A very green (modern green style) oolong of very good quality! TeaVivre informes me that "Qing Xiang" means the tea is unroasted; I've seen this term refer to the floral fragrance of a green oolong--and this tea definitely delivers on such a claim. Yet another top-quality tea from TeaVivre!

The dry leaf is very green with slight golden highlights and has very large, more loosely-rolled leaves that tend to look very round.

Upon brewing, produces a cup with a buttery texture and an orchid-like aroma, with hints of honey and straw. The aroma and flavor is also somewhat soapy though, and the body is thin. Aroma is more floral and honey-like than anything else, and I like this. One thing I loved about this tea is that it retained its intense floral character even through later steepings--rather than shifting over to a more herbaceous aroma the way a lot of lower-grade oolongs do.

I found, like TeaVivre's Superfine Ali Shan oolong, this one was better when brewed more strongly, but unlike that tea, I found it much easier to brew to a satisfactory strength. Following the directions, Western-style brewing, it was slightly too watery for my tastes. I had better results when using either more leaf, or longer infusions, but both of these produced outstanding results. With a teaspoon of leaf, I steeped the first cup over 3 minutes, and the second around 6, and the third for 10+. The leaves seem to have a lot of flavor in them but it seems to take a long time to extract it. I actually preferred using a heaping teaspoon of leaf and briefer steepings...at which point I got 3 very potent cups and was able to brew a fourth, although it was slightly weaker.

I initially preferred the moderately roasted variety, as it seemed to be much fuller-bodied and more flavorful, but I found this one grew on me. I liked this better than the Ali Shan, but whether I'd prefer this or the moderate-roast one would be a toss-up: both are excellent.

I also found that this tea tasted better when it had cooled to room temperature; when it was hot, the soapy quality was more evident, and it seemed more thin-bodied.

I found I felt very good after drinking this tea too.

This is a very pricey tea, but I think it has the quality to back up the price. The leaf also stretches pretty far--although I liked it best when using more leaf, it keep delivering cup after cup.

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