Cultivar: Jinxuan Oolong

Harvested by hand: March 28th, 2024

Origin: RuiFeng, Ali Shan (1100 m)

Process: Light oxidized, rolled, dried.

1. View

The dry leaves are tightly rolled with few stems, and they come in light green hues. The brew has a very good transparency and light yellow color. The size of the open leaves and buds confirms that they come from a high elevation and the fresh green color indicates a very light oxidation.

2. Scents

The dry leaves have a very fine scent of spring flowers, freshly cut grass and sweet milk. The brew has nice scents of fresh flowers. It exudes the fresh spring mountain smells.

3. Taste

The taste is mellow and zesty. The sweetness is very good and there's no astringency or bitterness, even in competition testing mode (6 minutes brew). However, the zesty taste produces a light lingering taste on the palate. There's also a menthol freshness in the mouth after drinking a cup.

Brewing tip: This rolled Oolong needs not just boiling water to open up, it also requires a thorough preheating of the tea vessel (porcelain or gaiwan). Wait 1 minute or a little more for the first brew.

Conclusion: The Jinxuan cultivar was created in 1981 by Dr. Wu Zhen Duo. Its experimental code was 2027 and it was released as Taiwan Tea Experiment Station (TTES) No 12. The name Jinxuan is the first name of Dr. Wu's grandmother! He created this cultivar to help farmers increase their yields so that they could produce a good quality and fairly priced light oxidized Oolong. Its elegant fresh scents and lack of bitterness (when processed well!) makes this a great choice for an everyday mountain Oolong. It is the best value to start exploring the fresh world of High Mountain Oolongs. This year's weather returned to normal conditions. The combination of sufficient rain during the winter and a cool early spring have produced great conditions for a low oxidized, fresh high mountain Oolong. It's very different from last year's Jinxuan, which was harvested in early June, and has a higher oxidation level.