Superfine Taiwan Qing Xiang Dong Ding Oolong Tea

Hmmm, I could have sworn I wrote a tasting note about my first session with this tea. But it’s not on the page. My earlier sessions of it were light and floral, without much roasting. This one was different, but maybe I’m remembering wrong? It’s hard to say now.

Sipdown, 117. Hmmmm. This one is way more roasty than the previous two packages I had of this. Miss-packaged, perhaps? However, I can’t complain because this cup is DELICIOUS. Wow, yum. It is sweet and almost bready. Reminds me a bit of a slightly sweet challah. Could this actually be the Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding that I loved so much just the other day in cold brew? Maybe I am falling in love with lightly roasted oolongs, haha.

I drank 36oz of this yesterday – and will probably continue on with it later today. I was a bit surprised when I opened the packet. I’ve had a dong ding before and had my mind set on what I was about to experience. Except this is Qing Xiang and I did not know that means it is not roasted. The charcoal scent I was expecting was not there (and I am ok with that – I actually prefer the green oolongs.

I prepared it with boiling water and a two minute steep. There is a lot of leaf. I mean A LOT. The brew aroma is my next surprise. It is floral and spicy. Spicy? My second surprise.

I made the mistake of reading Teavivre’s description at this point. A mistake because I will never know if I would have made the osmanthus association on my own. It is definitely there once I know it but I was leaning more towards cinnamon and possibly ginger. I read Stoo’s review and notice he also made a cinnamon connection. Of course he had to run to the store and buy cookies afterwards. :)

I am liking this one a lot. It is floral, spicy, sweet, and has a long lasting aftertaste.

It’s the perfect day to relax with some green oolong. I love this lightly floral and summer flower flavor. It tastes like youthful innocence. Definitely is one of the loveliest green oolongs I’ve tasted. Then again, I have pounds of mediocre green oolong I’ve been trying to get through at work so…
Anyway, this tea somehow fills my soul and makes me feel like the world is a good place.
I’m having a hard time describing this tea objectively. :/
It’s just good, okay?!
Peace out. :)

Backlog:

Sweet and lush with a very satisfying, soft and silky mouthfeel. Exotic floral notes and hints of fruit. I can taste notes of peach as well as a creamy note. A slight grassy tone in the background.

Another must try from Teavivre!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/03/superfine-taiwan-qing-xiang-dong-ding-oolong-tea-teavivre/

This is one of five samples of Taiwanese oolongs provided to me for review by Teavivre. Green oolongs aren’t really in my repertoire, but I am carefully following the guidelines to see if brewing them to Teavivre’s specs makes a difference. I am using 7 grams of tea in a 3 ounce gaiwan with 95 degree water. The dry leaves are curled and twisted, a muted jade green and smelling slightly floral and reminiscent of hay.

After a quick rinse, the first steep is 30 seconds and smells like sweet corn. TV dinner corn, according to the beau. It is a light yellow liquor, with a mild floral taste, that sweetness is still very strong but I get a note of spice like a hint of cinnamon or ginger in a sweet molasses cookie. The beau says he doesn’t get much taste but I find this tastier than I expected. There is no bitterness at all and the flavour that is there is very strong and echoes after the sip.

Steep 2 at 30 seconds is a bolder yellow with similar aromas to the first. The flavour is stronger here, greener. I think of peaches at first, and then more of boiled vegetables after the sip. This is closer to astringent but not quite there.

The leaves are HUGE now and are nearly spilling out of my gaiwan. Getting water in there is about to become a challenge. The leaves are mostly whole, with about 75% or more the leaf intact on the few that were broken. There are some sticks in there which don’t need to be but they don’t take away from the flavour.

Steep 3 at 35 seconds makes my fingers hurt! I spilled a bit on the second steep and now the heat of the gaiwan is stinging more quickly. This is tea making for the tough! :) Again I have a warm yellow liquor that smells of sweet corn, tasting less sweet than before and more of boiled greens than anything else. Again, we are getting closer to astringency. I would prefer to have a bit of that floral sweetness back, maybe in the next steep?

Side note: I do like the smaller three ounce gaiwan Teavivre sent with the teas as it allows me to drink the tea quickly and not have to re-boil the kettle constantly. I also poured the liquor off into another cup and used it as a sharing pitcher so the beau and I had the same flavours in each cup. AND I watered my tea pet. I feel like a rockstar.

4th steep at 45 seconds has finally developed some astringency. It feels like my tongue and throat are dry and I don’t like that. I seem to be losing most of the flavour here. Now the sweetness is gone and so is that nice spice note. I just get boiled greens and a dry mouth. Definitely not a fan of this steep. The beau likes this steep the best so far, saying it’s “like a high quality green but without that grassy spinachy taste.” He also says it’s very smooth. Are we even drinking the same tea?

Supper is ready now, so steeps 5+ will have to wait. I don’t think I would drink this for pleasure after it’s gone simply because I prefer darker roastier teas but it does seem to be good quality. If you are into green or unroasted oolongs, check this one out. I might have gone awry in my steeping to make that astringency come out, though I was quite careful with time and temp.

EDIT to add: The beau gives this an 80 or an 85. His favourite steep was the fourth where I loved the first with the spice note and sweet floral. Different strokes for different folks. I think he is taking the rest of the sample to work. :) Thanks Teavivre!

Thank you to Angel at Teavivre for this lovely sample!
This smells deliciously green and fresh.
Taste is definitely a green oolong, very floral with vegetal buttery notes. This tastes very fresh. I get notes somewhere of spring water. Mouthfeel is smooth

First of all, thank you Teavivre for another round of samples. I don’t have that much experience with Taiwanese oolongs, so these samples will be a bit of a learning expereince for me.

First steep – Quick wash with hot water, followed by a 10 second steep. The result is pleasant, the color reminiscent of a fine Tieguanyin. My roommate commented that the aroma was really floral, but I’m a bit under the weather and can’t confirm that. The mouth-feel is buttery smooth, and the flavor of the tea is a nice subdued floral flavor. The really nice thing about this tea is that despite the brightness of the flavors it still retains a great deal of complexity, with some vegetable flavors sneaking in as the flavor develops. As the tea transitions to the aftertaste, it sweetens (again, much like a Tieguanyin) to round off the experience and end on a high note. This is definitely a tea to drink slowly and savor.

Second Steep – I lost track of time, I had sudden inspiration for my AI homework, and rushed out type it out before I forgot. As such, the tea was a bit over steeped, and was actually a bit unpleasant when hot. There was a lot of astringency because it was over steeped, but after the tea cooled down the sweet aftertaste was able to assert itself, making the tea a bit like a Gyrokuro. Other than that, it’s a bit more floral this time, but the flavors are …jumbled, for lack of a better term. Honestly, given how badly I botched the steep, it’s amazing that it turned out this well.

Thank you Angel and TeaVivre for this sample! I’m no expert on oolong teas but, thanks to TeaVivre, I’m getting plenty of exposure to them!

When I opened the sample package, the aroma that burst forth was like cinnamon. Another TeaVivre oolong that I sampled recently smelled like snickerdoodles and this one had a similar odor.

I steeped the dark green rolled tea buds for 2 minutes at 212 degrees as instructed on the package. The brewed color was pale gold. The aroma was again like cinnamon…or snickerdoodles! I may have to buy a box of snickerdoodle cookies for…uh…research…to verify that I am accurate with this comparison…yeah…that’s the purpose.

When I first tasted this tea, my taste buds didn’t immediately locate a flavor to identify. However, after about two or three sips, the sweet and slightly floral attributes began to seep through. This has consistently been my experience with oolong teas.

One half-cup of this tea later, I found the flavor to be quite mellow and sugary (just how I like it!) with a floral dash thrown in. There also was a faint and pleasant tea taste. No bitterness existed. The aftertaste was nice, sweet, and lingering.

Even though I prefer stronger and more robust teas, this selection is quite good when judged on its own merit. I would enjoy sipping it in the late afternoon or early evening when I’m ready to start winding things down.

This is a lovely tea. I used my whole sample packet and steeped for one minute.

This resteeps well too. I would recommend this to those who enjoy floral, vegetal, creamy tea. If you are looking for a roasted oolong, this is not it! :)

Thanks again to Angel and Teavivre for this delicious sample!

This is the last of my free samples from Teavivre. Thank you.

As usual, this tea comprises nuggets of green leaf, ranging from a fairly light green through to dark. They look great. The dry leaf smells slightly milky. When steeped the nuggets unfurl into buds with large leaves attached. The aroma is still slightly milky but with more osmanthus aroma. It is a sweet smell. The liquor is yellow and clear. It looks light and inviting, and smells sweet like the leaves. Tasting it confirms this. It has body (perhaps a light butteriness?) but still remains light and sweet, and the enduring aftertaste is sweet and pleasant. This is a refreshing tea that feels like it belongs in my cup on a hot summer’s day. Shame it is siling it down here now. Given the grey and miserable weather, this tea adds a little ray of sunshine to my day.