Oolong Needles 2021

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Artichoke, Lilac, Mushrooms, Spinach, Umami, Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Caramelized Sugar, Dried Fruit, Dry Leaves, Floral, Grain, Hay, Honey, Perfume, Raisins, Roasted, Stonefruit, Sweet, Toasty, Vegetal
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 7 oz / 200 ml

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2 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Sipdown 37 – 2024 Didd not expect how reddish brown this steep would be, considering how green the dry leaf is. This smells so unique – spinachy, but also really floral (like lilac). Super umami...” Read full tasting note
    72
  • “Sipdown! (65 | 339) So I had a batch of Oolong Needles from Obubu previously, but I remember that one mostly just looking and tasting like a sencha, and this one definitely does not! It steeps up...” Read full tasting note

From Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms

Medium-bodied with a rounded texture, our Oolong Needle has a fragrant aroma with a complex taste. With a rich taste, slight bitterness, and a deeper flavour it is left unroasted, one would be able to taste the fresh acidity in every cup. The production of Oolong Needle tea, involves light steaming, rolling, and drying. Compared to traditional Oolong tea, it is uniquely rolled into a needle-shape in the same manner as Japanese Sencha.

Taste: Balanced
Body: Deep-Medium
Texture: Round
Length: Long
Harvest: May
Tea Cultivar: Yabukita
Origin: Wazuka
Cultivation: Unshaded
Processing: Lightly Steamed, Rolled, Dried

About Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms View company

It started with a single cup of tea. As the legend goes, our president Akihiro Kita, or Akky-san, visited Wazuka, Kyoto one fateful day. At the time, Akky-san was still a college student in search for life's calling. After trying the region's famous Ujicha (literally meaning tea from the Uji district), he immediately fell in love and his passion for green tea was born. He had finally found what he was looking for in that one simple cup of tea. After fifteen years of learning to master the art of growing tea from tea farmers in Wazuka, Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms was born and as they say, the rest is history. So what's an Obubu? Obubu is the Kyoto slang for tea. Here in the international department we call ourselves Obubu Tea. That's "Tea Tea" for the bilinguals. We love tea so much, we just had to have it twice in our name. Now Obubu means more than just tea to us. It means, family, friends, passion and the place we call home. More than just tea. Though the roots of Obubu stem from tea, it has become more than that over the years. Obubu is an agricultural social venture, operating with three (1) bring quality Japanese tea to the world (2) contribute to the local and global community through tea (3) revitalize interest in tea and agriculture through education.

2 Tasting Notes

72
1809 tasting notes

Sipdown 37 – 2024

Didd not expect how reddish brown this steep would be, considering how green the dry leaf is. This smells so unique – spinachy, but also really floral (like lilac). Super umami broth. Like a veggie stew.

Flavors: Artichoke, Lilac, Mushrooms, Spinach, Umami

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4010 tasting notes

Sipdown! (65 | 339)

So I had a batch of Oolong Needles from Obubu previously, but I remember that one mostly just looking and tasting like a sencha, and this one definitely does not! It steeps up a dark reddish gold color.

It definitely tastes like an oxidized oolong. It reminds me of a dancong because of its very prominent and aromatic floral notes (I could be crazy, but when I think of a floral oxidized oolong, dancong comes to mind). There’s a lovely toastiness to it as well, although it doesn’t claim to be roasted at all. On some sips I get sweet honeyed fruit notes that remind me of bai hao as well? Along with brown sugar or caramel and bits of hay and grains. At the end of the sip, I taste a bit of that Japanese sencha umami character hiding in the background, which is such an interesting combination with the other (mostly sweet) flavors.

An interesting tea for sure. It would never be my favorite because those floral notes are just a bit too strong for me, but I enjoyed trying it!

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Brown Sugar, Burnt Sugar, Caramel, Caramelized Sugar, Dried Fruit, Dry Leaves, Floral, Grain, Hay, Honey, Perfume, Raisins, Roasted, Stonefruit, Sweet, Toasty, Umami, Vegetal

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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