Baked Organic GABA Oolong Tea, Lot 596

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Apple, Char, Fruity, Licorice, Narcissus, Nutty, Pear, Roasted, Smooth, Sour, Spices, Sweet, Tart, Wood, Bitter, Bread, Burnt, Burnt Sugar, Butter, Caramel, Creamy, Dill, Fennel, Floral, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Nuts, Oats, Raisins, Roasted Nuts, Toast, Whiskey, Drying, Roast Nuts
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec 8 g 5 oz / 160 ml

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3 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I was in a mood for some medium roasted oolong while working this evening and this one seemed to fit the bill. However, I forgot that GABA teas can at times be incompatible with nontrivial...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Sample Sipdown! (12 | 81) I had a cozy session with this one today, watching rom-coms and trying out a cheapo kyusu that I bought from Amazon. To be honest, if this is the regular baked version of...” Read full tasting note
  • “Lunch tea. Roasted nuts. Dry finish with some returning sweetness. Enjoyable and easy to drink. I believe I’ll be able to get some more out of this one tomorrow, so I’ll come back to it.” Read full tasting note

From Taiwan Tea Crafts

GABA Tea is one of a rare bread of teas that was initially developed, not only for its resulting drinking enjoyment, but rather for its purported health benefits. If you are not familiar with this aspect, check out the info tab below. Now that this is said, we need to admit that the best thing about GABA tea is that it is wonderfully good in the cup! Fresh Gaba is all fruit in the nose and mouth with very smooth tannins leaving a crisp, slightly tart, but never bitter feeling in the mouth. There is very good Lot of this offered here. When expertly baked, like it is the case here, the tart fruitiness is over-shadowed by top notes of freshly roasted nuts in the taste and texture with a smooth dry finish which lingers on very pleasantly in the mouth. We will even venture to state that the colour, consistency and taste of this tea evokes the pleasure found in sipping a good 2nd Flush Darjeeling, as odd as this may sound! Just like its un-baked relative, this baked GABA tea not only makes a beautiful hot beverage, it is fantastic as a refreshing iced! Lot 596 was baked in late October 2016 from Spring 2016 tea. We always privilege spring Gaba teas for their generous organoleptic palette, as well as higher GABA content. A full season of controlled rest helps mellow the taste before baking. According to our Tea Master, this gives the best, velvety texture possible. It’s now your turn to be the judge of this…

About Taiwan Tea Crafts View company

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3 Tasting Notes

84
943 tasting notes

I was in a mood for some medium roasted oolong while working this evening and this one seemed to fit the bill. However, I forgot that GABA teas can at times be incompatible with nontrivial cognitive processes. And so it happened that I zoned out (probably also thanks to the music I had playing at the time, see below) and entered some lucid dreams instead of reading about quantum information theory. Nevertheless, afterwards I drank a few shots of cold-brewed sheng (the 2016 Autumn Da Qing Gu Shu in particular) and became productive again fortunately.

What to say about this tea? It’s very nice, albeit a bit more roasted notes than I expected based on the dry leaf scent, which is fruity with notes of apple, quince, and narcissus. The wet leaves do showcase some deep charcoal aroma though, complemented by licorice, cumin, and more fruits.

The taste is very tart with a distinctive roasted pear flavour, light sweetness, and a dry wood backbone. The sourness, despite being strong, disappears fairly quickly and gives way to a comforting nutty aftertaste with a persistent sweetness. Mouthfeel is very velvety and soft, very good for a tea at this price point I’d say. Generally, the quality/price ratio is very good for this one.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntuC-VUNtDo

Flavors: Apple, Char, Fruity, Licorice, Narcissus, Nutty, Pear, Roasted, Smooth, Sour, Spices, Sweet, Tart, Wood

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 0 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 120 ML
derk

I’ve been moving away from a lot of electronic music lately in everyday listening, but that song is hauntingly beautiful.

Togo

Yeah, the whole album is extremely atmospheric and hypnotic. It’s great both for daydreaming and as a soundtrack to (rainy night) city walks.

TJ Elite

I have this album on vinyl. Great choice!

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3986 tasting notes

Sample Sipdown! (12 | 81)

I had a cozy session with this one today, watching rom-coms and trying out a cheapo kyusu that I bought from Amazon.

To be honest, if this is the regular baked version of this, I can’t imagine what the “deep baked” one is like! This had a strong roast with lots of charcoal flavor.

Really, this was a bit too roasty for me for the majority of the session. It did have a very layered flavor though. The early steeps had deep charcoal and mineral notes, along with a charred wood flavor that reminded me of scotch or bourbon. I found some interesting fennel and dill notes as well, which added an unusual savory element. And there was also sweetness from honey, raisin, and very dark caramel.

About halfway through, the deep roasted notes started to fade a bit, which was very welcome. This allowed me to taste more of the nutty and sweet flavors that were hiding underneath.

The last couple of steeps were somewhat weak but very delicious, with strong sweet honey notes and creamy grain flavors. There was one infusion that reminded me of honey butter dinner rolls. Nom.

Really this was a bit too roasted for me. But I would be very interested in trying more GABA teas in the future.

10g – 200ml – 200°F – rinse/25/30/35/40/45/50/60/75/95/150/300s

Flavors: Bitter, Bread, Burnt, Burnt Sugar, Butter, Caramel, Char, Creamy, Dill, Fennel, Floral, Grain, Honey, Mineral, Nuts, Oats, Raisins, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Sweet, Toast, Whiskey, Wood

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 10 g 7 OZ / 200 ML

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358 tasting notes

Lunch tea. Roasted nuts. Dry finish with some returning sweetness. Enjoyable and easy to drink. I believe I’ll be able to get some more out of this one tomorrow, so I’ll come back to it.

Flavors: Drying, Roast Nuts, Sweet

Preparation
8 g

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