Pomegranate Da Hong Pao

I decided to give this tea another shot with fresh leaves and a drastically increased infusion time. There is still little to no recognizable pomegranate flavor. It’s a tasty oolong, but I’d prefer the added fruit flavoring to be punched up about 10 notches. If anyone wants to try it, I’ve got plenty left for swaps.

I accidentally received this in my order, and was allowed to keep it – BONUS!!! :) Thank you Frank!

From past experience, I’ve been a little disappointed with pomegranate flavored teas, so this would not have been one that I would’ve selected for myself, but I’m still excited to try it. It is tea after all ;)

I find the history of this Da Hong Pao oolong fascinating and reading it while drinking the tea enhanced my enjoyment. I just googled it and read a few links here and there. I’m sure there are plenty of inaccuracies on these sites, but it’s intriguing nonetheless. Here’s a quick wiki to give the gist (although I see now – Franks description also does a good job): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Hong_Pao

For each steep I used a water temperature that was immediately drinkable and I increased the steep time with each successive steep

The first steep comes across as a light tasting oolong and the pomegranate taste is also light and complimentary. The tea and flavor both have a gentle presence, rather than the in your face black flavored teas that I’ve been craving recently.

The second steep is more medium light in the taste of the oolong with a light yet balanced pomegranate flavor.

The third steep continues to gain strength with an increased steeping duration. I’d say that the depth of the tea is still medium-light, but is leaning more towards the medium than the second steep with some minor astringency.

I could probably steep this again a time or two, but I feel like having something different now.

I think I’d enjoy this tea more when I’m in the mood for a tea with a medium-light depth of flavor, but lately those days seem to be few and far between. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time though – gotta love that there is such a huge variety of teas to match the many tea moods.

Another one from the travelling tea box A. Another one i’m not impressed with. While i don’t mind the tea base on this one, I am not getting any sort of pomegranate flavour to this cup of tea. So it’s not a BAD tea, but it’s not a pomegranate tea.

I killed it, it’s dead!

:( WAY over steeped this, I’m getting nothing but tobacco flavours. I was really hoping for a delicious Pom flavoured oolong. But I went & ruined it.

I’m having a super stressful & anxiety filled day. So I needed delicious. But this is most likely my fault.

Backlog:

A nice combination of flavors, although I can’t say that this is my favorite VIT from 52Teas. I like the way the pomegranate notes work with the Da Hong Pao, although Da Hong Pao has never really been a favorite of mine when it comes to an Oolong. I’d rather have an Ali Shan, thanks!

But even though it’s not my favorite (I guess they can’t all be my favorite, right?) it’s still an enjoyable tea and one I’m glad I tried. I do like the way the smoky notes meld with the pomegranate … a very interesting combination.

Not bad.

I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this tea yet, because I’ve had it at least three times. Drinking it now, though, it’s clear that I must have been holding off because I wanted to experiment and see if I could brew it any better. There’s a sort of reddish color to it but no pomegranate flavor to be found (well, maybe a floral-fruity sort of…something…in the aftertaste), and the base is forgettable. I’ve tried this at nearly every temperature now, and while it’s decent I just can’t get it to shine. It’s not something I would reach for often if I had a large stock, but luckily it’s almost gone.

On another note, I was disappointed to hear that 52teas is going to be shifting their focus to their iced line and discontinuing their other products. I’m not sure whether it’s been announced before—I’ve been a little out of the loop lately—but I got an email about it yesterday and it put a damper on my night. At least I have a few things left from them to enjoy before they disappear.

Thanks to Sil for passing on a bit of this one. I’m actually pleasantly surprised – the roasty, nutty, slighty smoky (?) oolong base is quite nice here, and the addition of the pomegranate adds a nice, full fruitiness to it, making for a very enjoyable cup. I think I’d actually quite enjoy the base tea by itself, but the extra fruit flavouring adds a great extra dimension. I don’t think I’d necessarily identify it as pomegranate, but age may have diminished the flavour somewhat, so it’s tough to pinpoint the reason for that. Either way, I’m quite enjoying the cup, and glad that I have a scant cup’s worth left to have another day (not too distantly in the future, hopefully). However, I believe that my enjoyment of this cup is most likely more due to the base tea than anything, so it’s tough to justify the “VIT” price tag. However, now I know to scout out more da hong paos!

I made this iced, as I find I can usually taste fruit flavors more than when tea is hot. Still, no pomegranate flavor to be found. Tasty tea, but not for what it is.