Ali Shan Jin Xuan Non Xiang

Jin Xuan is rarely grown in high mountains, so this tea is a real treasure. Ali Mountain is famous for its fog rising almost every afternoon from the nearby valleys, and fog is the key for the most aromatic teas. That and the reduced sunlight accentuates the cultivar's floral-creamy scent. It's really worth it to take a moment at each step and appreciate how every single one of them has to show something different. This tea is spring harvest, so both the fragrance and the taste are rich.

The steamed leaves are already foretelling the creaminess. The scent of salted vanilla mixes with almond milk and toast, spiced up with the sour aroma of baked walnuts. The flushed leaves are citrusy and floral, with the still present baked walnuts. It gives the impression of a freshly baked pound cake. The toasty notes are stronger in the fragrance than in the flavour.

The first flush is silky and subtle, floral, milky, lightly toasty, and there is also a faint tropical fruitiness. Lightly roasted, high quality Jin Xuan oolongs always have this fruity tone beside the milky-toasty notes.

The later infusions are getting milkier with a lasting buttery mouth feel. After the surprisingly strong floral-creamy-custardy first few seconds, mango and papaya comes forward and then fade into something green and grassy. The aftertaste is fresh, with the lingering tone of sweet grapes.

The teasoup is pale muscat green.

Origin: Da Yao, Meishan Township, Alishan, Taiwan
Production time: early April, 2019
Roasting time: late April, 2019
Cultivar: Jin Xuan (Oolong Tea No.12)
Fermentation grade: medium
Roasting level: light
Roasting: charcoal roasting basket

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