How could I resist another bug-bitten green oolong, especially when the name suggested it’d be fruity? Of course, this made it into my cart in 2017. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 25, 20, 25, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 240 seconds.
The wet leaf aroma is of mandarin oranges and flowers. The first steep has notes of flowers (maybe lilac or osmanthus), cream, grass, and a hint of orange, but nowhere near what appears in the aroma. Steep two gets slightly more astringent, but also creamier and more floral, in a lilac/sweet pea way that weirdly reminds me of baozhong. The orange is still really subtle and mixes with grass in the aftertaste. The next few rounds highlight the orange a bit more before acquiring spinach and vegetal flavours around the sixth steep.
At its best, this tea tastes like a floral mandarin orange creamsicle, but I don’t think I have the brewing parameters quite right. I might raise the temperature in my final session to see if it brings out the orange.
Flavors: Blood Orange, Citrus, Creamy, Floral, Freshly Cut Grass, Osmanthus, Spinach, Vegetal
Bug bitten sounds so appropriate with your username, hehehe.
That’s completely deliberate! I chose my name because I love bug-bitten teas so much. :)