Emei Gao Shan OoLong

We bought this tea a month ago from one of the tea sellers in Baguan Village. We remembered that it was an Oolong and that was all. Last night we walked to buy some more tea for Sunee to take to Thailand and we asked the name of this tea. It is Emei Gao Shan Oolang or "High Mountain Wulong." This morning I thought I would make some and see what we thought.


This tea is dark and tightly curled. It's aroma is not bad but not very impressive. From a distance, the dried leaves look almost black.


A closer look reveals that the tea is a dark green with an occasional lighter leaf. The best way to describe it is to say "tight and compressed individual leaves." Is there a special name for this?



Here is another view of the tea up close.



The tea, after about a minute of steeping, comes out a pretty good dark orange. It looks pretty good, but IMHO, it sucks. It tastes exactly like Lipton tea bags and most of the tea one buys in Thailand at the local grocery store.

The taste is not complex but in your face (or in your mouth). It has no sweet or bitter or any other sensation that we have come to expect from great teas. I cannot imagine ever being satisfied with such a lousy tea. No wonder Emei is not famous for its oolong and this stuff is relative cheap compared to the greens we buy. I bet they use the worst of the leaves, leftovers maybe, to make this stuff. We only bought a little to give it a try and we tried it. Anyone interested in some tea for free? I eventually gave this tea away to my fellow teacher, Tom, who uses it with milk and sugar.