Shi Lan Oolong

      20 years ago, this is where i spent most of my hard earned money, Sendik's grocery run by the Balistreri brothers. Money I earned from working cutting lawns, painting houses, frying fish, and making burgers. It was right around the corner from my college apartment, and I bicycled past it twice a day en route to the university and past it again on my to work. I really had no business even affording myself the luxury of the most expensive grocer in town. But as I assess my list of expenses currently...some things never change.

     

This is the shop I got to know the taste of a Nectarine. Every day for three years, I purchased a nectarine, a pint of fresh OJ, a chocolate banana muffin made at 'La Boulangerie', and a couple slices of roast beef. I cant say whether this was a compulsive act of convenience, or more so an absolute guarantee  of being delivered satisfaction. I tend to think it was the later.

      It seemed that no matter the time of year, nectarines were always ripening in the store window.  Peaches can most often be mealy, but with nectarines, you get a much better shot at a decent product even well out of season. The skins too are packed with an assertive strength that I don't find in peaches. So its safe to say I know this flavor well. And when a taste is familiar, you tend to say 'Hey, that tastes like' such and such.  But for most, they might look to find assimilation in the more popular peach.

   All this to try and pinpoint a definitive flavor I recognize in Shi Lan oolong from the Tea Gallery.  I'm not so great at finding words to describe complex oolongs. But when something hits you and you know it, I safely say nectarine skins. 

     Aside from this, big mineral presence. Think a metallic taste in your mouth. This tea undergoes a substantial metamorphosis in its subsequent steeping (and it will handle quite a few). It gets heavier and richer around the fourth cup, loosing some of the fruity notes.