Tillerman Tea Lishan Gaoshan Oolong

In medieval times I might have been a scribe. I always carry a notebook and keep a separate tea notepad in my kitchen. Many of my tasting notes become the tea reviews you read on the blog.

It's back to back Lishan reviews this week! Check out yesterday's review of the Song Yi Tea Lishan Oolong. (I've also reviewed the Song Yi Tea Roast Lishan Oolong.) Today's tea is Tillerman Tea Lishan Goashan Oolong harvested in Winter 2017. I purposefully drank these teas back to back not to formally compare but I enjoyed the Song Yi Lishan so much that I wanted to drink another Lishan.

Like Song Yi Tea, Tillerman Tea also provides detailed sourcing information for its teas. Here's the provenance information for this winter gaoshan:

• Grown in Lishan (this is a given)
• Altitude of 2400 meters
• Qing Xin cultivar
• 15% oxidation and unroasted

TILLERMAN TEA LISHAN GOASHAN OOLONG

The big leaves of this tea were emeralad and forest green with visible stems. The leaves were sweet and floral smelling with scents of grain.

I followed the Western-style parameters provided by Tillerman Tea:

• 8 ounces
• 3-5 grams or 1 teaspoon (I used 4 grams)
• 212F
• 60s

I steeped the leaves three times for 60s, 90s, and 5 minutes. The steam off the first infusion was immediately creamy and grainy while the liquor tasted of flowers, sweet vegtables, and grains. The tail note was buttery. The first cup was super floral with a good body. The second infusion was bright yellow in color with strong floral notes. It also had a nice, dry tail note. The final cup was still floral but was accompanied by a pleasant taste of plant stems.

THE TAKEAWAY

You might be able to tell that I lost track of time between the second and third infusion. Regardless, that long third steep produced a good cup of tea. This Tillerman Lishan is very good. Right now I am drinking a cold-steeped session of this tea. It is full and floral. You can't go wrong preparing this Lishan Goashan Oolong hot or cold. However, the chilled version has a longer aftertaste.