Zealong Dark

This is a simple nice oolong with a wonderful roasted nut flavor at the end of every sip. It almost tastes like roasted corn at a summer picnic. It doesn’t have the sweetness or vegetal taste of lighter greener oolongs and is perfect when you want a little more bite to your oolong. I love trying teas from places other then china and india and this tea can definitely stand on its own when compared to chinese oolongs. After seeing lord of the rings I’m sure New Zealand has many perfect places to grow and process tea. Very nice.

I have to thank Ashmanra for sending me this tea and waiting to have a tasting with me. Maybe my nose is broken but I really didn’t get much charcoal or smoke from this tea, dry leaves or wet. It does have a very roasted nut flavor and aroma to me with a slight sweet, floral note at the end. I didn’t enjoy a second steep all that much but I may have used too much water for my amount of leaf. It was a little creamy but it tasted more of a weak green tea to me.

This tastes like a very light rock oolong with some slight floral overtones. The body has a very nutty taste, but as others have noted, the aftertaste is sweet and not at all bitter.

After tasting all three, I think that I’d currently rank all three varieties:

1. Pure
2. Dark
3. Aromatic

But this is subject to change, because I plan to give more thought to these reviews the second time around.

This tea smells really nice when dry. It’s kind of a roasted scent, but clean.

195/3 min. – I’m trying to up my oolong brewing time as I prefer a stronger cup.

After brewing, it smells as if I overdid it. It’s pretty strong, but when I taste it, it’s perfect! I can taste the roasted leaves. It’s very good. There is no fruitiness or floral taste to it, just a nice roasted oolong flavor. I liked this version much more than the Zealong Pure.

Goooone! I bought this like over a year ago from Rachel on Teatra.de. It looks like it might be being sold at another vendor since CTG closed. It only got through about 5-6 steeps before it lost its zazz.

I love this one. Clean and simple tasting like the Zealong Pure, but with a little bit of roasty goodness. Never got bitter or astringent (you know I have a tendency to oversteep, I think I like things dark). And still held that sweetness that was in the Zealong Pure, a kind of oolongy sweetness.

This tea clears the mind, like the Pure, and puts a smile on your face. I think between this and the Pure, I would use the Pure for relaxing days and the Dark for I want to relax but I have some things to do days.

4g tea
about 5 oz water
Zealong’s website suggests about 5g per 5oz, so thats why the low amount of water.

Aroma is strong and nutty and finishes with a lingering sweetness.

The color is a light pale yellow. The leaves were rather large and dark, they have not unfurled completely.

This is a very smooth tea, the flavor does not come across nearly as strong as the aroma. There is no bitterness, no astringency. The subtle flavors may be overwhelmed by the stronger iced Assam i just finished prior. Will have to see if the re-steeps alleviate that and maybe adjust the rating higher.

Tried this in the Hong Kong tea expo. Good, Taiwanese flavours. Clean without the nasty grassy notes. A bit expensive for what it is.

Quite pleasant. The aroma is toasty and the taste is very light and slightly fruity. I might try a longer steeping time to make this a little less light.