RyanG Send Message

This is an intensely fragrant tea, smelling like very dark chocolate and flowers. The taste is, for the most part, very different from the dry aroma: roasted, charcoal, and tobacco flavors mixed with savory grains, plus a mild sharpness at the back of my throat that reminds me of black pepper. Sometimes I get some fruity notes out of this tea, but not this time. The mouthfeel starts out thick and sticks to the back of my throat, but it gets thin fairly quickly and starts feeling more rough and roasty. Early infusions have a minty cooling sensation in the finish that I usually only get in green oolongs. It’s still present in later infusions, but it’s more subtle.

I have mixed feelings about this tea. I prefer oolongs that are roasted but don’t actually smell or taste very roasty, so I’m not a fan of how dominant the roast notes are here, and the mouthfeel thins out a little too quickly. I was also disappointed when I got this that nothing I did produced tea with a taste or aroma that compared to that of the dry leaves. However, I have had good sessions with this tea, when it tastes sweeter and more fruity. If you like roasty tasting oolongs, this is a good value, but it’s not really my kind of tea.