Thanks to Derk and White Antlers for this big sample. I generally don’t get much out of Wuyi oolongs because they’re too roasted for me, but I’m hoping this floral one will be different. I steeped around 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml porcelain teapot at 195F for 7, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The dry aroma is of perfumey dried flowers, honey, herbs, roast, and faint stonefruit. The first steep has lots of honey, heady orchid and violet florals, a noticeable roast, minerals, and wood. It comes off as a little soapy and has a nice, silky texture. The second steep presents even headier flowers, peach, minerals, herbs, honey, straw, wood, and roast, with a long floral/peachy/grassy aftertaste. It’s slightly drying in the mouth. In the next couple steeps, the aroma indeed reminds me of clover, with its over-the-top sweetness and florality. The fruit leans more toward lychee. On the fifth and sixth steeps, I get bee pollen, baked bread, and more grassy/green notes. Unfortunately, that perfumey thing is still going on. The intense red clover vibe continues to an amazing degree through the next four steeps, and then becomes attenuated into baked bread, honey, minerals, grass, and wood as the session ends.
The name of this tea is spot on, and I loved the feeling of being outside in a clover patch on a sunny summer afternoon. Another reviewer compared this tea to a cross between a Wuyi oolong and a Dancong, and I agree. However, it also has some of the flaws of these tea types, as it can at times be soapy, perfumey, too roasted, and drying. However, I’m willing to put up with these issues to enjoy such a unique tea.
Flavors: Bread, Drying, Floral, Grass, Green, Herbaceous, Honey, Lychee, Mineral, Orchid, Peach, Perfume, Roasted, Soap, Straw, Violet, Wood
