Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea
This tea has been retired/discontinued.
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Commercial Description
Freshly cut fruit wood aroma with a hint of spearmint. Soothing notes of cinnamon, vanilla, rose, and a touch of savory.
RateTea Notes
This tea is unusual in being a black tea that is rolled in a leaf style similar to oolongs; it has been discontinued, but Eco-Cha sells both other black teas, and a Shan Lin Xi High Mountain oolong.
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
60 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 2/5Alex Zorach (1453 reviews) on Jan. 27th, 2014
A complex, strange, evolving tea, both unexpected and a bit inaccessible. Try as I might, I cannot mentally perceive this as a black tea...it still screams oolong to me. I find I enjoy it much more if I think of it like an oolong. But, thinking about it like an oolong, it tasted too much like a Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty) oolong, a style of tea that I'm not a big fan of, although I liked it much better than most Bai Hao.
Dry leaf looks like an oolong, and smells like an oolong, with a little roast evident.
Upon brewing, smells very slightly more like a black tea, but is peculiar, singular. The dominant aroma is of young, sappy wood, like the green inner bark of a freshly cut twig during the growing season. The aroma has a bready quality, and tones of canned peaches, honey, and caramel. It smells delightful until I sip it, but then there's a weird smell, like candle wax or burned leather, that I strongly dislike. This dissipates into a pleasantly toasty finish.
Mouthfeel and body are very thin. Sweet, honey-like. Like many of Eco-Cha's teas, there is a sour aftertaste. The caramel aroma and syrupy mouthfeel remind me of a Bai Hao oolong.
I found this an odd tea, and hard to appreciate. It grew on me though, but I found myself wanting to brew it stronger, but limited in doing so by the sourness, which became more concentrated in stronger brewing...never overwhelming but always present more than I'd like. I liked it with longer steeps though; this brought out a sort of burnt molasses aroma that I found pleasant.
One-of-a-kind? Intriguing? Absolutely, but it's not very well-suited to my tastes. Price is prohibitive given that I didn't find this as enjoyable. I liked the aroma, but wanted more bitterness, more body, and less sourness. Among Taiwanese blacks, I prefer the ones that actually resemble black tea, something like a Hong Yue (Ruby Black). If I were going to have something like this tea, I'd strongly prefer an oolong.
93 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 3/5Amanda (338 reviews) on Jan. 4th, 2014
The aroma of this tea is strong and bright with floral, oaky, fruity, cocoa notes, and a hint of tobacco notes. It is very complex and fades from one aroma to the other. The brewed leaves start oaky, loamy, and slightly like fresh bread and then fade to lychee tones. The liquid loses all its woody tones and is sweet and fruity with an after aroma of cocoa.
The first steep is bright and tart like fruit but fades to sweetness with a midtaste of oak and tobacco fading to a lightly muscatel aftertaste.
The second steep is sweet and fruity losing all of its tart qualities but retaining the oakiness. It is so smooth that it seems buttery. This tea was wonderful!
Page 1 of 1 page with 2 reviews
More Pure Tea (Camellia sinensis) from Nantou, Taiwan from Eco-Cha
Tsui Yu Jade Oolong Tea
| Style: | Oolong Tea |
| Region: | Nantou, Taiwan |
| Caffeine: | Caffeinated |
| Leaf: | Loose |
84
3 Ratings
