Tea Review: Formosa Alishan Oolong

Before any of the tea samples arrived, I spent some time on the auraTeas website and found it quite nicely laid out and easy to navigate. Searching for particular teas by type or by region is a pretty smooth process. There are a few errors in English throughout the site, but they’re not too distracting.

AuraTeas sent the tasting samples in great little aluminum tins that I really liked. But great packaging aside, the most important aspect of a tea review is the tea itself. I have already reviewed auraTeas’ interesting Formosa Aged Dongding Oolong in a previous post.

The Formosa Alishan Oolong was also quite nice prepared and served Gongfu style. I used a glass set so I could get the clearest idea of the character and taste of the tea. It was quite a pleasant medium oxidized oolong, not nearly as floral as some of the really green oolongs. It had a nice hay-like flavor, becoming more like alfalfa in the second and third infusions. By the third infusion the leaves were completely unfurled and the tea had a very bright note. This is a tea very well suited to the sunny and cold afternoons of fall.