Heritage Honey Oolong

I bought Heritage Honey Oolong from Mountain Tea 8 years ago, sipped it once or twice, and have kept it stored in a sealed jelly jar since then. And it STILL tastes great! Today, I brewed 2.5g in 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 4 min (after a 10s rinse), which allowed the huge leaves to unfurl nicely in the steel infusion basket. The aroma is intoxicating and the flavor powerfully divine! Floral and so very sweet, with strong tropical fruity flavors on the top of my tongue. I can’t call out a single fruit, so let’s call it ambrosia salad! The long, long-lasting aftertaste lingered, keeping a smile on my metaphorical mug. A second long steeping (like 10 minutes because I got distracted) was equally enjoyable. If one were to better limit the infusions to a couple minutes each, I’m sure this would have gone for 4-5 great rounds, and possibly more if starting with cooler water. I don’t remember why this got pushed to the back of my cupboard — surely not for lack of merit! Checking the Mountain Tea website I am shocked to find it now on clearance at a sweet price meaning my full session would now cost a quarter for the leaf, and I spent more just for the spring water! Mountain Tea does not transparently track lot numbers or production years for it, but I see prior reviewers from a few yr ago also mentioning clearance events on this tea, so they must just be making room for the next shipment. Here’s an opportunity for you! I hope you like it as much as I do. I’m rating it as a 95 only because of my prejudice favoring black teas.

Deep floral-nectar sweet with a creamy taste and a light tickle of astringency, but with a nice bit of spice to it, something reminiscent of cinnamon and other slightly spicy tingles to the underside. I liked this one better than the other tea I’ve tried from them (the brusquely labeled “Jade Oolong” they also had on clearance awhile back when I first found them), this has nice slight brown tint of roast or oxidation to the edges of it.

Benefits from a little more leaf as those spiced notes really stand out when pushed with hotter water, more leaf, and faster steeps. I enjoyed this much more than flower bomb oolongs and would consider ordering some more if I didn’t still have about 2-3 oz of this left. I’m a little sad that I’ve been neglecting this one for so long, much of the flavor has faded since I first tried it. I’ll experiment with roasting it for a good while in the slow cooker and see what results, I think.

To think this tea is available on clearance is just crazy. Ridiculous price.

Taste: Sweet cream, slight tang of a really good fatty butter. Some floral in the flavor. Just delicious as an everyday go to Oolong. Highly recommend for anyone wanting to try Oolong. Like most Oolongs, leaves are forgiving too. You can steep hot (200) or warm (185). I find hotter worked better on this tea especially as infusions went on.

Smell: Initial infusions are very floral. My nose isn’t that great yet, but I’d say gardenia/orchid like. Later infusions turn more to heavy cream scent.