I’m beginning to really enjoy my daily oolong sessions. They calm me, and oddly enough, they don’t give me much trouble sleeping. I dug this tea out of the sample pile last night and decided to go with it. As a side note, every time I think I’m making headway on reducing the number of samples I have on hand, I find two or three more. They’ll all be gone one of these days.
I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was then followed by 11 additional infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.
Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted wonderful aromas of butter, cream, vanilla, hyacinth, lilac, honeysuckle, gardenia, and grass. After the rinse, the floral aromas intensified and were joined by traces of sweet cinnamon and cucumber. The first infusion produced a more balanced bouquet. In the mouth, I easily detected notes of grass, butter, cucumber, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and fresh flowers. Subsequent infusions allowed the tea’s floral qualities to really shine. I began to pick up a hint of orchid, while impressions of pear, peach, and honeydew emerged. Later infusions were mostly buttery, creamy, and grassy. Minerals emerged fairly late in the session. I was able to detect a note of lime that I hadn’t noticed before, as well as traces of honeydew, cucumber, vanilla, and flowers beneath the dominant impressions of butter, cream, and grass.
This was an extremely nice high mountain oolong. It was complex and flavorful without being particularly heavy or overly flavor-forward. It also displayed wonderful body and texture in the mouth. I would definitely have no problem recommending this tea to anyone looking for a quality Taiwanese oolong.
Flavors: Butter, Cinnamon, Cream, Cucumber, Floral, Gardenias, Grass, Honeydew, Honeysuckle, Lime, Mineral, Orchid, Peach, Pear, Vanilla
I find the same to be true about oolongs. They are more calming than energizing. I can get away with a late oolong session sometimes, but not with black or even green tea.