Formosa Spring Dragon Oolong

From Upton,s Formosa Spring Dragon Oolong. This is an excellent example of a "good value" tea. A 500 gm bag,s price is $46.80. The price alone doesn't make it a good value but the tea,s quality along with the price makes this one of the best Ive found in a long time. Very similar to the Four Seasons Like Spring Oolong from JTEA international. (Ive done a review on that one before) But this Oolong beats the pants off of the Four Seasons. The aroma from the bag is pungent and fresh with a lot of depth. The little tea nuggets are tightly rolled and very uniform in size with beautiful shades of greens and yellows. I,m pretty sure this is the same cultivar as the Four Seasons Oolong. The origin of which being Tie Guan Yin and in this Spring Dragon it shows. Normally I,m not that fond of Tie Guan Yin,s but this is a variation on that tea and it,s a perfect balance of sweetness, very subtle spice and a wonderful Lilac aroma. The brewed tea has a nice body, slightly syrupy and sticky. And a deep golden yellow color that's as clear as a bell. At this price I would expect machine harvesting but the opened leaf appears to be mostly whole leaf sets. Durability is pretty good, about four good pots before it goes dull and lifeless. I,m not sure if Upton,s still has this one in stock but it,s a definite I,ll buy again tea. The Zhu Ni Yixing in the pictures capacity is about eight oz. so I used ten gms of leaf, 185 degree water with infusion time starting at 2 min. second infusion 2&1/2 min. This tea being on the green side I like to use cooler water than usual so as not to destroy the aroma. A really good, fresh, flavorful Oolong at a price that doesnt make me wince.