High Mountain Oolong (Organic)

Continuing with straight teas. Oolong!

Too lazy to brew this sequentially tonight.

The scent is mellow and creamy. I’m really not getting any floral notes, which is ok – I didn’t want that tonight particularly, I just wanted some good oolong aftertaste :P

The flavour is pretty good – mellow and creamy with an oolong aftertaste. Really not floral at all. Wish I had tried this one before making up your packet, Missy/Dylan! But I have no energy to undo it and swap things out now, nor do I have enough sample to send out, given that I only bought 10g.

Although this is good, as Uniquity mentioned in her tasting note, it’s hard for an untrained palate to distinguish this from DavidsTea’s tieguanyin. So I probably won’t get this one again, although I do have enough for a side by side comparison when I am feeling ambitious (although I just put the rest of my tieguanyin in to cold-steep, so I’ll have to refill that one first).

Anyways, this one’s hitting the spot tonight. :)

ETA: Got another two good infusions out of these leaves. I’ll have to watch the infusion time though, because the second infusion, for two minutes, was verging on astringent, and I would really prefer to have none if possible (and I believe it’s so).

A couple days late, but who enjoyed the Dexter premiere? So weird to watch it during the summer when it’s so hot, eh? I particularly appreciated Deb’s password.

Today was my first day in the lab so I spent some time combing over recordings in order to find useable data. Nothing so far.

That said, when I got home I wanted something clean and fresh. No flavours, no fancy tricks, just classic oolong, and this seemed like the perfect fit.

The dry leaf is a mossy green with a super delicate floral scent. The first steep is about half floral and half vegetal in flavour. It’s quite straightforward.

Second steep is even more vegetal, actually borderline bitter. Any hint of floralness have been kicked to the curb and now a slightly buttery note is creeping in. But it’s barely, barely there. The vegetal note is still owning this tea.

Third steep is my favourite. It’s the most mellow, the vegetal, slightly bitter edge isn’t as harsh, and that buttery quality is a little more present than before.

The fourth steep, which is the last, is like a watered down version of the third steep. This is why I decided to stop here, since from here it’s losing any spark it has.

Would I buy more? No, but I’m glad I tried it.

Mmmm… this is good oolong!

I’m sad because it’s a sipdown and I’ve enjoyed this one a lot. On the other hand, I can’t be sad for a long time because I have more oolong coming… Milk oolong from DT and organic iron goddess from Teavivre. There will be more oolong sipping in the near future! :D

This tea is delicious and full of flavour. It’s got a bold taste and fragrant, flowery aroma that I love so much. As I continue my sip, a delicate well balanced astringency signals it’s presence.

I wish I had more…. darn.

I got back to this one today, and still don’t know if I want to rate it. Do I even like oolongs? I don’t know if I have enough experience to know, and I’m not at all convinced after drinking this.

Brewed this gong fu style today, starting at 45 seconds and increasing by 30 seconds. I got up to three infusions and gave up – partially because I had to stop filling my bladder with tea a reasonable amount of time before I had to go to work, and partially because this was still just bloody boring at three infusions. What the heck is it supposed to taste like? Because it tastes like water glanced coyly at a sexy piece of tea. There’s almost something there, but – nope, not happening. Tea-scented water.

Maybe I’ll try it Western style? I mean, I have 50g of the stuff, I hope I find a way to like it. It’s not that I dislike it, mind, it’s just…pretty meh.

Thanks Mercuryhime for the sample!

Had I known this was so expensive I might have saved it for another day. Instead I drank the first steep over a few hours while taking care of the baby, and am just now savouring the second steep while I sit down and relax.

The first steep was very smooth and grassy and oolongy, and it made me wonder why I don’t drink regular oolongs more often. They’re so good!

This second steep is much richer with lots of vegetal notes. It’s really enjoyable, but I think the fanciness is lost on me as I don’t really see how this is that much better than my Iron Goddess Oolong (Tie Guan Yin). Maybe I will set the rest of this sample aside and try it again in a few more months to see I can distinguish more.

I had picked up 2 oz of this tea during their promo of buy a certain amount and get 2oz (50g) or any tea free! I did a bit of research beforehand and decided on getting this, the most expensive tea they had at the time, for my free tea. The girl working there actually tried to sell me on the Ti Kuan Yin instead, which is significantly cheaper. But to be honest, after smelling both of them, I still liked the way this one smelled more. It smelled full of creamy smooth vegetal goodness. Since I do have a ton of other oolongs, it has taken me a long time to get to trying this.

After measuring the leaves into my filter and setting the kettle to boil, I promptly knocked over a glass and had it shatter into a gajillion pieces. By the time the mess of cleaned up, the water was boiled and cooling so it might have a bit cooler than ideal, but I just went ahead and poured the water over the leaves anyway.

1st steep:
Lightly flavored and lightly colored. It’s smooth with a brothy slightly creamy mouthfeel that I often get from green Taiwanese oolongs. It’s a bit vegetal and the after taste is a bit umami. I can’t say much else for it. Not too much going on here in terms of flavor right now.

Steep 2:
I’m always amazed at how much green oolongs expand. This brew is a bit darker in color. Smells a bit floral and vegetal. Nice. Hmmm…not getting much out of this tea either. Just a nice smooth green Taiwanese oolong here. High mountain? Sure, but nothing really all that special. Good quality but not unique. Am I using too much water? The wet leaves smell like cooked bok choi, but the tea itself…hmm… just not that interesting. I’m gonna stick the leaves back in and see what happens after another minute.

Ok, so I let the tea go for another minute. It’s bordering on bitter now so that was not the best idea. :) I’m getting that bok choi smell I get from the leaves before, but now it’s in my tea. I like.

Ultimately, this tea seems mediocre to me. An ok green Taiwanese High Mountain oolong with all the typical characteristics. Flavor is a bit too light even for me, and I tend to like my tea lighter than most people. I’ve got tons of this tea left so if anyone wants this, let me know! It’s not bad, but I have lots of other oolongs that I like better.

I know David’s is trying to get into more straight teas at the moment. Some of them sound quite yummy and unique. I wonder if they’d let me trade this in for some of the new better sounding ones. hehe

Continuing the oolong trying extravaganza, I splurged on some of this. Not very much of it, mind you, as it is $10 for 25 g. That makes it the single most expensive tea I have purchased to date. Anywho, on to the tea. Heated the water with my variable temp kettle (so I finally have exact temps!) and steeped it in my gaiwan. To the untrained palate (IE – mine) this is almost indistinguishable from DT’s Tie Kwan Yin.

1st steep (1 minute at 90 degrees) – Mild and unassuming, slight flavour, no bitterness, not very vegetal. Light floral note in there, lightly sweet. A non-steep, really.

2nd steep (2 minutes at 90 degrees) – Much better, there is more flavour here. Slightly vegetal/floral, still no bitterness.

3rd steep (2 minutes at 90 degrees) – Similar to the second, almost has a milkiness (is this what others think of as buttery?) but I might be reaching for that. The beau says the third steep is the best and “clearly tastes different than the other ones.” There is an elusive hint of something underneath it all, almost like a mild spice (sweet cinnamon?)

4th Steep (3 minutes at 90 degrees) – This is a fairly thin steep. I get a hint of the nice sweetish flavour I picked up on in the last steep, but it is quite watery. Not much depth or richness, this will be my last steep. I still maintain I got a hint of spice like cinnamon but the beau compares it to rosemary.

I think I might prefer darker oolongs to greener ones (not surprising, as I don’t like green tea but love black tea) but this is a nice one to have tried. I like that it never got bitter, but I prefer stronger flavoured teas. Again, this is certainly an enjoyable tea but one I won’t re-purchase. Though it was a beautiful tea, with the large leaves completely unfurling after two steeps, there just wasn’t enough there for me. For my tastes, the cheapo Tie Kwan Yin is a better purchase in terms of quality/taste to cost.

What an amazing oolong.

Update: Resteep still amazing.

Today was my day to re-point the bricks on the front steps. Not a fun job, and I was saving this tea to be my reward.

1st steep (60 sec): Powerful, sweet grassy aroma with veggie overtones. Good start! The initial taste as surprisingly weak after the strong nose. It grew in strength a bit as it cooled, but never got all that strong. The flavor is similar to a green tea: heavy on the veggies, which is not my favorite style of oolong. Nevertheless, it is well made and interesting.

2nd steep (60 sec): Similar to first steep. A bit less veggie, with a bit of straw appearing, but also a touch of bitterness in the finish. 3rd steep (~2 min): More grass, less veggie, but also a bit more bitter.

This wasn’t a bad tea, but the veggie style just isn’t for me. Not a very good reward for the brickwork. Better luck tomorrow

Many thanks to Courtney for the sample.

I think trying Verdant’s oolongs have made me spoiled. This is an ok oolong, but it is definitely not as complex as Verdant’s. It had the typical creamy, smooth oolong taste, but it was comparatively bland. There were no fruity or floral or spicy notes. It was just ok.