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“Wow. This is a wonderful tea. I brewed it much cooler and I put in 3 teaspoons for two cups (leaning towards gong fu style). The dry leaves are only brown and have little smell. The wet leaves are...” Read full tasting note
“Phoenix Mountain Oolong is a lovely high-quality tea which exhibits the rich, complex flavors and sweet finish characteristic of oolong teas. This tea offers a rich, robust flavor and fruity finish...” Read full tasting note
“I’m convinced this is the best quality tea Peet’s offers on a regular basis. They do (or used to, anyway) offer a DanCong special for mail orders for a couple weeks around January after they got...” Read full tasting note
“I didn’t like this tea the first time I tried it with the recommended 200 degree water and 4-5 min steep time. I found it to be a little too oversteeped for my liking. I made it again now with a...” Read full tasting note
Long, jet-black leaves that yield a sweet, rich and pungent flavor with hints of apricot and roasted grains.
Phoenix (Fenghuang) Mountain is located near the coast in China’s Guangdong province. For several hundred years, small farmers have grown a unique strain of the tea bush here, notable for its thick central trunk. The freshly picked leaves are hand-processed in small batches by skilled workers, who labor through the night alternately rolling the leaves, then allowing them to rest. Afterward, the leaves are baked four to five separate times over coals until completely dried. The long, jet-black leaves turn olive green after steeping, and yield a strong, natural flavor with hints of apricot, plum and roasted grains.
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Wow. This is a wonderful tea. I brewed it much cooler and I put in 3 teaspoons for two cups (leaning towards gong fu style). The dry leaves are only brown and have little smell. The wet leaves are brown and green, with some nice dark greens in the middle, and smell strongly of peaches.
Round one is light and airy, and very, very fruity. I taste peaches in that little cup.
Round two has a darker liquor, despite a shorter brew time (30 sec). Still peachy, though slightly less so, with that slight sesame taste I associate with oolongs. It’s all about the aftertaste.
Round three was a bit less exciting, but still great. Also 30 sec. Little peach, but a nice, complete oolong. It tasted of roasted sesame.
Phoenix Mountain Oolong is a lovely high-quality tea which exhibits the rich, complex flavors and sweet finish characteristic of oolong teas. This tea offers a rich, robust flavor and fruity finish which makes it a satisfying tea to drink on its own or accompanying a meal. The brewed tea has a floral fragrance and mellow smoky chestnut taste balanced by fruity peach overtones. For my full review: http://www.leafjoy.com/2010/10/review-phoenix-mountain-oolong-peets-coffee-tea/
I’m convinced this is the best quality tea Peet’s offers on a regular basis. They do (or used to, anyway) offer a DanCong special for mail orders for a couple weeks around January after they got the tea in. The tea buyer has a strong tendency towards Indian teas, but it’s obvious from talking to him that DanCongs are a special exception for him to the point where he purchases incredibly small production lots of only enough for a dozen or so 1oz tins. Those teas are a massive step above this one, but the standard commercial Phoenix Oolong is good, especially considering the size of the company.
A week ago I stopped into one of Peet’s locations for a pot of this and was smacked with disappointment, even after taking control of the variables, which most of the staff do for you, removing that control from the customer. I’ve certainly felt disappointment with a tea I’ve known to enjoy before, but it’s rare that I’ll be really be affronted with the emotion. Today, I’m taking more control and choking up the last experience to water that’s been reheated too many times and a canister of leaves that’s been exposed to coffee-scented air too often. Fortunately, this time is the best tasting I’ve ever managed to get from this tea.
Considering where this tea stands compared to other Phoenix Oolongs, the amount of excitement/boredom inherent in it, the level of consistency of leaves, and the “volume” of expression it conveys I certainly consider this a “good” tea, but I can’t justify a rating of 60 or higher.
9g with 175ml in a rong tian style zi ni yixing pot. Single rinse immediately poured off. Only did three infusions with 85 degree C water – 30sec, 15 sec, 15 sec.
Leaves range from very long to very small… black and very dark green with a grayish reflection. Dried apricot dominates the dry fragrance. Wet leaves are much lighter, mossy green with yellowish stripes. Wet leaf aroma is a little more herbal-spicy, like basil, with a peach fruit note. There’s also a toasted grain note very similar to plain Cheerios. Liquor doesn’t carry much aroma compared to the wet leaves, but has a distinct toasted honey note. Liquor is pale yet richly hued yellow and clear.
Flavor and mouthfeel is like honey dissolved in water and a light peach accent in the nose. Wheat toast sweet and sour in the aftertaste. Balanced, medium body. Faint cedar woodiness in afteraroma. Really straightforward in expression of sweet, sour, slightly weighty, and crispness. Slight peppery astringency in the aftertaste along the sides of the tongue.
Doesn’t shift a whole lot over three brews.
Not spectacular, but easy drinking, and something I don’t mind having alongside food as I don’t have to worry about delicate complex characteristics I may be missing out on.
I didn’t like this tea the first time I tried it with the recommended 200 degree water and 4-5 min steep time. I found it to be a little too oversteeped for my liking. I made it again now with a lower temp and shorter steep time but with more loose tea and I like it a lot better. the taste is stronger without that gross overcooked taste that comes with excess steeping. I added a bit of sugar too.
Go ahead, pay an arm and a leg for an incredible dancong oolong. But tell me, does it beat this rival that costs only 6.50 per ounce (yes, in the land of dancongs that is a bargain)? I’ve paid more and found smokiness and often intense briskness (unusual in an oolong), but never the lovely hints of grain, stone fruit, and honey at the strength that is present here. Sold.
Backlog – I didn’t like this too much when I tried it yesterday out of the store. I think this tea needs to be prepared gong fu or at least with short steeps to really appreciate the flavor. I could pick up some of the classic Phoenix flavor but mostly it got bitter and muddy after it was steeped for around 3 minutes. So I can’t really rate this either, but I feel bad for anyone whose only experience of a Phoenix Mountain oolong is trying it this way.
Backlog from yesterday. I was completely blown away by this yesterday, and by the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff at Peet’s. I had never been to one but stopped in before a doctor’s appointment, expecting the usual three or four tea options. Instead I got a full menu and a staff who obviously knew what they were talking about and how to brew tea. I’ll definitely be going back!
As for the tea itself, it was amazing. It had the intense stone fruit flavors I love in this type of oolong, along with a slight woodiness and an incredible aftertaste that lingered forever—plum skin, honey, and flowers. I still can’t get over how fruity it was—it might be the fruitiest I’ve tried without flavoring added. I got two steeps out of it and wish I had gotten more (pesky doctor’s appointments!), but I would love this to be a permanent addition to my collection based on that.
