At first, I wasn’t sure about this tea. The tea leaves are all tightly hand-rolled into small balls, but they took longer than I expected to unfurl in the water. I therefore ended up drinking it grandpa style rather than the Western style brew I had initially started in my teapot.
Once the leaves did unfurl, the leaves were smaller than I expected as well, and looked much more fragile than the firm leaves I’ve found in other hand-rolled oolongs. Closer inspection, though, revealed no stems—my steeping was entirely full leaves (slightly torn around the edges but not broken). That was nice to discover!
The liquor itself has a sweet flavor to it—both floral and nutty at the same time. The floral flavor is stronger than the nutty flavor, but they both are there. It is nuttier than the Tung Ting oolong I drank last week but that adds something extra to this tea. I could see this being a tea that would last through repeated steepings (although I can’t attempt that today).
Overall, I am deeply satisfied with this tea, as the quality shows in both flavor and in appearance. I look forward to coming back to this tea again throughout this spring and summer.
NOTE: The vendor website notes that this shipment was harvested in October, 2017
Flavors: Floral, Nutty, Sweet
