Gui Fei Oolong

The second tea on Dinosara and my gong fu menu this afternoon!
I was really interested in how wide the descriptions of this tea ranged. We ended up getting a completely different set of flavors from this than everyone else!
This gaiwan was completely packed, the whole sample went in. Short rinse was interrupted, and subsequently drank as the first-ish steep, most likely 6 seconds, gonig up 5 seconds for each steep after.
First steep: Pure, sweet artichoke hearts! So strongly artichoke!
Second steep: Artichoke with some additional overprint of a flavor that reminds me of thick, succulent flower petals/leaves.
Third steep: The smell from the gaiwan lid got all of the sudden more roasty. Like water that I steamed artichokes in that boiled a little too much. The smell was so super intense in the aroma cup that I actually coughed! The spiciness of some aromatic wood (not cedar, but close to it) has crept into the flavor. Truly interesting.
Fourth steep: Even spicier in flavor and aroma! The aroma cup had picked up a spicy floral scent with some vanilla notes after the artichoke fades. The tea has become slightly bitter.
Fifth steep: This steep reminds me of the overbrewed generic Jasmine tea they serve at asian restaurants. Bitter, but a jasmine note has definitely crept in.
Overall an enjoyable experience, if strange. I probably wouldn’t purchase this, but I very much enjoyed trying it.

Taking a quick break from my cupboard sip-through notes to write one for this tea, which I shared with Equusfell during our marathon gongfu party this afternoon. She came over and we had Verdant’s Early Spring TGY (2014), Tea Ave’s Ginger Lily and Magnolia Oolongs, and this one. Now I am a little sloshy in the belly.

Anyway, this was an interesting tea. I kind of “packed the pot” (well, the gaiwan) and used an entire sample pack in a medium-large gaiwan, and it was pretty intense. We agreed that the overarching flavor was that of artichokes. When it started it was fairly green and fresh, with a bit of sweetness. As steeps progressed it became more fruity, although not in an indentifiable way, and woody. It was kind of a spicy wood, like cedar but not quite. It also got more bitter and astringent as the steeps went on, which was somewhat unexpected. I am going to blame that on the somewhat excessive amount of leaves used. But then again it would not be considered excessive by some (based on various gongfu instructions). I was having a hard time placing the fruity/spicy notes at the time, but now I think it was quite reminicent of some of the black leafhopper teas I’ve had in the past. The taste of injured leaves, LOL. Anyway, an interesting tea to try and very different from all the others!

The most obvious characteristic of this tea is a really powerful cha qi. By the second sip, I was in a state that was both meditative and alert. The flavor itself was very pleasant: grassy with a hint of veggie, and a ton of umami. The finish is smooth, fading gradually into a state of well-being produced by the qi. This is not a tea to gulp down at work, but one to savor.

I’ve been very impressed with all Green Terrace teas. I was part of the original Steepster review group, but doubled down on Black Friday, ordering at least a sample of every one of their teas. They’ve all been great so far, though I’m saving some samples for later- whenever I get the urge to buy more tea, I open a few more of my untried teas to get me past the danger.

Backlog from a couple days ago (drinking Bluebird’s Christmas Cake now!)
Thanks again for the tea package, Beorhthraefn! This was one I’ve been wanting to try. I couldn’t wait, even though Green Terrace site seems to be down because they are adding the new harvest of teas… but what happens if I need to look up info on a tea? Hopefully my parameters are close to what I was supposed to do. I love the picture of the leaves… they look like a rainbow. My sample looks slightly more like a roasted oolong. I went with a teaspoon and a half of leaves.

Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // rinse // 1 min steep
This cup the flavor seems to be apricot, very sweet, a little peach, apple, butter. Kind of like a ti guan yin. Not at all like a charcoal oolong, though the leaves seem very much like it. Very unique and delicious. I’ve never tried a Gui Fei before.

Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 2 min steep
Now it seems like a savory oolong (whichever those types are). Salty, brothy. Not terrible, but I kind of wanted more of the first cup. I wonder if I oversteeped, but it doesn’t seem like the leaves are overdone? Maybe when I steep ANY oolong (or many of them anyway) at close to boiling it seems like a savory oolong? I should try steeping the same oolong with different parameters all in the same week. Oolongs are tricky.

Steep #3 // few min after boiling // 2 min
This one seems more like the first cup again.. I’m not sure how! The flavor seems to shift between different types of oolong — (ti guan yin, a savory, wen shan bao zhong, but never really a charcoal type though the leaves looked like it) —very interesting! If I knew the correct way to steep this one though, it might have been even better.

This is a really delightful oolong, I wasn’t expecting too much from it based on the smell of the dry leaf, which had some malt and roasty notes, and a touch of dry autumn leaf smell, but it’s actually quite complex.

There’s a strong baked bread note, with a bit of honey, which are flavours I’ve been really enjoying in tea lately. Also some floral jasmine and fruity notes, primarily apricot and plum. There’s a wee bit of tang on the finish that’s more vegetal than astringent. I steeped my first cup for 3.5 min.

Steeping the leaves a second time for 4.5min, I’m getting an amazing scent of orange blossoms, jasmine and baked bread from the leaves. The second cup wasn’t nearly as amazing as the first to drink – still bready but a lot of the nuances didn’t make it through to the second steep.

Still, really beautiful and enjoyable.

So I was supposed to get extra samples with my last order from Green Terrace Teas because they didn’t have the gongfu teapot available that I ordered. And then there weren’t any samples included with my order. Oops. So they sent a few samples later. This was one of them, in fact the only sample of their teas that was included that I hadn’t already had.

But I’m really glad they included it.

I’m having a lazy, blah kind of day. I have a bit of a sinus headache and I have this horrible knot in my neck/shoulder. So I’m not accomplishing much of anything. I’m even lazy in my brewing and did this in my ForLife mug western style.

It’s actually quite good this way.

This tea is pretty sweet without being over the top. I was expecting at least a touch roasty, but I didn’t get that at all. Not really floral, either. Sweet, maybe fruity.

A second infusion. I forget to set my timer. Oops. I’m really not sure how long this steeped for. At all. AT least five minutes, probably a lot longer, more like 10 to even 15.

It’s not ruined at all. Now it tastes kind of apple-y. Still sweet. Not bitter like I expected. I’m actually getting a little bit of the roasty now, too. I like this.

This is an interesting oolong, I don’t know that I’ve tasted anything quite like it. It smells like honey and apples and tastes quite the same, mixed with a bit of floral. I can’t put my finger on what exactly the floral flavor reminds me of, sort of a mix between honeysuckle and rose. It’s really light and lovely. I personally prefer darker heartier oolongs, but I still really enjoy this one. I think it’s a nice summer tea.
These are also some of the loveliest looking leaves I’ve ever seen. Just a beautiful rainbow of colors that unfurl into nice large leaves.

So far: Rinse, 35s, 35s, 45s, 60s…

My last sample from Green Terrace Teas.

Method: gongfu session with gaiwan. 5 second rinse. Steeping times: 5, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60.

The aroma of the dry leaf is like a freshly baked pie with an unusual mix of fruits, which I picked out in the following order: plums, Granny Smith apples, lemons, limes, and orange rinds. The wet leaf aroma is sweet with just a hint of tartness, and is dominated by plums and apples. It’s as if the leaves were asserting, “I’m a FRUIT.” Speaking of the leaves themselves, they’re surprisingly smaller, and their colors are interesting and lovely when they’re completely unrolled. Many of them are army green with rusted red patches.

By golly, what a liquor! The color of white grape juice, it is smooth, medium-bodied, bright, and energetic. I can taste every fruity note I got a whiff of and even a hint of lavender. And it’s so incredibly sweet that the sweetness clings for minutes and minutes after the last sip of each cup.

This tea is one of those that gets one thinking, “Is this really tea??” Wow, so sweet. Very fruit. I am happy to have saved this one for last. I’ve never had a Gui Fei oolong before let alone even heard of it, and although I have no other Gui Fei’s to compare this one to, I still think it’s amazing. I just finished the last infusion at this moment and I feel energized!! A final and a very big thank you to Green Terrace Teas!

This is the second bitten-leaf tea I tried from Green Terrace, and I loved the other, Eastern Beauty, rating it one of the best teas I’ve had. Not so much a fan of this one, though. Brewed aroma is a nice honeysuckle that somewhat carries through to the flavor, however I am finding the flavor to be somewhat thin. Plus it has a fair amount of astringency.

Writing this review in exchange for Green Terrace’s “Tea for Reviews” sample offer, so I regret not being able to write a more positive review but have to be straight with my fellow Steeps. I did also love the 3rd sample I tried, Li Shan Black, review forthcoming, so overall I am definitely glad to have had the sampling opportunity from Green Terrace.

This tea was my accompaniment to the world cup today.

I got 15 steeps out of it (35,25,35,45,55,65,90,80,95,125,180s, 5,6,8,10 min) after the rinse. I found it kind of interesting it started savoury with vegetal,wood, and almond meal among the fruit and floral notes and ended savoury, with fruit and floral notes that vied for dominance within the centre. My favourite steeps were the second set of three where apple, magnolia and honey were the more prominent notes. The other thing I noticed with this tea was a bit of a disconnect between the scent and the taste. With the scent promising warm apples with cinnamon and raisins, whereas the taste was not as sweet and often much more floral than expected. Anyways I did very much enjoy this tea. Below see the scent and taste notes I found. Thanks again Green Terrace Teas this was my first Gui Fei and I appreciate the chance to try it!

Scent: cream, soft creamy floral that opens up to Magnolia, apple flower, apple( which dominates most of the steeping)’ plum,raisins, cinnamon, raw almond, woody tone, light vegetal scent.

Taste: cream, soft creamy floral that opens up to Magnolia, apple flower, pluumeria, apple( which dominates most of the steeping)’ plum,raisins, cinnamon, raw almond, woody tone, artichoke, cooked broccoli stem, musk, celery leaf.