Alishan Shizhuo Zhu-Lu high mountain oolong tea is a Taiwanese gao shan tea from a specialized gao shan tea vendor Teamountains.
Name: Alishan Shizhuo Zhu-Lu high mountain Jin Xuan tea
Tea vendor: Teamountains (Taiwan)
Type: Taiwanese oolong tea
Alishan Shizhuo Zhu-Lu high mountain oolong tea – description
I am owing this review since last year. I wrote it long long time ago, but somehow lost it among many other reviews. This gao shan tea comes from mount Ali and belongs to the most popular gao shan teas. Alishan Shizhuo Zhu-Lu high mountain oolong tea is organic tea grown at the altitude between 1200 and 1600 meters. Price is 24.5 USD for 75 grams which is really acceptable for a gao shan. This tea, although widely popular, is not just one more gao shan from Alishan. It’s truly exceptional in every sense. With beautiful and uniform leaves, very intense scent, it immediately whispers to you that you are about to drink something really special.
Even though the name of this tea was changed later, it still can be called milky oolong with full right.I promised to write about the myth that cruises on our web sites, especially on the sites of different tea shops. Myth says that jin xuan or milky oolong is made by steaming tea leaves in milk. There are few variations on this myth, and all of them include milk. Don’t be misguided, jin xuan has no correlations with milk in any way. The name comes from a texture and aroma, which is especially creamy and can remind us of milk. The best jin xuan teas always come from Taiwan and high mountain, even though some from lower altitudes can be found. Flavored jin xuan oolong is flavored with artificial edible aromas and they do have a stronger scent and taste which can easily be recognized, something like a milk candy. Not all of flavored milky oolong teas are bad, but they are also not the true originals. A rule of the thumb is (although not always true, in around 70% of cases), that most of true jin xuans will have the word “jin xuan” in their name and most of the flavored ones will hold the word “milk” or “milky”. Other name for milky oolong is nai xiang, which literary means “milky taste”.
Brewing
I like to experiment with brewing gao shan teas. They offer so many different tastes depending on brewing type. I suggest that you find your own favorite way. Generally, semi-styled rolled oolong teas are really good for brewing in a cup or regular western teapot. Remember, even though I have been trying to promote eastern style brewing, there is no right way to brew your tea. Among so many different ways, truth is somewhere in between. However, I do suggest that you start with shorter steeping times and to watch out the water temperature not to ruin your tea, and then proceed to longer times and experimenting with temperature and the amount of leaves. At least the tea won’t be ruined this way.
150ml gaiwan, water temperature of 90 degrees Celsius, 7 grams of tea, 20,30,40,50 seconds steepings. Absolutely all steepings result in a rounded, smooth and full texture. Color is pale yellow. After the third steeping, taste slowly fades into flowery, and stays in the fourth and fifth steeping as well. Color and texture are incredibly smooth and full. Taste is clean and very pronounced, creamy and buttery.
I do believe that Alishan Shizhuo Zhu-Lu high mountain oolong tea is one of the best unflavored jin xuan oolong teas that I have ever tried. I really do enjoy writing about tea shops that delighted me, and Teamountains is one of them. Absolutely all teas that I have tried from this tea vendor are above the average, and I am really happy that they were our tea donators for photo exhibition The Story of Tea. There are many tea shops that have exceptional teas, but usually not whole assortment is above the average. With Teamountains, you cannot go wrong. I already gave away few samples and reactions were indescribably good. Even though their prices are maybe a bit higher, their teas worth the money. I do believe this is one of the ultimate gao shan tea vendors out there.
