My love affair with Ali Shan

[Sententia]

So this morning I started a beautiful friendship with Ali Shan.

I began my brewing with the water at 212, the leaves started opening but I was troubled that the color was still light. The smell however was delightful, almost amazing. I typically like smokey, dark brown Oolongs but this was a change for me so I anxiously waited, while the excitement took hold.

It's early in the morning, so I was wondering if it was even a good time to be drinking this tea and I found out it is. When I came back to my ingenuiTEA, I discovered the leaves significantly taking up all the pot. Opened fully, the color getting darker almost like a brownish green yellow tea, I poured my cup. My first few sips.. I wasn't impressed, the nutty flavor really stood out. The tea felt accommodating, warmly.. it has this sour note wrapped in the chestnut taste.

Halfway into the cup, my expectations where met. I'm not going to give it more praise than it should, but its a Oolong that's different and unusual. I added sugar and it got even better. I know some people like putting milk in it, I was starting to feel the caffeine and awaken. The optimal taste from the leaves fully opened, and the content in these quality leaves really quenched it for me. I felt ready for the day and that leaves me to right now. It's a great tea and I just wanted to write down and share my thoughts on it lol.

[Victoria]

Tea that moves you write is always a wonderful experience. Ali Shan is a favorite of mine, it can be really outstanding. Is this the Adagio you are brewing? The color should be light sparkling yellow to slightly deeper. How long did you brew it for?

[iannon]

Taiwanese Oolongs are a recent love for me as well. Started off with the Adagio sample time and took off from there. Once I hit "Tea from Taiwan"s" Samples it was all over. Li Shan and Ali Shan moved to the top of my Oolong list!

[Victoria]

I love to hear this and I am soooo hoping that Shiuwen stocks the Traditional AliShan this Spring. Wow, it was supersonic.

[iannon]

ive got oh.prob 20g left of the Long Feng and then 50g of the DTH fu shou shan but to be honest I didnt like it as well as the other I have. Had a more roasty flavor. almost like a lightly roasted chinese green tea. SO...I may be off to IShopO's website for another order. Last time I got a bunch of the smaller quantities to try 'em out

[ummaya]

Four days ago I had my first sip of Oolong tea from the Adagio's sampler. Ali Shan was my second tea from the sampler and I instantly fell in love with it. It is on the top of my list of preferred teas which until only four days ago consisted of Japanese greens only.

I have not finished the Adagio's sampler yet but I have already ordered new samplers from Floating Leaves, Jing Tea Shop and today I also added two samplers from "Tea from Taiwan" (Ali Shan samples included of course)
I am enjoying a cup of Ali Shan right now

[Victoria]

Holy Cow ummaya!! That sounds like something I would do. TRY to hang onto your hats everyone, till the Spring '10 selections arrive.

[Tead Off]

Let me put a plug in for Nada's (Essence of Tea) Qi Lai Shan Oolong. On the green side, probably organic, very tasty and aromatic, and, less expensive than many similar Taiwan gaoshan offerings. I will probably re-order.

[TokyoB]

Let me put a plug in for Nada's (Essence of Tea) Qi Lai Shan Oolong. On the green side, probably organic, very tasty and aromatic, and, less expensive than many similar Taiwan gaoshan offerings. I will probably re-order.

Tead Off - do you prefer Nada's Qi Lai Shan over his DYL? What about relative to TeaFromTaiwan's Long Feng Xia and Tsuei Luan. (For those interested, the LFX is a bit more expensive than Nada's QLS and the TL is a bit less.)

[Tead Off]

Let me put a plug in for Nada's (Essence of Tea) Qi Lai Shan Oolong. On the green side, probably organic, very tasty and aromatic, and, less expensive than many similar Taiwan gaoshan offerings. I will probably re-order.

Tead Off - do you prefer Nada's Qi Lai Shan over his DYL? What about relative to TeaFromTaiwan's Long Feng Xia and Tsuei Luan. (For those interested, the LFX is a bit more expensive than Nada's QLS and the TL is a bit less.)

Nada only sent me a small sample of the DYL. I liked it but I didn't have enough time with it to make any conclusion. It's worth getting as it is much cheaper than TFT's DYL and tasty. LFX is my favorite from TFT and Tsuei Luan is a great buy. It's really hard for me to say which is better. They are all good and as you know, the Spring will differ from the Winter harvest.

What I still struggle with are the roasted Taiwan oolongs like Dong Ding and Nada's roasted DYL. The roasted DYL is not bad but give me the greener one any day. Believe it or not, I've yet to taste a roasted Dong Ding that I actually liked and would order again. I love the green gaoshans.

[steanze]

Wow I was about to start an identical topic when I realized that there is one already I opened today a bag of Ali Shan oolong that my Taiwanese roommate gave me as present. It is just amazing... I think I drank more than 2 liters of tea in one day

I already ordered the various samples of Teafromtaiwan, but I will definitely wait to buy more tea until the new spring oolong comes out.

So far I brewed it with a glass gaiwan but since I like it so much I was thinking about getting an Yixing pot for Taiwanese green oolongs. Do you think it is worth? I know that Yixing pots are not recommended for green tea and I was wondering whether something similar holds for greener oolongs. Though I saw that on my bag of Ali Shan is written that they recommend using a Yixing pot to brew it. In case, I had in mind the 130ml da hong pao xishi from Yunnansourcing

[Victoria]

Yixing are fine for green oolongs.
Go for it.

[ummaya]

While I wait for some new Oolong samples from different sources to arrive I visited many vendors web sites and read their brewing instructions for Oolong teas and I am quite confused.

No problem about the leaves/water ratio and temperature; they almost all agree for a brewing temperature a bit lower than boiling point but there are huge gaps concerning the steeping time. For example, the recommended steeping time for the first brew of Ali Shan are the following :

Adagio: 5 minutes
Tea From Taiwan : 30 to 50 seconds
Rishi: 3 minutes ( then 3 minutes 2nd brew and 4–5 minutes for subsequent brews)
Shiuwen Tai from Floating Leaves Tea : 15 seconds for first brew (after a very quick rinse) , then 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, etc
Seven Cup Tea: 1 min

A tea may be brewed differently according one's personal taste and that is why if the steeping time for a certain brand of tea is measured in seconds then a person may brew his first brew of Ali Shan for 15 seconds to get a light brew an other person for 1 minute for a strong brew. If the brewing time is to be measured in minutes then one may brew the Ali Shan first brew for 1 or 2 minutes for a light brew and an other drinker who likes his tea strong will brew it for 5 minutes. What confuses me is the gap between a recommendation of 15 seconds and an other of 5 minutes . It sounds much more than personal preferences, almost like talking about different kinds of tea. Do I miss something?

[Tead Off]

If you are brewing with a small pot, FLT's instructions are a good starting point. The longer times of Rishi and Adagio is for western style brewing of less leaf in a larger pot so you would steep longer. From my experience, you really reap the rewards of Taiwan Oolongs with small pot brewing.

[ummaya]

If you are brewing with a small pot

I use this 125ml Gaiwan that I specially purchased for my fresh start with Oolong tea:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=131