Organic Ti Kuan Yin Oolong Tea

Oh… so lovely! I do love a good Oolong, and this one is good! It has done a remarkable job at tempering my palate after eating a very spicy Caribbean jerk chicken too. (extra bonus points since I don’t need to break out the kefir)

This is one that I plan on spending a little more time with before I write a full-length review. I hadn’t originally planned on it, but, after tasting it, I find that I just wish to enjoy it right now, and not write so much. Good Oolongs tend to have that effect on me.

And this is a good Oolong! (Did I mention that already?)

Thanks LiberTEAs for this one! This is a great tasting Ti Kuan Yin! Clean and smooth – sweet and juicy – lightweight and relaxing! Lovely!

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 500ml at 195°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: a little over 2 minutes
Served: Hot
Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: vegetal
Steeped Tea Smell: lightly vegetal, sweet
Flavor: vegetal
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet
Liquor: translucent green-yellow
smooth but not silky. Good, but not exceptional.

Resteep:
500ml at 195°F for 3 minutes

still smooth and delicious

Rating: 3/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2013/03/arbor-teas-company-loose-leaf-oolong.html

I’m not a fan of black tea, so I usually stick to the greens and whites. Oolongs are on the edge for me… often too close to black tea to appeal to me. But when I like an oolong, oh do I love it. And I love Arbor Teas Ti Kuan Yin Oolong. One of my favorites.

This tea is nice and subtle. Even if you let it steep a long time, the color remains relatively light, and the flavor maintains a delicate quality. It has a subtle earthy quality that I find pleasant and relaxing. Everything about this tea helps me slow down and relax to savor it.

Highly recommended!

perfectly brewed, perfectly natural. This tea wakes me up and soothes my nerves in the morning.

Very similar to Monkey Picked Oolong from Teavana. I just recently made the switch to arbor teas b/c it’s based in my home state and they organic fair trade tea so I thought I’d support them! Light floral aroma and taste, but not too much. I only bought a sample, and I will definitely plan on getting more.

Tried this one again with a slightly different approach – shorter time brew time, more tea, slightly hotter. Results were disappointing. Brine is the predominant note in this configuration until the cup cooled, giving way to floral and slightly mineral notes. Go long on brew time with this one to draw out it’s best performance.

This tea is amazing. It’s got this wonderful, almost buttery mouthfeel that is incredibly smooth. The flavor is somewhere between green and black – it’s got the lightness of the green without the vegetal notes, and the boldness of a black tea. The only down side is that it is very unforgiving with variations in water temp and time, and quantity of tea leaves used.

Organic. Decent aroma, but fairly disappointing taste. It does have the same overall effect but is much more subtle.