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Unique and tasty! I bought this in early 2021 on the YunnanSourcing.US website, which I understand to be the same company as Taiwan Sourcing (TaiwanOolongs.com) distributing within the USA. Said to be made in Spring 2020. This is my first Osmanthus tea as well as my first GABA tea, so I’m not sure how it’s SUPPOSED to taste, but I do like it. Sweetly fragrant with a deep floral, almost fruity, flavor I’ve enjoyed this both mornings and evenings. A second steeping was almost as mouthwatering as the first. Do I taste mango? More like peach, I think, and a melange of others. Physically, the tea is a mix of tiny blond particles which I assume are osmanthus flowers, and tea leaves rolled into small balls. I used 2 teaspoonfuls in a stainless straining basket with 10 oz boiling water, Western style in a big, comfy mug. Upon steeping, the tea leaves expanded into large, whole, thick deep green leaves and produced a deep orange liquor. I have added the sellers description to the listing and attached a photo I made, showing the blend before and after steeping. Not sure if I’ll buy more, but will definitely drink the rest of my 150g bag! Note that I can’t say whether the supposed GABA content had any effect on me, maybe I’m already calm enough. And I don’t give a hoot about it being organic.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
TeaEarleGreyHot

Still drinking this and liking it even more!

TeaEarleGreyHot

I’m still sipping on this. My bag was of a 2020 harvest and now we’re into 2023, but the tea is just as mouthwateringly good. Maybe not quite as pungently sweet as at first, but it could be that the osmanthus petals have settled in the jar. Long long pleasant aftertaste, too. Amazing how large the oolong leaves are!

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TeaEarleGreyHot

Still drinking this and liking it even more!

TeaEarleGreyHot

I’m still sipping on this. My bag was of a 2020 harvest and now we’re into 2023, but the tea is just as mouthwateringly good. Maybe not quite as pungently sweet as at first, but it could be that the osmanthus petals have settled in the jar. Long long pleasant aftertaste, too. Amazing how large the oolong leaves are!

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Life is too short to drink bad tea!
Pan-American: Left-coast reared (on Bigelow’s Constant Comment and Twinings’ Earl Grey) and right-coast educated, I’ve used this moniker & Email since the glory days of AOL in the 90’s, reflecting two of my lifelong loves— tea and ‘Trek.

Now a midwestern molecular biologist (right down to the stereotypical Hawaiian shirts), I’m finally broadening the scope of my sippage and getting into all sorts of Assamicas, from mainstream Assam CTCs to Taiwan blacks & TRES varietals, to varied Pu’erhs. With some other stuff tossed in for fun. I enjoy reading other folks’ tasting notes (thank you). I’ve lurked here from time to time and am now adding a few notes of my own to better appreciate the experience. Note that my sense of taste varies from the typical, for example I find stevia to be unsweet and bitter. My dislike of red rooibos may be similarly rooted in genetics, which impacts perceptions of many flavors, from asparagus to stevia to cilantro.

I don’t work for a tea vendor, and I’m not a professional tea sommelier. And I don’t taste every nuance, hint of flavor or note of aroma, nor am I trained to describe those that I do detect. But I taste enough to have opinions, and do my best to be descriptive. Sensory preferences can shift from day to day and person to person, so numerical ratings are kinda bogus, especially between and among various people. But there are individual trends, and I try to reflect that. As reference points for my ratings, I give Lipton Black Tea bags “orange pekoe and pekoe, cut black” a score of 65 because it is widely available and profoundly consistent. I view it as just okay. I would give plain, hot, quality spring water a rating of 25, and I buy Crystal Geyser brand for brewing because my local well water is stinky and discolored, and my filtration & softening system leaves it salty and unpleasant. Tea should make the commercial Spring Water better, not worse, so a rating below 25 speaks for itself.

I am conversationally friendly but absolutely not here looking for dates or money, nor to sell anything. If I’ve started to follow you, I don’t mean to be creepy, it only means you recently posted something I liked reading, or it was about an interesting tea or event. And I’ve recently discovered that the Steepster system only notifies me of new posts written by people I follow. If you follow me, I won’t assume anything. If I do not follow you, it isn’t a snub—you’re still a good human being!
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Avatar:. Arrival in Athens, Greece, on vacation.

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