Cape Jasmine Certified Organic Taiwan Oolong

Sorted through some of my Taiwan Sourcing teas and grabbed a few to start working on sipping down. I have quite a few jasmine teas right now, so decided to dive into this one.

The absolute best jasmine flavor- sweet and floral without being perfumey or artificial. This tastes fresh and wonderful. Love the oolong base over the standard green base, as it allows the beautiful jasmine flavor to shine a bit more. Absolutely no bitterness- just smooth, clean jasmine.

The jasmine flavor also holds up against multiple gongfu steepings (up to 4 so far).

(for the 2019 version)
Prominent jasmine flavor, as you’d hope. Nice sweetness. Noticeable astringency but not unpleasant. Oolong makes a good base for jasmine teas as they don’t tend to develop the aggressive sharpness you can get with green teas. This one’s nearly impossible to oversteep. I made a big pot (grandpa style, set and forget) for the family at Christmas last year and everyone enjoyed it.
Still, while this jasmine oolong is on average one of the better jasmine teas I’ve had, it doesn’t seem to reach the same heights as some green jasmine teas when you’ve managed to brew them just right. In my personal experience that’s a very rare occurence though (and maybe I just haven’t found the right parameters for this one yet!).

If you’re looking for a “convenient” jasmine tea, one where you don’t have to fuss too much about brewing temperature and steep times, this might be a good option. It’s pretty well priced too.

(I did notice the jasmine aroma fading over the time I finished my 50g sample so good, dry, airtight storage seems to be extra important — or finish all of it while it’s still fresh, of course.)

Today I’m sipping on another Taiwan Sourcing oolong, blended with jasmine this time. Before I even brewed this tea I was taken aback by the epic bag appeal. The scent is otherworldly, it smells more like jasmine candy than tea!

For this session I used a 180ml gaiwan with 8 grams of tea in 90°C water.
A quick wash was followed by a 10 second steep, working up to 1 minute brews.

I’m a huge jasmine fan and pretty much instantly fell in love with this blend after the first brew. I think oolong is a much better base to use jasmine with than green tea, it makes the flavour more balanced and richer. Aside from the floral notes I’m also getting a bit of citrus and slightly roasted/nutty umami. The liquor is smooth and almost creamy, and yet again more thin than other oolongs I’ve had. It makes me salivate and there is very light astringency to the after taste (I find this pleasant though). I love everything about this and intend to keep it in my regular rotation.

It’s obvious this tea is clean and true with very high quality jasmine flowers. It’s night and day compared with jasmine scented teas. This is the first time I’ve ordered from Taiwan and I have to say I’m extremely impressed with the quality. I think its obvious they grow their teas with love and passion. I’m going to keep buying from there instead of China (excluding pu-erh, of course).

This is the only Jasmine tea I have liked so far, some Jasmines taste artificial but not this one.

It is sweet and floral balanced perfectly with the Oolong.

I simply loved this jasmine tea…Deep and rich beautiful aromas that are not too strong. It is satisfying and soft with a rather happy effect.

Brewing Gong Fu in my little tea vessel from South Korea. This little bugger brings out the florals and creamy notes which makes me happy. It’s also getting some nectar. So good.