I am vary wary when it comes to aged ginseng oolong, for I have never had a good experience. I prefer fresh ginseng oolong. I remember most of my sessions of aged ginseng oolong ending swiftly and with quite a lot of tea dumping. This tea makes its way to me, and I pushed myself to keep an open mind. I opened the package and was greeted with a heavy medicinal scent. The aroma was sharp and pungent with dried herbs and lemon peel in the background. I warmed up my gaiwan and placed some inside. The scent deepened and spread out with heavy oak and barley tones. A direct hot wood scent wafted up along with a very slight sweetness behind it, which I suspected to be the ginseng. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The taste began as heavily roasted and mouth numbing. A woody flavor lifted up from the palette and finished with a sweet aftertaste. I could hint at a hops taste. The second sip yielded a well done aftertaste of sweet wood and roasted sugar. The brew yielded some great energy that lasted for good while. The cuppa was smooth yet odd. This is my best experience with aged ginseng tea, but it still was a bit weird. I noticed that ginseng oolong does not age very well at all, which is why the tea is so uncommon; however, this brew aged nicely and was quite good. I was impressed.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BG9s7tPzGVB/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en
Flavors: Burnt Sugar, Herbaceous, Lemon, Medicinal, Oats, Roasted Barley, Sweet
