so I doubt it will become a daily drinker for anyone, but it's a great tea to break out for company, or just to lift your spirits from the grey wintery crap that is moving in.

You can buy this tea from What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/china-fujian-zhangping-light-roasted-shui-xian-cake-oolong-tea/

What-Cha's Vietnam 'Ta' Oolong Tea

What-Cha's Description
An oolong unique to Vietnam with a smooth texture combined with a strong floral aroma and taste.

My thoughts
Back from vacation! The southern North Carolina coast is one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a nice quiet getaway.

Green oolongs tend to be a bit of a departure from the norm for me. My oolong stash is heavily dominated by darker roasts, and I'll sometimes have to search a bit for something less oxidized. Vietnamese teas have so far been winners in my book. The various green teas especially are some of the best greens I've tried. This tea is made from the 'Ta' (meaning 'our') variety that is unique to Vietnam.

Dry leaves - The leaves are rolled into tight little balls in the traditional oolong fashion. Coloration ranges from a bright, almost chartreuse, green to a deep forest green, while the aroma is fairly mild and brings notes of spring flowers and leaves.

Brewing parameters - 175F, 60s first, +15s after.

Tasting notes - Smooth, lilac, orchid, lily, citrus

The aroma of the pale yellow soup is very floral, almost perfumey, in nature. Lilacs and orchids dominate the florality. One thing I found unique about the aroma is the orchid notes are almost identical to the smell of a Cattleya hybrid I have that blooms a couple times a year. The resemblance is almost uncanny. This is certainly one of the most up-front floral teas I've had the pleasure of drinking so far.

Taste is just as floral as the aroma. Despite being a green oolong, this one forgoes the thick, sweet soybean taste that many Taiwanese green oolongs have at first. 'Ta' is just straight-up flowery. After a couple steeps, a light citrus note begins to take hold amongst the floral explosion. I had a hard time placing which citrus specifically is was most akin to, but I'd say tangerine if I had to pick one. Notes of slightly spicy lily start to crop up between the lilac/orchid as well. I got a total of 7 steeps from the leaves before they petered out.I should have taken a photo of the unfurled leaves against a ruler, because they are gigantic. Significantly bigger than anything I've seen from Taiwan or China.

Overall, this was a very nice green oolong. It is very floral, maybe even too floral for some people, but if you're a fan of unroasted oolongs this should prove a great tea for you.

You can buy this tea from What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/vietnam-ta-oolong-tea/

What-Cha's Nepal Pearl Oolong Tea

What-Cha's Description
An incredibly rare and unusual oolong with a great taste and aroma. Incredibly smooth, absolutely no detectable bitterness or astringency with a great taste of apricots and nectarines.

My thoughts
Woo! Another Nepali tea! My latest What-Cha order came in a couple days ago, and this is a tea I've been wanting to try for a long time. Last year's version of this tea went by the name of "Monsoon Flush 2014 Pearl Oolong", and it had been out of stock for quite a long time until just recently. I grabbed a handful of teas I had been eyeing for quite some time with their last sale (thanks again Alistair for the user choice sale!), along with some of the newer arrivals.

Dry leaves - Part of what makes this tea so unique is how the leaves are rolled into tight little balls, about the size of a marble or slightly larger. Bigger than a rolled oolong, but smaller than a blooming tea ball. The dry leaf has a wonderful smell of fresh hay, apricots and stonefruit. Not sure if it's peach or nectarine, but either way it's a beautifully sweet aroma.

Brewing parameters - 175F, 90s first, +15s after. I used 8 pearls for around 250ml of water, which is a bit more than recommended.

Tasting notes - Smooth, apricot, peach/nectarine, honey, malt, muscatel, hay

The first steep is a light, fruity soup with just a touch of fresh hay. The apricot and nectarine are most definitely at the front of the aroma and taste, with a bit of muscatel grapes and hay rolling across the tongue as the sip ends. It reminds me quite a lot of some first flush Darjeeling black teas I've had, but without the herbal bite that some of them carry.

Second and third steeps are noticeably darker in hue, and have taken on a distinct malty aroma. That was kind of surprising, actually. The apricot/nectarine taste is still at the forefront, but malt has taken over the bulk of the taste, still leaving a tick of muscatel at the end. The tea has shifted from a light first flush Darjeeling to a second flush almost instantly. I've never really had a tea that changed a flavor profile that quickly before, and I like it a lot. I did start to notice a bit of dryness in the third steep, probably the result of using too much leaf.

For the fourth steep onward (through 8 total), I decided to cut the infusion time way back, going with 20 seconds and adding 10 on for each steep after. That did the trick, the astringency is gone completely, and the broth is extremely smooth now. Guess that's what I get for ignoring the steep recommendations. The maltiness has subsided somewhat, and the fruitiness has taken over again. There is just a slight hint of something I can't quite place. Black pepper, maybe? Not that the longer steeps were bad, quite the opposite actually, but I much prefer this over the maltiness that the longer steeps brought.

This is really a distinctive tea and certainly worth the price, and is yet another example of the fantastic teas that Nepal has been producing. You can buy this tea at What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/new-teas/nepal-pearl-oolong-tea/?

Mountain Tea's Amber Oolong

Mountain Tea's Description
Why roast tea? A masterful roast imparts complexity to already quality leaf. The general rule of thumb is that firing enhances flavor rather than adding it. Amber Oolong is a friendly introduction into the world of roasted oolong.

My thoughts
This is a medium roasted oolong of the Jin Xuan variety. Jin Xuan oolongs are always good, but roasting them can bring them to a whole new level. Case in point, this beauty grown by Mountain Tea in the Wushe Mountains in Nantou, Taiwan. This was just one of those teas that I knew I would like even before I ever tried it.

Dry leaf - The leaves are rolled in the standard Taiwanese way. The aroma is reminiscent of a bakery: wheat, sugar, baking spices, it's a wonderful smell. I'm not sure if I get the bananas as Mountain Tea describes, but it's a great aroma nonetheless. There is very little of the smoky/roasty aroma that many roasted oolongs have, which tells me that this tea has had enough time to mellow out since it was last roasted. Also a plus.

Brewing parameters - 200F, 60s first, +15s after. Also a great candidate for gongfu style.

Tasting notes - Brown sugar, toasted wheat, nutmeg, toffee, overripe peaches, caramel, rum, pecans

The aroma of the dry leaves intensified by a million as soon as the water hit the leaves. The entire room smells of a dessert bakery. It reminds me a lot of monkey bread or pecan pie. There are not many teas that can make me hungry, but this is one of them. It just smells so delicious! The first sip brings about notes of brown sugar, toffee, and toasted wheat, which quickly changes into caramel, then very juicy overripe peaches, then to spiced rum finish. This tea has a lot going on, it's almost difficult to keep track of it all. Again, there is very little of the roasted taste I expected initially.

Steeps 2-4 mellowed out somewhat, the fruity aspect becoming more prominent while the toffee and rum components becoming less. There is just a hint of roasted pecans showing its face through the sugary and spicy fusion. It's more refined than the initial steep, but no less delicious.

Steeps 5-8 are dominated by the toasted wheat attribute, quickly followed by mild peaches and caramel. The sweetness has subdued, but it's still a wonderful brew.

In the interest of full disclosure, I made this for a friend a couple weeks ago, and she said it smelled like bong water. I'm not a stoner myself, so I wouldn't know (I still think it smells like pecan pie), but some of you might agree. For what it's worth, she did love the tea itself, despite her thoughts on the aroma.

If you're looking for a dessert tea that isn't chocolatey in any way, look no further than this one. It's certainly unique in the fact that it's like a bakery in liquid form. I've had no other teas that can claim that attribute.

You can buy this tea directly from Mountain Tea here, and also from What-Cha here.

What-Cha's Guangdong Big Black Leaf 'Da Wu Ye' Dan Cong Oolong

What-Cha's Description
A smooth and highly floral tasting Dancong oolong with a walnut-shell taste.

My thoughts
Ah, dancong oolong. The oolong that got me into oolongs. Years back I bought a couple ounces of Teavana's Dancong, and I absolutely loved it. Looking back, it really wasn't that good of a tea, but at the time, it was one of the best I'd ever had. Dancongs are still one of my favorite varieties of oolong, and I drink them at least once a week. Yes, I have so much tea that a common drinker for me is once a week. Send help!

Dancongs have a reputation for being finicky about temperatures and steep times. I've brewed this one several different ways and haven't had a bad cup yet, so I'd say that this one is pretty forgiving. As with most all dancongs, this one originates from Wudong Mountain in Guangdong province. I'm not sure what aroma class this one belongs to, but I would guess the Mi Lan Xiang (Honey Orchid Fragrance). If anyone knows for sure, let me know.

Dry leaves - The aroma coming off the leaves is fairly typical for a dancong: sweet, orchid, and minerality. The leaves are bigger and darker than most other dancongs, hence the name. There are still some light green leaves mixed in with the dark forest greenish-black color that makes up most of the leaves.

Brewing parameters - 200F, 5s first, +10s after. This is my typical method for brewing dancongs. Many of them are picky, but these parameters have consistently yielded great brews across the dancong spectrum. Your results may vary, and I encourage you to experiment to see what works best for you.

Tasting notes - Mellow, toasted honey, orchid, orange blossom, minerality, black walnut

This one brings a lot of complexity to the table, even for a dancong. The aroma of the brew is a wonderfully thick honey and orchid blend that makes me think of springtime. At first sip, I get a quick bright note of fresh honey that quickly turns into a mellow, smooth and toasty honey/orchid/orange blossom fusion. The finish is distinctly black walnuts, which lingers for a really long time after the sip. On top of everything, there is a touch of minerality to set this off as a dancong.

Subsequent steeps become even more floral than the first. It's not an overwhelming floral sweetness like some green oolongs have, but a well-balanced mellow honey/orchid taste that is really delicious. The black walnut becomes a little more prominent as well, creeping up to the beginning of the sip rather than waiting for the end. I liked steeps 3-5 best out of 7 total. As with any dancong, it is quite generous and could give you well over 10 steeps without much issue.

Overall, this is an excellent dancong, and absolutely worth your time. The walnutty taste is what really sets this apart from other dancongs, and is pretty unique among tea. The only other teas I've found that have such a prominent walnut taste are a select few Taiwanese oolongs.

You can buy this here from What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/sale/china-guangdong-big-black-leaf-da-wu-ye-dan-cong-oolong-tea/

Mountain Tea's Light Roast Sumatra Oolong

Mountain Tea's Description
Grown in the mineral rich, volcanic soils of Sumatra, this tea has a unique aroma and flavor of passion fruit. After a quick 30 hour roast, we were able to bring about notes of roasted chestnuts and honey.

My thoughts
A couple months back, I ordered a handful of different oolongs from Mountain Tea. Mostly medium- and dark-roast stuff, but this one  intrigued me, so I bought a couple ounces. Nearly all of Mountain Tea's stuff is grown in their gardens in Nantou, Taiwan, however this one being grown in the big Indonesian island of Sumatra makes it somewhat of an outlier. Also having a very short roast time makes it a bit unusual too, at least within my tea stash. Once I got the teas (within 48 hours of ordering. Seriously, their shipping is fast), this one was sort of forgotten behind the medium-roast dong dings and dark-roast tieguanyins. I recently rediscovered it, and I love what I found.

Dry leaves - The forest green leaves are rolled in the normal oolong way. The aroma is very unique; I'm still having trouble pinning down what it is I'm smelling. Vegetal/herbal base, fruity hints, floral undertones, with just a tinge of roastiness. It's different than what I was expecting, though honestly I don't know what it was that I was expecting. It smells awesome, that's for sure.

Brewing parameters - 190F, 60s first, +15s after. These tend to be my go-to numbers for most lighter rolled oolongs, going a bit warmer for darker roasts.

Tasting notes - Roasted chestnuts/almonds, floral, honey, passion fruit

Wow, ok. This is a good one. The aroma of the brew is a thick, sweet, honey/floral blend. If I had to pick specific florality (yes it's a word), I'd say rose and lily-of-the-valley, mixed with wildflower honey, and just a touch of roastiness to set this apart from a green oolong.

The taste of the broth itself is no less amazing. It starts off quite similar to the aroma, but quickly turns to a wonderful juicy fruitiness that I guess is the passion fruit that MT claims. To be honest, the only passion fruit I've ever had is the Chobani yogurt flavor, and this tastes fairly similar to that, so I'm gonna say that passion fruit is accurate. The whole shebang is covered by a mild roasted chestnut taste from start to finish. I can also detect hints of overripe peaches in the finish and lingering aftertaste.

One thing that really stood out to me with this tea is that it makes my mouth water immediately after the sip. I've never had a tea that actually, literally made me salivate. I can typically get 7-8 steeps from these leaves before they give out, with steeps 3-5 being my favorite of the bunch.

The complexity that this tea offers really makes it a standout in my stash. It could actually compete with the 2003 Aged Green Heart Oolong that Mountain Tea (and also What-Cha) offers, which is unquestionably the best tea I've ever had in my life, but that's another review for another time.

You can buy this tea from Mountain Tea, here: http://mountaintea.com/collections/roasted-oolong/products/light-roast-sumatra-oolong

Rishi Tea's Ruby Oolong

Rishi's Description
Named for it's brilliant red infusion, this full-bodied, deeply fermented oolong is slow baked to bring out complex layers of cacao, raisins, and black cherry.

My thoughts
Deeply fermented? Slow baked? Oh yeah, you're speaking my language. This is a really unique tea, and a few months back when I got an email newsletter from Rishi promoting this tea, I knew I had to try it. It is from the Jin Xuan cultivar, and it originates from Doi Mae Salong mountain in Thailand. Rishi offers a wonderful Doi Mae Salong Travelogue about the method of harvesting, processing, and baking the leaves that will eventually become this tea.

Dry leaves - The leaves are rolled into tight little balls in the traditional oolong way. The dry leaves have a wonderful aroma of baked bread and dried fruit. I don't typically measure the amount of leaves I use, I just go with whatever looks good. I probably used a bit more than what is recommended for a rolled oolong, but it couldn't hurt. Into my 300ml pot!

Brewing parameters - 200F, 60s first, +20s after. 3m first, +1m after. I actually brewed this tea on two separate occasions. First was the website recommended 3m first +1m after, then I tried it at 60s first +20s after. Brewing rolled oolongs for more than 2 minutes on the first steep tends to give me a nervous twitch, but I tried it anyway. I'll document both sessions below.

Tasting notes - Cacao/dark chocolate, black cherry, raisin, baked bread, dried fruit

60 second brew first. The color of the infusion is a nice golden brown hue. Not exactly ruby red, but it's a pretty color regardless. The aroma has definite cacao/dark chocolate tones with fruity hints. The first sip is...wow, there's a lot going on in this tea. It starts off like the aroma hinted at: raw cacao with a hint of fruit. That fades into a full-bodied dried fruit blend, of which black cherry is definitely the most prominent. I can detect hints of raisin, black currant, and even red grapes in there as well. The cacao tones are still there, but not as powerful as the initial sip. It finishes with a lingering roasty cherry/raisin taste. Subsequent steeps don't change dramatically, but it's a generous tea. I quit after 8 infusions, and it was still going strong.

3 minute brew next. Three minutes gave me a mild eye twitch, but I powered through it. The resulting infusion is a dark reddish brown hue. I can see where the name "Ruby" came from now. The cacao tones that were present in the previous brew have changed to a rich dark chocolate now. Black cherry is almost completely dominating the fruity component as well, with just a hint of raisin and baked bread in the aftertaste. The flavor is much richer this time around, but the overall profile has definitely become a little muddled with the longer brew. It is still quite good, but just not as defined as the shorter steeps. It also got pretty weak after the 4th brew at 6 minutes.

If you like dark oolongs, you should absolutely give this one a shot. It's one of the most unusual dark oolongs I've ever tried, and certainly one of the richest in flavor. I personally preferred the shorter infusions over the longer ones, but your mileage may vary. Either way, Rishi Tea has a winner here that has earned a permanent spot in my tea stash. It has a nice price tag as well, sitting at $10 for 50g.

You can buy the Ruby Oolong from Rishi here: http://www.rishi-tea.com/product/ruby-oolong-organic-oolong-tea/oolong-tea

What-Cha's Fujian Zhangping 2014 Heavy Roasted Shui Xian Cake Oolong

First review at the new blog! I have a pretty large backlog of teas to review, so I'm just gonna start at the top and work my way down.

What-Cha's Description

The only traditional oolong tea pressed into a cake! It has a unique taste quite unlike other Fujian oolongs with a floral zesty orange taste (similar to Darjeelings) combined with a gentle roasted finish. Some grapefruit hints are present in earlier steepings.

My thoughts
This is a newer What-Cha offering. I am a sucker for heavier roasted oolongs, but this was a bit pricier than some of the other oolongs on the site, so I only ordered a sample. Each cake is about 10g each, so a 10g sample will get you one cake. I decided to use the entire cake in my 300ml pot.

Dry leaves - The aroma is amazing. It's definitely a charcoal-roasted tea, but the roastiness is laced with floral tones reminiscent of rose and hyacinths. The cake itself isn't pressed very tight, and I actually ended up breaking it into a couple pieces before steeping.

Brewing parameters - 200F, 30s first (+15s for each steep after)

Tasting notes - Charcoal, grapefruit, mandarin, orange blossom, rose

This tea is quite unique in its flavor profile. Light citrusy notes hit you first. What-Cha describes it as grapefruit, and I can agree with that, but I would add clementines to the description as well. It quickly fades to a charcoal-roasted orangey/floral taste that lingers long after the sip. The roastiness doesn't overpower the floral taste at all. They compliment each other quite well actually, which is something I don't see in heavily roasted teas very often. 

5 steeps in and this tea shows no signs of slowing down. The more I brew these leaves, the better it gets. The charcoal has mellowed out somewhat and is replaced by a subtle fruity component. I'm honestly not sure what it is, I just couldn't place my finger on it, but it works extremely well with the orange blossom and rose tastes. Peach, maybe? Not sure. 

This is a very generous tea. I got a total of 15 steeps from it before calling it a day. I really could have kept going and pulled another 7 or 8 out of the leaves, but it was late and I needed sleep. The flavor profile didn't change much after steep #5 or 6, but it never did show signs of slowing down.

This tea is incredible. It doubt it will become a daily drinker for anyone due to the price ($14.48 for 5 x 10g cakes), but it is absolutely worth it. It's the best Fujian oolong I've had the pleasure of trying thus far, and deserves a spot in everyone's stash.

You can buy it at What-Cha here: http://what-cha.com/oolong-tea/china-fujian-zhangping-2014-heavy-roasted-shui-xian-cake-oolong-tea/