Te' House of Tea

I’ve cupped this tea over the last three nights and mornings, because I wanted to try to be accurate in describing my tea experience. Since this is a multi-steep tea, my evenings brewing this one often took me into the next morning.

Monday night when I smelled this tea, the leaves smelled of fruits, yet had a roasty/nutty aroma. The wet leaf aroma intensified these qualities! The first two steeps at 45 seconds were the best, and what I got was a yellow cup color, with a fruity sweetness I can only describe as peach-like. This flavor did stay on my palate, but I also got that roasy/nutty quality. There is also a creamy or buttery quality, which made this even more smooth and delicious. My other three steeps consisted of sweetness, but slowly fading qualities of the first two cups. My one mistake was not using hotter water and a longer steep for the fourth cup, leaving the fifth cup rather flat. :-//

Others talked about a milky quality, but I didn’t pick up on any of that in the aromas or flavors. Also there was a fuzzy feeling on the back of my tongue after swallowing, which was OK, but then I noticed a slight taste I can only describe as a powdery finish. This was present after every cup and I didn’t like it. It is not horrible, but it does influence my slightly lower rating.

The next night, I smelled what I thought could be that milky quality (in the dry leaf aroma) I missed the night before. Little to no fruity tones were present, but that nutty/ roasty quality was still there. The info below is for the first two steeps. It’s funny because, in the cup and on my palate I was getting less fruits, and more of the roasty, milky quality. I went with it—I let the experience take me where it would. I found it interesting. How could I not sense this milky quality the night before? I don’t know, but it was definitely there. The smooth, creaminess was also there. This milk like quality was more than just the buttery aspect of the tea, because I could smell it in the dry leaf aromas! A really creamy, delicious tea! :)) That is, until I noticed that same powdery finish (albeit slight), from the night before. :-//

Last night I added slightly more leaf and got more roasty, milky aromas. The first two cups were filled with peach like fruitiness, and I also got more roasty/ nutty goodness. The buttery smoothness was also there!! I got more of the milky quality in the dry and wet leaf aromas and not in the cup or on my palate. Third cup was steeped at 1.5 min and near boiling. Flavors and aromas were still present but fading slightly. My fourth cup (5 min, boiling), was still very tasty, smooth and sweet. Each cup exhibited that slight, powdery aftertaste :-//.

Overall, a very good Oolong, and if it weren’t for that odd powdery aftertaste, this tea would rate a little higher. I can’t recommend it as a Milk Oolong, because I have no other milk Oolong to compare it to. Was that powder note due to artificial infusion to get that milk quality?? I do not know. I will try another milk Oolong that proclaims to be a naturally infused milk Oolong. :))

Cupped: Monday-Thursday, January 16-19, 2012.

Reviewed: Thursday, January 19, 2012.

Wow! Another extraordinary Formosa Silk Oolong! This one may be even better than I’m rating it, though, due to my own fault. I neglected to open the box this came in, so for the last two weeks, I’ve had it in my break down pile for recycling. It came packaged wrapped in tissue, but not in a moisture-proof bag or container. It has been outside in Michigan’s freezing weather, so perhaps the cold preserved it? Who knows?

At any rate, this tea didn’t smell powerfully of anything. A bit buttery, perhaps, but kind of muted. Once brewed, I could literally smell the creaminess of the tea and tasting it… sublime! It is creamy and smooth and delicious. It has a nuttiness to it, too, which I adore. Every mouthful was the same, consistent silkiness. It’s a beautiful tea and I promise never to forget it in the box again!!

My current favorite morning tea. It is just sweet enough that I do not need to honey it, even though the black flavor is pretty robust.

Thanks Soccermom for sending this sample my way a few months ago when I was just beginning to drink tea. I am finally finishing off this delicious sample. I’m still mesmerized watching the tiny balls unfurl into huge spinach sized leaves. I don’t know how they roll them so small, but it is fun to watch if you have a glass teapot or ingenuTEA.

The taste is deliciously silky and milky and sweet. This is a great oolong. Milk Oolong from ATR is still my favorite oolong I have come across. This would be in the top five for sure. Very tasty!

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 1 zarafina cup filtered
Tool: Zarafina oolong-loose-medium
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: I forgot to sniff I was too excited!
Steeped Tea Smell: buttered vegetables
Flavor: SILK, silky smooth vegetal, sweet
Body: Light
Aftertaste: fuzzy, it makes my tongue fuzzy
Liquor: translucent green-yellow

SoccorMom was kind enough to send me some of this, one of her favorites.

I think this is the first oolong I’ve blogged, at least my labels didn’t have oolong in there yet.

Wow! the leave started out squished little things and they unfurled and became HUGE.

Although I am really enjoying the silken texture, I don’t see myself craving this daily. I can see buying this from time to time for a nice smooth sweet tea with no bitterness.

So not a favorite, but a very enjoyable mug of morning tea (boo morning!) so SoccorMom won’t have to fight me for the supply ;)

Post-Steep Additives: none

After hearing of a family friend who lost 80lbs drinking Puerh I decided to give hot tea’s a try. You see I am from Texas and we like our iced tea’s here we don’t drink very much hot tea. So I decided that I would try some teas and looked up local tea shops well there was Teavana (of course) and I tried and liked some of theirs but then I decided to explore more “exotic” type teas and that’s when it happened all of a sudden I fell head over heels for this Formosa oolong! It is so delicious sometimes I feel like I couldn’t possibly enjoying something so much and not be overdoing it with the calories but I am. The first hot tea that I can say I truly wouldn’t want to live without! It tastes like an ordinary oolong then all of a sudden a milky almost, but not quite a hint of caramel hits you!