Thanks to Teavivre for providing me with this sample to taste! And a generous sample it was, I’ll be drinking this one for a while (spoilers: luckily that won’t be a hardship!). For someone who loves green oolongs, I haven’t tried very many tie guan yins. It’s basically been the two Verdant pickings and one from Harney that I tried in their tasting room, but I don’t think I really appreciated oolongs when I had that one as much as I do now. So I’m really curious to taste this one! I’ll be trying a lot more oolong varietals over the coming weeks, which I am also excited for.
The dry leaf on this one smells lovely, with nice floral notes and a good “greenish” base. I normally wouldn’t steep an oolong (especially a green oolong) at boiling, but that’s what the package said, so I did it. The liquor is a nice medium greenish yellow, and it has a great scent. I feel like it’s getting harder for me to describe that scent over time as I come to associate it with green oolongs because it ceases to smell like anything but a nice green oolong to me. But it’s that fresh floral/buttery/creamy/sweet aroma.
I have to wait longer than usual for this one to come down to drinking temp, but early hot sips yield a pleasant leafy flavor with a light sweetness and some magnolia-ish notes in the aftertaste. As it cools this flavor profile continues, with the leafiness growing in intensity. The florals are pretty prevalent as well, while the sweetness just kind of lingers lightly at the back. I don’t get a lot of buttery or nutty notes with this one, but I do love a very floral oolong so I’m willing to forgive it those characters. Definitely a pleasant TGY that I really enjoy drinking.
I haven’t tried mine yet, but maybe tomorrow.