Ooooh Darjeeling

A very aromatic oolong—I assume it’s because this is also from Darjeeling. Smells a bit like cloves. Very smooth tea, like an oolong with a bit of spice to it. Anxious to see what happens when I resteep ig.

OK. It’s official. I think I have too many favorite teas. This is, or at least I though, my favorite unflavored oolong but I haven’t been drinking it because I’ve been drinking white, green, and chai teas which have always been my preference over oolongs (flavored or not).

When I opened the tin, I was also afraid that my daring tea tasting may have gotten me in trouble. The last time I had this I had not yet tried pu erh, but after trying their Pu Erh Dante, I’ve discovered I HATE pu erh. I don’t remember this smelling like pu erh, but it does. Or more accurately a green tea/pu erh blend.

I steeped 2.25g of tea leaves in 6oz of purified water heated to 195 degrees F for 5 min.

As it steeps the liquor turns a golden amber and the leaves floating on top of the water makes it kind of look like insects are trapped in it.

I was right. It does taste like pu erh although not a strong one- possibly a black/pu erh blend which is odd based on how it looked in the tin.

I’m not sure how I feel about this tea. 2nd infusion might tell me more.

Thanks for this sample moraiwe :)

I haven’t had darjeeling tea of any type, but I have had oolongs. This certainly doesn’t taste much like any oolong I’ve had. It tastes mostly like a black tea. A light, sorta fruity black tea. I wouldn’t mind having this in occasional stock among my tea stash, but it’s flavor isn’t unique enough that I would go out of my way to purchase it.

Brew notes:
1.5g/8oz steeped 3 min. with boiled water. Probably could have done with an extra .5g for stronger flavor.

Been a while since I’ve posted anything on here, but I just put in an order for some new teas and have been trying to polish off some of the older samples I’d forgotten I had.

I’m pretty sure that this sample is at least two years old, it’s from when Adagio was still packaging everything in tins. The smell and flavor was surprisingly pretty well intact. I didn’t pay much attention to the brewing process as I was trying to make something pretty quickly to take to work with me while I was eating breakfast. I’m pretty sure I used a little bit too much leaf because it came out a bit too astringent, but adding a little bit of plain water helped to alleviate that.

The aftertaste is almost a little bit toasty, and the mouthfeel is pretty smooth once the astringency is taken out of the equation. It’s certainly nice, but I’m not sure if I’d want to make it an everyday sort of tea.

I really enjoy this tea. I like black Darjeeling, but I find it can be a bit temperamental. I also don’t drink much black tea. I like my tea a bit lighter and subtle. That being said, I’ve really found Darjeeling to have this great fruity character. I enjoy that naturally sweet taste in my tea, especially when there isn’t actually fruit involved. So, I was really interested to try Adagio’s Darjeeling Oolong.

It really is a mix between Black Darjeeling and an Oriental Beauty. It has the strong, rewarding taste of a Black Darjeeling but more balanced like oolongs. Similar to Oriental Beauty, I think it’s best brew in quick, small steeps with lots of tea. I put about 2 tbsp of tea in a small glass Yixing style pot that holds no more than 4 oz. I steep for a very short time, maybe 20-30 seconds. Otherwise the taste can become bitter.

I would definitely recommend trying this. It’s got a great mix of Indian and Chinese style.

I’ve never had an indian oolong but this is an amazing tea. It has the richness and complexity of assam but it is slightly lighter and resteeps almost forever. A great hybrid of two traditions and very enjoyable.

It smells like a hay field, but it has a smooth taste that seems to come out more for me with a little Agave. I really liked this tea.

This is a great tea featuring complex, woodsy flavors with that muscatel taste common to all darjeelings. Given that I’m not a fan of black teas (too astringent for me) this Darjeeling was interesting to me since it is a first flush and an oolong. There’s a mild astringency to this one, but it doesn’t leave your mouth high and dry. As with most oolongs this is great for multiple steeps and you’ll notice different flavors coming out of the tea with each steep.

Adagio recommends 212º for 5 minutes. This temperature brings out a lot of the muscatel notes as well as more astringency, so if you’re looking for more nuanced flavors brew this for the same time around 195-200º.

This is a wonderful dark Oolong. The aroma from the tin is amazing. Although, I don’t detect the muscat flavors, it does have a complex flavor profile—slightly earthy and nutty with a sweet finish. It is somewhat lighter and lacks the acidity than a full black tea.

The name of this tea says it all. After enjoying a couple of the other oolong’s in the Oolong Savant Sampler by Adagio I decided to give this one a try. IT’S AWESOME! Very full and bold oolong taste with a perfect aftertaste. Looking forward to a second steep to discover more of the nuances, but as for now just really excited I have more to drink. Color is darker than most oolongs but gives it a unique character.