I’m so so disappointed with this one.
When I heard about this tea in Red Blossom’s teashop, the idea of a matcha made from Lishan oolong material was so exciting to me. They even grind it in house! I kinda wish I had asked more questions like, do you remove the stems to simulate tencha, like matcha? How often is the oolong ground? Maybe it was the marketing that got to me, because this tea powder is a terrible stand in for matcha, as it was advertised.
I was very careful to make this to the package suggestions, making sure that the water temp and ratio was just right. I sifted the powder and was hit with a very strong floral notes, just like you’d think a Taiwanese oolong would have. I slowly added water and then let my whisk do it’s frothy thing. The resulting brew was grainy and bitter as hell, with the strong floral at the forefront making way for the grassiness and bitter bite underneath. I tried my best, but I couldn’t even finish the cup. Now I sort of wish I had made it into a latte, perhaps I could have finished it then…
I think i remember trying some powdered oolongs from The Tea Kings eons back… come to think of it, it was weird then too XD
Flavors: Ash, Biting, Bitter, Cut Grass, Gardenias
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I didn’t know this existed! But I can understand your frustration, when a matcha is bad the concentrated nature of koicha or usucha amplifies all the bad notes making it hard to finish. I’ll stick to my current sources.
Ah, sad. :(
Oh no! After an aroma like you describe, that is truly disappointing.
Yeah :/ it was fun to explore a different form of a Lishan oolong, but I think it’s sort of misleading to label it as matcha or even an alternative of matcha. Whole leaf is so much more tasty heh
I once had a very floral Chinese matcha from Matcha Outlet that tasted a lot like Taiwanese high mountain oolong. Unfortunately it’s no longer available.
I do like the idea of an Lishan tea powder though. Could just be that this vendor’s execution of it wasn’t so good.
I didn’t know this existed! But I can understand your frustration, when a matcha is bad the concentrated nature of koicha or usucha amplifies all the bad notes making it hard to finish. I’ll stick to my current sources.
Ah, sad. :(
Oh no! After an aroma like you describe, that is truly disappointing.
Yeah :/ it was fun to explore a different form of a Lishan oolong, but I think it’s sort of misleading to label it as matcha or even an alternative of matcha. Whole leaf is so much more tasty heh
I once had a very floral Chinese matcha from Matcha Outlet that tasted a lot like Taiwanese high mountain oolong. Unfortunately it’s no longer available.
I do like the idea of an Lishan tea powder though. Could just be that this vendor’s execution of it wasn’t so good.