Equusfell Send Message

Equusfell drank Gui Fei Oolong by Green Terrace Teas

122 tasting notes

The second tea on Dinosara and my gong fu menu this afternoon!
I was really interested in how wide the descriptions of this tea ranged. We ended up getting a completely different set of flavors from this than everyone else!
This gaiwan was completely packed, the whole sample went in. Short rinse was interrupted, and subsequently drank as the first-ish steep, most likely 6 seconds, gonig up 5 seconds for each steep after.
First steep: Pure, sweet artichoke hearts! So strongly artichoke!
Second steep: Artichoke with some additional overprint of a flavor that reminds me of thick, succulent flower petals/leaves.
Third steep: The smell from the gaiwan lid got all of the sudden more roasty. Like water that I steamed artichokes in that boiled a little too much. The smell was so super intense in the aroma cup that I actually coughed! The spiciness of some aromatic wood (not cedar, but close to it) has crept into the flavor. Truly interesting.
Fourth steep: Even spicier in flavor and aroma! The aroma cup had picked up a spicy floral scent with some vanilla notes after the artichoke fades. The tea has become slightly bitter.
Fifth steep: This steep reminds me of the overbrewed generic Jasmine tea they serve at asian restaurants. Bitter, but a jasmine note has definitely crept in.
Overall an enjoyable experience, if strange. I probably wouldn’t purchase this, but I very much enjoyed trying it.

Flavors: Artichoke, Cedar, Floral, Spicy

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 5 OZ / 147 ML

I Like This

2 likes

0 comments

People who liked this

Profile

Bio

I started drinking something other than Sleepytime in my first year of grad school, 2011. Enabled by a few decent local tea shops in a big city, I amassed a small cupboard of teas that I now find harsh and bad (haha, I’m getting in too deep!). With my move back to the US and subsequent geographic isolation from tea shops, I recently discovered the world of online tea vendors.
My cupboard is slowly growing but still small. Regardless I am interested in swaps, if you find something in my collection that you would like to try, ask away! I just can’t guarantee yet that I have a lot of it!
I’m very into Jade oolongs and anything that has a floral character (especially jasmine, rose, violet, and lychee scented things!). Most green teas, excepting the extremely bitter, are good in my book, and again I seek sweeter, fresher, greener types, though nutty/savory teas have their place (as long as they don’t tip over into salty!). I then to shy away from smokey or overly roasted teas and for this reason and the fact that I am not a fan of chocolate, everyone’s favorite blacks and wuyi oolongs tend to fall flat for me. White teas are alright but I don’t tend to reach for them unless they are floral scented. I rarely drink herbals, chamomile and I do not get along, but a basic vanilla rooibos, or some flavored green rooibos’ can be interesting.
In general, it could be said that I tend toward floral and sweet oolong, sheng (as well as moonlight whites and yabaos), matcha, and green teas.

As of now my rating system follows the school grading scale in terms of how well the tea performs and how well I like it (100-90 A, 89-80 B, etc.). Anything above 90 will eventually end up in my cupboard, though it’s fine to keep a B student around for daily drinkers!

Location

Athens, Ohio

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer