So I found myself really craving Milk Oolong for my afternoon tea today. I was just going to just brew it western style like I usually do since gong fu is such a hassle for me and the opposite of the relaxing, focused tea experience it should be, but I had a 5g sample of this leaf from the Discovery Traveling Teabox (thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and all participants for sharing their tea!) and wanted to use it one go and that was a pretty ideal amount for a single gong fu session. One of the reasons I dislike doing gong fu is I have to haul my kettle out of the kitchen into my dining room (and hook it up with an extention cord) and then I just find pouring with a gaiwan a chore that is uncomfortable on my hands, but I got this cute little teapot that holds just under two cups (I could comfortably max it around 480ml?) from my Mom for Christmas. So what if it isn’t exactly traditional? It isn’t like I have to completely fill it, and it is comfortable, right? I filled a giant thermos with boiled water so I wouldn’t have to run back and forth to the kitchen to the kettle or have to haul the kettle out of the kitchen onto the dining table with the extention cord, and just decided to use the little ceramic glazed pot from my mom to steep in, making sure my leaf-to-water ratio was consistent. No burnt fingers! This may have been the nicest gong fu brewing session I’ve ever had…
4.86g / 80ml (ceramic teapot) / 205F / rinse|25s|30s|35s|40s|45s|50s|60s
From the aroma of the tea, I picked up butter, cinnamon spice, steamed vegetables, and floral lilac. The first steep was the most prominent with a buttery flavor, and tasted of buttered vegetables, lilac, honey, and quite sweet and creamy. The second steep brought out a stronger floral flavor, though the vegetal note became stronger toward the end of the sip; the buttery taste was not as strong as the first infusion, but present in the aftertaste. The buttery note continued to become a bit more subtle in subsequent infusions, and the vegetal and floral notes became a bit stronger. The third steep brought out an somewhat earthy/mineral taste to the vegetal note, which had a strong spinach/artichoke taste. By the fifth infusion I found the tea starting to weaken a bit, but the buttery notes were again starting to taste a little more pronounced as the floral and vegetal flavors were loosing their oomph, and I also tasted a nuttiness coming out in the leaf. As I started the taste the leaf giving out and was filling up on tea, I chose to stack the last few infusions to drink a larger, more buttery final cup. It was an overall satisfying session that hit the spot for what I was wanting. Thanks for the share!
Flavors: Artichoke, Butter, Cinnamon, Creamy, Earth, Floral, Honey, Mineral, Nutty, Orchid, Spinach, Vegetables, Vegetal
