Orange Blossom Oolong

Sipdown

I would randomly drink this from time to time, but I never remembered the sessions all too well. However, upon drinking this, I realized that it wasn’t an oolong that I favored a lot. It’s bitter and very temperamental. Bringing the water to 195F (my usual temperature for an oolong) made the blossoms come through a lot, but also made the brew extremely bitter. I turned the temperature down to 180F, which did help, but I had to get through a few steeps to get it to workout.

When the temperature was right, I noticed heavy citrus, floral, and fruity flavors. I brewed out 6-8 steeps before moving on to the next tea session. It’s unfortunate that this is so low on my tea rating scale, on the account that this is the first oolong I’ve disliked from MST.

One of the first things I did when I moved to California was buy an orange tree for the patio. I was taking a drawing class when I lived at that place in San Jose so I’d sit out on the patio in the sun getting intoxicated on orange blossoms and sketching them. When I moved to San Francisco, I gave the tree to my current housemate who lived in a climate more favorable for oranges than in the city. I think the freeze got it one year, so I was unable to reunite with the orange tree when I moved up here. That’s ok. We have a an out of control lemon bush and a young satsuma for me to bury my face in.

I bought this Spring 2017 Orange Blossom oolong on a big discount since it was past its prime. It’s held up ok. The orange blossom is a little sharp on the nose and I’m not getting any milkiness from the jin xuan cultivar but the tea is all sweet orange blossoms with a touch of bitterness and light vegetal flavors. Medium bodied and viscous. Looking forward to this year’s round of citrus-scented oolong!

I normally don’t like orange flavoring in tea but is this is a very nice blend as far as flavored teas go. While it does have a citrus kitchen cleaner like smell, the floral orange taste is subtle and natural. The tea starts off citrusy and slight sour before transitioning to an orange blossom honey like sweetness. It reminds me of an earl grey with its bergamot like flavor and dried orange flowers sprinkled throughout the tea leaves. I grandpa steeped this using slightly less than a gram of tea in an 8 oz glass.