I’m late to the party on 2018 Spring Oolongs. I got quite distracted by the lure of new white and puer teas, while in the background I’ve gathered some banging oolongs. Let’s go with one of my favorite oolong places, Floating Leaves Tea. These 2 oolongs were pointed out as favorites – HeHuan Shan as the owner favorite, and many friends saying the Lishan is good. Sadly, no ShanLinXi this season, which is my usual go-to High Mountain oolong.
Floating Leaves Tea’s HeHuan Shan High Mountain Oolong
The dry leaf smells of sweet creamed butter with a touch of grassy florals.
I steep all my high mountain oolongs around 1 gram of leaf to 15ml of vessel size, gongfu with boiling water. The hot leaf smells pepper and floral.
First and Second Infusion: HeHuan Shan is thick, yet juicy and crispy. It sips in a thick texture with notes of aloe, sweet grass, and a slight milky butteriness. Some sips feel crisp due to the salivation like I snapped an aloe stem and started drooling over it. The texture is buttery and leaves an oily feeling after I sip. The aftertaste is fresh snap peas, butter, and a hint of floral.
Right away, the big notice is how balanced this tea is. Flavor wise, nothing is in your face overpowering. It hits all the checkboxes of good taste, heavy texture, and aftertaste. However, in the background, the heavy thick texture is trying to steal the show though.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: The third infusion shifted quite a bit. HeHuan Shan is freshly vegetal and herby with notes of mint, lettuce, along with buttery elements. The aftertaste is also snappy fresh as if I ate a salad with basil, mint. The fifth infusion reached maximum fresh tasting. My cheeks feel touch dry here, but also my mouth is juicing up from this tea so it makes up for it.
The body feel actually is hitting. I seem more of a weirdo with puer, but oolongs can happen. I can feel the perkiness of the oolong lifting me up. It’s a spring frolic tea feel. Man, I wanna hit the farmers market and take home goodies.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: HeHuan Shan lightened considerably. Then seventh infusion I went in for a long infusion, but it went on too long as the UPS truck decided to drive over my lawn and destroy things. The last steeping was buttery, but very bitter. However, the texture of oily was still present.
Comments
HeHuan Shan often is forgotten, as most think Alishan or Lishan for High Mountain oolongs. I always give HeHuan Shan a sample every year, laughing at the name “happy mountain” but this year is dressed to impressed. This tea seems higher priced than previous years HeHuan Shan. This is an awesomely balanced oolong with a thick texture. I can see why it is the owners pick as Floating Leaves Tea always focuses on a good thick body.
Floating Leaves Tea’s Lishan High Mountain Oolong
The dry leaf smells like buttered toast with white sugar sprinkled on top. Just like my grandma used to do (and this is why I’m a stocky owl).
First and Second Infusion: Oh wow, that is buttery! This Lishan is like drinking melted sweet cream butter. It is sweet mineral wet rocks, buttery, with a finish of blades of juicy thick flower stems. It is super creamy and the body is oily as well. The longer I sit after a sip, longer a fresh clean flowery grassy meadow taste slinks in. A meadow without cows, nor Anakin and Padme rolling around.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: I feel the first infusion was a shock to the system of “holy buttery tea hootman!”. Now I can taste and feel the butter, but the Lishan is showing me a brightly flavored side. It is minerally, juicy vegetal, and slightly grassy. It reminds me of nibbling on buttercup and daisy stems as I made flower crowns as a kid. The aftertaste is bright floral and grass. It is like this tea progresses each sip from running through a wall of butter to enter a flowery meadow.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: The Lishan got cooked goose. It is astringent like I chewed a few too many daisies. I am now breathing fresh minty spinach at my opponents. Breathing in is refreshing clean mountain air feeling.
Eighth Infusion: Final steeping is light, but juicy floral with a bit of a oily lip. It is quite astringent, but worth it for the floral daisy payoff.
Comments
Lishan is always a class high mountain. This one has an awesome buttery start and refreshing final infusions. Other Lishans I’ve had lasted a bit longer and buttery later on, but this one left the gate ready to go. My choice would be the HeHuan Shan for balance and complexity, though the Lishan is a safe bet and just as awesome.
