Sticky Fig Oolong

Onto the next old holiday tea packet!

The dry leaf for this smelled incredibly plummy to me rather than figgy, but still a very welcome aroma. Perhaps a hint muscatel with a metallic/earthy aroma as well?

Steeped 5g in 500ml for 5 minutes (guess I was feeling the 5s this morning). The steeped tea is a deeply roasted/earthy aroma, a bit nutty, and I’m still smelling that hint of fruity plum/muscatel aroma. Inhaling deeply, I sort of do get a fig vibe from the combined roasted nuts and plum aroma. It’s a very pleasant aroma.

Mmm… is the base of this a Ruby Oolong? It reminds me of the one I’ve had before, with that sort of wine-like essense… a lovely deep roasted quality, lacking the smoke/charcoal notes that I dislike in roasted oolongs. I taste roasted nuts, with an earthly/mineral sort of backbone, that quickly turns fruity on the tongue — red wine, plum, figs, cherry compote.

Looooooooove this cup!

Thanks for the sample VariaTEA!

I made this in a teapot the first time and I really didn’t get much flavour.

Today I used the rest of the leaf (overleafed) to make a cup. The scent is reminding me of my Nann’s potpourri bowl. The flavour is fairly cinnamon-forward. There’s a spiciness at the back of my mouth and a cinnamon candy heart taste at the end of the sip. The oolong base is nice and mellow and pairs well with the flavouring.

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to try this one, but won’t need to purchase for my cupboard.

And this is a sipdown! Making room for B&B!

Sipdown (890)!

I saw that VariaTEA wrote a tasting note about this earlier in the week, and I realized that I had a small enough sample of it that I could make myself a mug and sneak in a sipdown so I took the oppertunity!

I don’t know that I necessarily got “fig” from the flavour – admittedly I think that’s a really hard flavour to capture, and I wasn’t really upset by the absence of it but it did make me really crave a tea with a deep fig flavour and now I feel like I have a “hole” in my stash because I don’t have a tea to fill the craving. That’s crazy though – I own nearly 900 teas, I do not need to be out there acquiring more just because I have a craving for figs now…

Even though this didn’t hit the mark for me in terms of fig flavour, it was still a very nice blend overall. I thought it came off as quite cozy, with a subtle warming cinnamon undertone to a more mineral and just slightly fruity main profile with this overall “baked good” kind of vibe to the flavour as well. I couldn’t really tell you exactly what it tasted like if I were to try and sum the flavour up as a whole, but it was still a nice sipdown.

Thanks VariaTEA for the reminder that this was in my stash!

Sipdown (289)

I was having cheese on fig and olive crackers so I decided to pull out this tea. Alas, I’m mostly getting fruity cinnamon and not much else.

I finished off the package of this today. I’m trying to get through some of my older 52Teas blends before the 12 days of tea begins again. I still have several of the packages from previous years unopened. I don’t drink caffeine often so unfortunately I can’t sipdown most of these anytime soon.

I’m having my last cup of this one in hottish (80ish deg. C water) with 800 mL water. I’ve been letting it steep as I drink it Grandpa style. I get some nice oolong notes (molasses, thick, floral in the after taste) and some dried fruit flavour. It is reminiscent of dried fig or raisin. The spices aren’t helping since I don’t associate figs (I eat them as a fresh summer fruit) with winter spices. Overall, the blend is alright. I would prefer no spices and more fig but I like the oolong choice. It verges on bitter after ~1 hour of steeping at low temperature but the oolong flavour works with dried fruit.

Not related to this tea really, but I just thought of a new fig tea for 52Teas to make. What about fig newton? Cakey pastry and graham cracker notes with the sweetness of dried figs. Or, maybe a blend called “Greek holiday” with freeze dried figs (Fresh fig taste) and freeze dried grapes. When I went to Greece I lived on grapes and figs. No regrets. You can buy figs by the dozen for a few euro in Greece (in contrast Canada grows quite a few figs but they cost over $1 each).

Ok, I have to admit, the first cup of this I underleafed AND understeeped. And it was awful. It was, as they say, like making love in a canoe, if you get my drift. So the next steep I intentionally overleafed and oversteeped to compensate. It is much better this way. Even without adding any sweetener, I’m getting a very nice flavor here. It’s a mild fig/raisin flavor with a black tea base. Adding a sweetener (for SCIENCE) and it brings out the fruitiness a bit more. The fig isn’t as strong as I would like it to be though. I was hoping for the full on newton with this, but instead, I get a mild, reserved fig flavor. It’s definitely not “bad” so to speak, but it isn’t living up to its full potential and that’s unfortunate.

I was elated to be able to try this tea! Thanks so much for sending some, Annie! I think I might have been one of the people to suggest a fig tea to Anne? I love the idea behind this one, however, not sure if it works for me in the resulting tea. I used slightly less than a teaspoon, as that is what the package suggested. I see some definite fig pieces which I appreciate! The oolong is roasted, dark and very tightly rolled. Normally I would think a roasted oolong might overpower these flavors, but the oolong used here isn’t too overpowering, just roasty enough. However, reading the description there are three types of oolongs here: Ruanzhi, Wuyi and Qingxin cultivars. The three must me very very similar! The cinnamon somehow didn’t impart much to the flavor — I’d probably rather it be a fig/honey type of flavor anyway. Sadly there wasn’t much fig or honey flavor either, so this mostly tasted like a better yet light roasted oolong. That’s good because I usually don’t like roasted oolong too much. But I can see figs working with this type of oolong best. A little disappointing, but I would love more fig experiments. I won’t say no to more fig teas, there just needs to be more fig in them!
Steep #1 // less than one teaspoon for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
2019 Sipdowns: 31 (This and David’s Jasmine Black Dragon Pearls)

Had this last night. 3 g in 12 oz, the first infusion was the recommended and the 2nd infusion much much much longer. Maybe an hour? :P

It’s good and the fig notes are there. Like the others, I’d love more fig in it. The oolong is nice because I don’t typically like over the floral type of oolongs where in this one it’s the fruity notes in the forefront and the floral in the background.

Swap Sample Sipdown! (30)

This sample came my way from Kawaii433. In fact, she sent me a lovely selection of 52teas blends! ❤

I do like the oolong base here – it’s a rolled oolong but it’s partially oxidized. It has a nice slightly roasty flavor with notes of dried fruit. In fact, it’s difficult to tell which fruit notes are coming from the oolong and which are coming from the fig. Either way, it’s a lovely combination.

I really love the light touch of cinnamon and honey here. They combine beautifully and add just a kiss of warming spice and nectar-like sweetness to the blend.

This is a good one. I’m not sure it’s quite great, I think I would prefer just a bit more figgy flavor. But definitely tasty!

Cinnamon floral ish oolong. that’s this tea for me earlier today. Will have to try it again but i fear this might not be a tea for me