83
drank Osmanthus Oolong by Tea Ave
894 tasting notes

I feel like I’ve probably had osmanthus before, but if I have, I don’t recall it.

The dry leaf is small rolled balls of green oolong sprinkled with small bits of orange flowers.

Steeping, I was hit by an intense sweet caramel fragrance, that I initially thought was contamination from last night’s caramelly tea, till I realized I made that in a different steeping basket.

Along with the rich caramel fragrance, there were also notes of peaches and apricots.

The tea brewed up to a clear gold colour, and on the palate tastes of peaches, apricot, hay and that vegetal note that’s unique to minimally oxidized oolongs. A sweet floral note is present in the first steep and became much bolder in the second.

There’s a slight buttery quality to this tea which makes it smooth and creamy. Not a bit of astringency.

A delightful and unique (to me) cup. I used about 1/3 of my sample, and I look forward to trying out the rest brewed in my gaiwan, and with the aroma cup.

Thank you to Tea Ave for the free samples and lovely tea set.

Flavors: Apricot, Caramel, Creamy, Floral, Hay, Peach, Smooth, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Bio

I grew up drinking jasmine green tea with meals, but really fell in love with tea on a trip to Britain in elementary school. My first great love was Earl Grey, and I still adore it and all its variants.

I discovered the beauty of loose leaf tea much later, when, on impulse, I picked up a few teas that were on clearance at a home store. My introduction to loose leaf teas were Masala Chai and Provence Rooibos by the Metropolitan Tea Co and an unknown brand of kukicha and gyokuro (little did I know what a precious treasure I’d stumbled onto with that.)

At the time I was lucky to live in a place with multiple tea shops and several places to have afternoon tea, which is a delight I still miss.

Tea is part of my daily ritual and a nice, affordable way to appease the collector in me.

I enjoy distinctive whites, greens and oolongs, flavoured blacks, and herbals that are heavy on the citrus, lavender or mint.

Rating rubric, to give myself some consistency:
0-15 Yuck, not even drinkable.
16-30 Disappointing, not really inclined to give it a second try.
31-45 Disappointing, but maybe there’s potential? Worth one more try, prepped differently.
46-60 Mediocre, not terrible but not memorable.
61-75 Not bad. I’ll definitely finish what I have and might buy again.
76-90 Very enjoyable. Tasty, complex, it’ll keep me coming back.
91-100 BEST! I love everything about it and I will drink it forever.

Beyond tea, I’m a sex educator, polyamory activist, and radical queer. I love backwoods camping, abstract painting, baking & cooking, nail polish, cats, ceramic sculpture, and home nesting.

Location

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

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