Oolberry

Sipdown

I don’t know why I bought this tea. Overall, I thought it was just okay. The flavor/scent overwhelms the tea.
195F, 3 min: berry, hint of oolong, very one note.

147/365

Possibly I’ve left this one too long, but I’m not really getting anything in the way of berry. Either that, or I maybe haven’t used enough leaf – it’s hard to judge, because there are loads of very long leaf stems. It’s impossible to measure with a spoon! It was amusing to watch it try and climb out of my infuser as it unfurled, though. Very spider-like!

Mostly, I get a sweet floral flavour – most reminiscent of honeysuckle and orchid. There’s a bit of wet rock/mineral, as I’d expect from a green oolong, and a sort of nectar-like background note. I suppose if I concentrate hard I could say there’s a whisper of blueberry. It becomes a little more apparent as it cools, but it’s very nebulous and really no more than a hint.

I’d have liked a bit more in the way of berry flavour, and possibly I need to tweak things a bit to find it. Still, delicious.

This tea is so good! A nice rolled oolong with an excellent berry flavor that doesn’t taste fake at all!

GCTTB V1

I was really happy to see that enough for one cup/mug of this tea had made it to me; it’s been on my wishlist for a while but when I placed my most recent LP order it was sold out. Since I’m pretty far on the list for this box I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to try it…

The leaf for this one looks so pretty! Not getting much from the dry aroma, but as it’s infusing I can definitely smell some sweeter floral and fruity notes emerging from the cup.

First thing I taste with the initial sips is blueberry: I’m actually kind of surprised just how strong the blueberry flavour is. I’ve also tried LP’s Blueberry Sandstorm Genmaicha and enjoyed it, but the blueberry in that was subtle in comparison to this. Once the berry subsides, there’s some nice floral orchid notes as well as a floral flavour that’s almost like… gardenias? There’s also some faint peachyness from the base tea, presumably. It’s a nice, delicate flavour with the exception of the more bright blueberry top notes. I’m finding it really calming and enjoyable overall.

I’m very happy to have been able to get a taste of this one.

GCTTB
This is a very stemy oolong, making it a bit hard to measure with the twigs hanging over the side of the spoon like little spider legs, lol. The smell of the tea is beautifully floral, like fresh lilacs. The floral notes are also in the flavour but they’re mixed with a light blueberry flavour, and the tea finishes with a slight tanginess.

The second steep @ 4 min didn’t have much in the way of berry flavour though the oolong base itself was still full and flavourful. Those tangy ends note were more developped into something that might be pineapple or maybe citrus.

GCTTB5 backlog:

This one is a very very twiggy oolong with some fruit flavouring added. I’m having a hard time isolating the flavours on this one, but I’m getting a similar sort of blackberry/blackcurrant note as I found in the Blackberry Sage Keemun above. I can also taste the base tea underneath, which I think is a lightly roasted Tie Guan Yin. As the tea cools, the fruit flavour fades and the base comes out more.

GCTTB

I’m trying to figure out how to add some teas to the box without overflowing it. I pulled this one out even though i’m not generally a fan of oolongs because of how it looked. What an interestingly fun tea :) While there are floral notes to this green oolong, there’s also a juicy fruit flavour going on that i quite like. thanks for sharing LP!

I think the other reviews gave good descriptions of this tea, so I’ll be brief.

What makes a good flavored tea is a good base. The good flavored teas that I have had have good bases, and the bad ones have bad base teas. Oolberry has a nice, floral oolong base and a nice light flavoring.

I store this one in the bamboo fundraising container. Good combination. I’m curious what the oolong is in this one. It tastes similar to the Golden Lilly by BTT that I got from a stash tea sale from LP.

GCTTB5

Thanks again to Liquid Proust for sending these for our box!

I also really enjoyed this one. There are a lot of stems in my scoop, but it didn’t detract from the taste of the tea.

The oolong base is fairly green but not overly vegetal. I am getting honeysuckle floral notes in aroma and taste. The berry is very nice. It doesn’t overwhelm the base but isn’t completely in the background either which is nice.

The resteep at 4 minutes is probably even smoother than the first infusion.

Excellent news everyone, I got a new pillow. Ok, really I cant think of much to say today, nothing exciting happened and I have been lazy, so I shall cut to the chase and talk about tea.

Today we are taking a look at another offering from Liquid Proust Teas, Oolberry, a lightly berry flavored Oolong. The Oolong looks like some sort of bizarre alien creature, all tentacles and green, or at least it does if you squint, these stems are really entertaining. Their coloring adds an interesting contrast to the nuclear green color of the Oolong leaves, it is a visual treat! Sniffing the leaves, the aroma is primarily the Oolong with notes of buttery sweetness, orchids, honeysuckle nectar, and a touch of hyacinth, but along side the very heady floral notes is a hint of raspberries and blueberries. The berry note is ghostlike and distant, and if I didn’t know this was a flavored Oolong I would think my nose is playing tricks on me.

I could not decide how I wanted to brew this tea, so I flipped a coin, very professional! Heads meant in my steeping apparatus and it was heads it landed on, so into the apparatus the leaves went for a nice western style steeping. The leaves unfurled quite prettily in the water, it was great fun to watch. The aroma of the leaves is creamy and sweet, notes of orchid, honeysuckle, and hyacinth dominate with undertones of spinach and butter, at the finish there is a tiny hint of berries. The liquid smells like a blend of hyacinths, orchids, spinach, and raspberries. It is quite sweet and heady.

Time to taste the pretty golden liquid, the mouthfeel is smooth and the taste is pleasantly mellow. It starts with heady orchid and hyacinth, this floral burst moves to buttery green notes of bok choy and spinach, with a touch of cooked celery and chestnuts. The finish has a nice little burst of raspberries and blueberries, like a very distant note, tasting more in the nose than the mouth, and it lingers a bit into the aftertaste. This is definitely a very light flavoring, usually when I see blends listed as ‘light’ it is usually not very true, this time it is, the base tea shines and the berry notes are very faint, almost like drinking an Oolong after eating berries and relying on the aftertaste to add to the tea. I had another steep and did not notice much change, the berry taste was lighter and the base tea was a touch greener, it was a refreshing tea and I find myself tempted to cold steep it!

Blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/01/liquid-proust-teas-oolberry-tea-review.html