Tung Ting Vietnam

Mild sweetness fills the mouth. Floral taste near end of sip.

Bought the sample of this at Davidstea for 50 cents the other day, since oolongs are my new gimmick, and my journey into “straight tea territory” is hesitant – one small step at a time. Seemed like a good way to try this one.

So far, the only other straight oolong I’ve had is also from Davidstea, the Quangzhou Milk Oolong, which I lovvvvvved. I’m hoping someone will take a hint and get me a DT gift card to make my shite 30th bday a little less shite. I digress.

Prep: 92 degrees for five min.

In comparison to the milk oolong, I like this less. It IS good, I just don’t think I would buy it, I’m just not THERE yet. It’s more vegetal, but way less creamy and not nearly as buttery as the others I have tried (flavored ones included), which are the predominant characteristics i love most about oolongs thus far.

Honestly the more I sip, the more I think that if Popeye asked me for a tea recommendation I’d give him this, because I feel like I’m drinking spinach water :/

I am looking forward to trying more straight oolongs (especially milk oolongs) in the future though! If I was forced to drink this as a straight tea I wouldn’t complain, I just don’t ever need to own it….I prefer my spinach steamed with a load of butter, salt and pepper.

I like that DT offers these little samples to try!

Warm, toasty, rocky, buttery. Last cup of this, brewed at two minutes. Often times it gets a bit astringent, but I managed to avoid that this time around, paying a little closer attention to my parameters for this last cup.

The smell is thick and sweet, but unlike the other tasters, I didn’t get much of that in the taste. Although it does feel thick in the mouth. Buttery and earthy, toasty but not smoky, rocky.

1 tbsp for about 16 ounces

Very green oolong with a floral taste to it. Not bad, but I really don’t like flower scented teas, and though this one isn’t flower scented, the floral note kept bugging me a little.

I really love this oolong! It smells very sweet but it doesn’t taste sweet. It’s very light and easy to drink!

This was an interesting tea. I know Vietnam gets loads of grief about their tea, but you can really find some gems among them. Its not really a complex oolong, but does have a nice soft vegetal buttery taste. Think of an oolong you would get in a decent dim sum restaurant.

If I had a bone to pick with this tea is calling it Tung Ting. Quit comparing this tea to Taiwan and let it stand on its own. No need to cast it in the shadow of Taiwan.

So I went to David’s Tea by myself after classes on thurs Jan, 24. I decided that I should try out some oolong tea. I’ve had two samples before, the skinny and the vanilla oolong, but I wanted to try a stragiht tea to get it’s flavour. So the nice DT person helping me let me smell this one, the milk oolong and another straight oolong that I cannot remember the name of.

This tea won for the evening and I decided to get it in my new bodum travel mug. I really love this mug becuase you can see the tea while it is steeping, which is very entertaining on a bus ride home, and while you are waiting for the water to cool. For all the the steeps, the leaves were left in the whole time, as it was in a travel mug. I was pretty impressed with this tea.

First Steep: Judging from the colour, I assumed that this was more of a green oolong, as it was light green and the leaves EXPLODED when touching hot water. What I mean is they went from these tiny ball-like shapes to fully open leaves, taking up a lot of space in the travel mug. It was a beautiful sight to see. The taste was almost sweet, with kind of a woodsy/earthy-like. There was also a warm, nutty felling and taste to it. The aroma of the tea was roasted, or toasty. There is a lingering flavour that holds onto you and leaves you wanting another sip. Leaving in the leaves did make the last bits of this steep a little bitter, so I didn’t drink it all. I still think that it is a good tea to drink on the go.

Second Steep: The leaves expanded even more with this steep. Its fun to see the bodum press compress the leaves. The colour is similar to the first steep, yet perhaps a little bit darker. There was some concentrated water from the first steep. The flavour is also very similar to the first steeping, only is it slightly changed. Fuller body, it is a very smooth tea. The flavour still lingers, but not as much as the first steep.

Third Steep: Fully flavoured, light taste. Losing body. lighter colour, and the scent of the tea is getting faint.

Fourth Steep: Almost all of the colour is gone so I judged this to be the final steep. The taste in this steep is very muted, due to multiple steepings, but I still quite liked it. The taste in this steep has become sweeter and more embracing. Thee taste of this final steep was also very light.

Wow. This is beautiful. So, In my mug it smells like gingerbread. Which is amazing. And it tastes sweet, but earthy and oolong-like. I don’t even know how to describe it. Well, now i’ve tried all Davids Tea straight oolongs, and I think that this may overtake the Guangzhou Milk Oolong (which I need to get more of). This tea is wonderful. Just drink it.

Trying another one of the new straight teas from DAVIDsTEA – Tung Ting Vietnam today. I also used this tea to try out my new Gung Fu teapot for the first time. So many new experiences!

After three infusions, I’m loving this tea. I was smelling the leaves after brewing and I think the best way to describe it – is just very intense oolong flavour and scent. I picked up a bit of pine on the first infusion, and a really nice sweetness on the second, but the overall experience is one of a really well flavoured oolong that doesn’t have any extraneous notes. It’s just oolong all the way.

Tung Ting, to be honest I think this is an awesome name for a tea, not sure why but it just rolls off your tongue. I mean it’s not quite as awesome as Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong (Tie Kwan Yin), but it’s close! Tung Ting Vietnam is straight Oolong # 2 from DAVIDsTEA and the following will be my accounts of my experience while drinking it.

I just pulled the infuser out of my perfect cup and I have to say “HOLY CRAP THE LEAVES ARE GINORMOUS!” I mean I have been drinking a bunch of oolongs lately so the unfurling leaves are not a new sight but this tea is full leaves rolled into balls smaller than peas, very artsy!

The initial taste on this one is slightly sweet and slightly piney but not an aggressive flavor at all, I would say it is perfectly balanced against the natural oolong flavor. The after taste is quiet brief and mild, I can’t describe the exact flavor but it doesn’t linger and it isn’t powerful.

Overall for a straight tea I don’t mind it all that much, it has a palatable flavor a good caffeine kick and is relatively impossible to mess up steeping! This might actually be a straight oolong that I keep in the cupboard on a regular basis.