As readers of this blog already know, I had the great opportunity to host the owners of The Jade Leaf in my home recently. Emilio kindly left with me three great teas that I will review for you. Lets get started!

Red Jade No. 18

I first heard about this tea from Emilio when I first met him. He mentioned that the agricultural division of the Taiwanese government had created a new strain of tea that is a cross between an indigenous cultivar of tea and a Burmese Assam. This resulting new cultivar is No. 18 grown in Yu Chi, Nantou, Taiwan. When I received it I that evening I eagerly brewed it up to hear what the fuss was about. Turns out, it lives up to the hype and even more so.

The rinsed wet leaves have the aroma of mixed berries but after the first infusion the wet leaves suddenly take on a robustness, spicy, cinnamon like scent. But that smell would be a sign of later things to come, but the for now the first infusion was fruity as can be with notes of strawberry. Even now at just a fifteen second infusion there is a powerful and solid backbone to this tea, it gives it a smooth and yet still very full body. The initial aftertaste is sweet and later spiced coco. As we steep along the flavor become more intense, the backbone of this tea ever strong. At 30 seconds it has a sherry flavor that reminds me of the Scotch whiskey Glenlivet 15 year old. By a minute or so and beyond the only fruit left is some faint cherry and we enter into dark chocolate territory. This No. 18 stays strong for a long time.

I enthusiastically give this tea two thumbs up!

Si Ji Chun

Going into this tea I wish I hadn’t known the price. From the very basic level of marketing I actually understand price sets an expectation for the customer. If you are practically giving away a product you are signaling to a consumer that the product is of low value and its only a leap from there to a perception of low quality. As speciality tea consumers we face this issue, especially those of us who buy exclusively online. Price can be a big indicator of whether a particular tea is going to be worth your time. All that said, this Si Ji Chun is a very affordable tea, even as far as affordable teas go. But just as its written on the product page “Just because this tea comes at an exceptional price doesn’t mean its not great tea.” This is a very true statement because I thought this tea was great.

You can tell right away from the size of the dry leaves that this is a lower elevation tea, but once wet and soaked they are tender, soft, and verdant. Just after the rinse the aroma is strong and full. Floral, fruity, and a bit of graham cracker of all things rise out of the gaiwan in a strong and pleasant manner. This tea starts off quite sweet in the first steeping. Its sweetness comes in as fruity with a particular note of banana that would stay with us for several steepings to come. As the brewing went on the sweetness faded and the body becomes fuller and fuller and that banana is now accompanied by the buttery popcorn flavor of a well-fortified jade oolong. Four of five steepings in and the flavor does star to fade but a new note of honeydew melon emerges in the latter half of the session.

This is a great daily drinker that won’t last you as long as its high mountain brothers and sisters but its great all on its own. And, given the incredible price point it’s a tea well worth stocking up a few ounces.

I give it a thrifty thumb up!

Hong Shui Oolong

This is a spring 2015 tea but the Jade Leaf website doesn’t have any information about it so I went digging. Hong Shui oolong should have a higher oxidation level and a reddish color. Well I thought, this doesn’t’ really match the tea I’ve been given. So sadly I can’t give much information about this tea aside from what I’ve tasted. I used 6 grams of leaf with spring water in a 120 ml gaiwan like normal so I doubt it was a result of my brewing parameters.

The dry leaves gave off a really pleasant scent, sweet and inviting and almost grassy. That grassyness would be a great sign of things to come. Once wet the aroma is warm and floral, like a humid day in a botanical garden. The tea starts off mild and floral with a medium body and then gets stronger and grassier in middle infusions. As the floral notes went away they were replaced by spinach and bok choy with a strong full body. But to my surprise, around the fourth infusion the full strong grassy taste become smoother and sweeter. In a way this tea ends in a similar way to how it starts. On a graph of intensity of flavor and fullness of body it would make a classic bell curve.

This is a complex and interesting tea I’d look forward to trying again. I approve.

Shan Cha

This is a humble tea with a humble name. Shan Cha just literally means “mountain tea” It is a black tea that is indigenous to Taiwan, something I didn’t even know existed until recently. The dry leaves smelled like coco powder or dark chocolate, and after the rinse I was very surprised how malty and Assam like it smelled. The sweetness the cacao flavor gave this tea a chocolate milk chocolate profile in the beginning. After a few steeping I was a little stumped by this tea. It was strong but not too malty but lacked that honey or fruit notes of other black tea from Taiwan. The taste of Shan Cha is as unique as its genetics. Unfortunately this tea didn’t really last all that long and lacks the complexity of its foreign cousins.

If you are a tea collector who has to try every new tea, then give this one a go. But this isn’t the best black tea Taiwan has to offer.

I also had the chance to taste some other tea from The Jade Leaf but wasn’t able to take any notes to do a full review. I would recommend both of their tieguanyin and the caramel oolong. Also be sure to check out the amazing pottery on their website too.

That wraps us up for now. This one goes out to anyone in pain, everything is going to be fine.