Hey friends! Today's review is of a delicious Taiwanese oolong sent to me by Trans Pacific Tea Company. Trans Pacific is a newer tea company who recently launched, specializing in Taiwanese teas. Their teas are sourced from a single farm, hand-picked, and processed using traditional methods, promoting and preserving their traditional culture for generations to come by supporting local farmers. They reached out to me and kindly offered to send me their Alishan high mountain Jing Xuan oolong and a Si Ji Chun oolong.
Before the review, here is what their website says about the Jing Xuan:
Flavor: Subtle milky fragrance, savory, floral, fruity aroma, smooth
Roast: Non-roasted
Fermentation: 15%
Harvest: Hand-picked, Alishan township, Winter 2022
Elevation: 1300m
It's nice seeing the harvest date and the elevation, as well as the fermentation percentage on their webpage- very helpful and informative information that shows me they are committed to transparency with their teas.
So, without further ado, let's get into this review!
Brewing Parameters:
5g leaf
100ml gaiwan
100°C/212°F water
Dry leaf: super floral, green, nice milky/creaminess subtle
Warmed gaiwan: The dry leaves in a warmed gaiwan are giving me aromas of pumpkin seeds with a nice buttery/creaminess underlying it, as well as the more typical floral and green aroma of high mountain Taiwanese oolongs.
Rinse/1st steep 10s: The leaves in the gaiwan smell like green beans/spinach, with a nice vegetal aroma; the brew itself is very light in color, with minimal to no aroma on rinse. However, the flavor is intense, reminiscent of that classic fortune cookie sweetness/graininess. There's a nice sugary flavor to it, with a lasting aftertaste.
1st steep 15s: Very sweet, yet also vegetal and savory; slightly creamy, like a creamed spinach; green grapes/grapeskin. It has the sugary flavor of eating a juicy green grape- that intense burst of sugary sweetness with the green vegetal flavor of the grape skin.
2nd steep 20s: This steep is super creamy, with a nice mouthfeel; that vegetal sweetness like a green grape (really green grapey) is still present with a nice grassy note following it.
3rd steep 25s: This steep turned more vegetal in flavor, reminiscent of fresh green beans, asparagus, and again green grapes.
4th steep 30s: Intense sugarcane sweetness with a lovely floral, orchid-like aroma.
5th steep 45s: This steep is milkier, with a very nice creamy flavor; this literally tastes like sugary milk. It reminds me of more flavored jin xuan milk oolongs with how intense it is, yet there's no flavorings added here.
6th steep 60s: Again with the creamy milk flavor, with an almost fruity aftertaste; it's still nicely vegetal, kinda like a creamed spinach- green and milky.
7th steep 1min30s: It's starting to die; the flavor is grassier, but still milky.
8th steep 2mins: Intensely creamy.
9th steep 5min: It's basically dead; very creamy though, the taste is still milky.
10th kill steep 10min: It's still creamy and grassy, but it's definitely dead flavor wise.
Overall Verdict:
Overall, this is a very solid oolong. A lot of US-based vendors tend to sell artificially flavored jin xuan to accentuate that milkier flavor it has- of the natural ones, most tend to be more grassy. In a weird way, this one really tasted a bit like green grapes- that super sweet flavor with a nice sort of vegetal undertone from the skins- I definitely enjoyed it. At its price too, at $40 for 150 grams of tea, or about $0.27/g, it's a very solid example of how delicious high mountain oolongs can be. Additionally, there is a 15% off code that can be redeemed, making this a solid choice for a reliable milk oolong. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Taiwanese high mountain oolongs and who wanted a consistently sweet, creamy daily drinker of a milk oolong.
It's amazing and drinking it immediately reminded me why I love Taiwanese oolongs. The greener notes always bring me back to Spring and fresh flowers, greenery, and cutting grass. This was no exception and definitely brought me to early springs. Trans Pacific Tea Company is one to keep an eye on for their future offerings, and I'm excited to see what other oolongs they offer in the future.
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