Geow Yong Tea Hong

Finished this all in one sitting, it’s definitely tasty.

Good honeysuckle notes and a smooth body. I’ll consider more Jin Xuan for a relaxed Oolong experience.

I took the last few steeping’s from last night’s session and collected them, mixed with orange blossom honey for a smooth chilled afternoon treat. Yum!

Gongfu style, one steam and rinse. (steeped for a minute before rinsing allowing leaves to open up.)

Infusion 1 – 60 Seconds
The bouquet of both brewed liquor and leaves is bright and floral, with some vegetal undertones. When I had my wife smell this blind, she picked up citrus and vanilla notes. I’m getting more sweet flowers, but I can see the vanilla aspect too. The scent is strong and relaxing with 9g/150mL. One thing I noticed is that this tea is subtle enough that water source has a huge effect on the flavor profile. My first session did not have filtered water (but clean tap water) and I can tell after two sessions with fresh spring and filtered waters.

The flavor is smooth and sweet, with a little pleasant astringency making the body thicker. This feels like a good balance of leaf to water. I’m pleased with the ratio and flavor. :)

Infusion 2 – 75 Seconds
The sweetness has faded and I’m getting a nice grassy vegetal body with a little clear sweetness on the finish. The taste lingers on your tongue in a pleasant way.

Infusion 3 – 120 Seconds
The flavor has faded, it is now predominantly water with a little bit of vegetal and astringent body. I wouldn’t even bother with a 4th steeping of this tea.

The flavor is really pleasant, but I do wish the leaves themselves had more legs. The first time I brewed this I did a quick wash and didn’t steam the leaves open. I’ll try that in the next session. Not sure if I can buy this again as I only found it at one retailer in a sampler set.

I went back to this with a higher leaf to water ratio. Perhaps it is that Jin Xuan is more subtle than Tie Guan Yin but my basis found this offering a bit lacking until I overleafed and oversteeped it. Of course, this is the 2017 harvest and I’m writing this in 2022. Though, I have tasted older Oolongs and they offered more flavor.

Once the leaves come out of their shell, they offer a savory vegetal note in flavor profile and smell. I’m going for one more session for a full review.

I’ve tried this once so far, and wasn’t impressed. I’ll have to report back later.

It’s been a wild dynamic ride thus far with this tea. I’m still trying to figure out how to coax the best out of it. It’s in there somewhere.

Higher temperatures dull the fruit flavours and bring out the bitterness. So I played around with temperatures, but didn’t actually record the degrees.

Wet leaf reminds me a little of some Sri Lankan teas with their tomato and floral nature.
Infused liquor though is quite different. Medium amber with dates, honey, wood and malt which comes and goes.
Depending on the steep, the malt comes through on the palate as does a sweet woody element. Other times, I get the minty cinnamon spice that I was told I should expect, but this is fleeting.

I’m still figuring this out, but enjoying doing so.
Key take away for now: use a lower temperature. try around 80C and adjust accordingly

Update 10 Nov. I tried again today and this time with a thermometer. I can confirm that 80C is a good temperature for the infusion. A slightly longer steep at this temperature does not bring out the bitterness, but more of the heady aromas, especially sandalwood.