80
drank Black Oolong by LuLin Teas
1379 tasting notes

The tea in raw form consists of small Oolong balls that are very dark brown/black in colour. They do look mature by the dark appearance alone but the rich toasted floral scent would have given it away had I not known before hand. Mature Oolong is always a treat and with age it becomes smokier and thicker but also more mysterious and interesting.

Using my Gongfu teapot with roughly 4g of Oolong and following the following instructions as taken from the Lu Lin Teas website.

Using boiled water cooled to 85˚C. Infuse for 30 seconds and discard first brew. Re-steep and infuse for 1-3 minutes, depending on taste. Re-steep up to 3 times.

First Steep – 1 minute – The tea is light orange/brown in colour and has a thick smoky, roasted/toasted aroma.

Flavour is rather delicate but has strong smoky tones of wood, flowers and leather. It’s also slightly sweet which tones down the richness of flavours. The consistency is smooth and overall a very pleasing first steep.

Second Steep – 2 minutes – A little darker in colour and with a richer scent. The Oolong balls are also starting to unravel and open up and expand to become twice the original size. A little deeper in flavour now with more smoky leather tones becoming more dominant and the floral notes are becoming weaker to detect. It does however remain sweet and honeyed almost.

Third Steep – 3 minutes – It’s amazing how quickly a tea can start to weaken in both smell and taste. We went from being fairly weak to moderately strong and back down to openly weak. That would conclude that this is the last steep so around three steeps per pot is correct (at least for me). The scent is mostly toasty now compared to the previous much smokier steep. Flavour is also much sweeter and resembles toasted flowers.

Overall it’s been a beautiful tea on a beautiful day and I could not have asked for more. This is toward the early end of the mature scale so it’s not as mature as it could be but it’s at a nice level. Mature enough to have flavour but light enough to be refreshing. It would be a great example tea for those interested in trying aged Oolong without throwing themselves into the deep end and buying something too strong.

Please visit my website for pictures and more information on this tea.
http://www.kittylovestea.co.uk/2013/05/06/oh-what-a-beautiful-morning-oh-what-a-beautiful-day/

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C

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Bio

I’m 34 years old from Leicester, England named Kayleigh.

I started off many years ago drinking herbal and fruit teas which over time peaked my interest in trying new types. Eventually I began to import and sample many different teas and cultures which I still do today. My life goal is to try as many teas and ways of having tea as possible.

Tea wise my cravings change constantly from pu erh one month to jasmine green to the next and so on.

I also enjoy watching Japanese Anime and horror films.

I am always up for tea swaps so if you see anything in my virtual cupboard then please contact me.

A short list to help swapping with me easier though honestly I am not fussy and am willing to try anything. Plus the notes below are usually, sometimes I love a tea that has an ingredient I tend to dislike and other times I hate a tea that I thought I would love.

Likes: Any fruit but especially melon and orange, vanilla, all tea types (black, green, white etc), nuts (any), flowers, ginger, chai.

Dislikes: Licorice, aniseed, clove, eucalyptus, lavender.

My rating system
I have my own way of rating teas that makes each one personal. I have different categories, I rate each tea depending on what it is made of. For example: I rate green teas in a different way to black teas or herbal teas. So black, white, green, Pu Erh, Rooibos, Oolong, blends and tisanes all have their own rating system. That way I can compare them with other teas of the same or similar type before for an adequate rating. And when I do give top marks which is very rare I am actually saying that I would love to drink that tea all day, every day if possible. It’s a tea that I would never turn down or not be in the mood for. So while I agree that no tea is 100% perfect (as nothing is) I am saying that it’s as close as it comes to it. After all, in my book the perfect teas (or close to perfect anyway) are ones that I could drink all the time. That is why you will find a high quality black or Oolong will not have as high a score as a cheap flavoured blend, they are simply not being compared in the same category.

Location

Leicester, England, United Kingdom

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