Huang Jin Gui oolong from Teaspring

For the first time since I got this latest batch in from TeaSpring, I had a challenge dialing in a tea today: Huang Jin Gui oolong.

I started off with 4.8 grams of leaf in a preheated yixing, boiling water, 1 minute, like most other teas I've had this week.

The scent was moderately thick and floral. The color was sort of a tinted amber with a hint of green. And there was more tea dust in the cup than other teas I've had lately.

The flavor was subtle and crept up on me over a few sips. A cool, refreshing mouth feel was immediately evident. There was a perfume-like quality to it, but not to outrageous excess.

It reminded me of a jade oolong. If I'd had to guess blind, I'd have tagged it as straight from Taiwan (and would've been mistaken, as it's from An Xi, Fujian Province).

After several infusions, I finally tried just reducing the steep time by about half in a cool pot, producing a more agreeable brew. Next time, I may try a more gong fu influenced approach with ultra-short steeps.

There's honestly nothing wrong with this tea. It's just not my personal style.

However, I think it may prove quite worthy with some tinkering, and is certainly a candidate for blending to lend some of its enjoyable qualities to some other tea.