Antigone

This makes one heavenly cup of tea. It is from Taiwan, and as I got it as a gift and I can’t read kanji I have no idea of the company or any other info than the only English printed text there is on the canister: High land Uolong Tea.

This tea is really unbelievable – it is definitely the best oolong and the best tea I’ve ever had. There’s not a single sign of any astringency, the taste is very soft and flavourful and also somewhat sweet. The scent of this tea – both dry and liquid – is to die for. I sometimes just open the canister to smell this tea – my own personal tea heaven :D

I’ve been drinking this tea for at least 6 months now I think, and I don’t think it has lost almost anything in taste or scent during that time. I still continue to enjoy this very much, this tea always restores my fascination and love for tea if I ever accidentally have been drinking bad teas! :)

Oh my. Just when I said in my previous review that I don’t especially like jasmine teas, I tasted this one. Oh my again. I think this is what jasmine tea is really supposed to be like. The scent of jasmine and very good quality green tea mix together forming a beautiful and enjoyable combination. The jasmine here is not sharp, and the scent is not as overpoweringly sweet as it has been in some cheaper teas. When I smell this one… I never quite knew jasmine tea could smell like this – it’s just wonderful. The scent is really soft and fully rounded, managing still to be delicate at the same time. This is no doubt the best jasmine tea I’ve ever had, and this actually makes me like jasmine tea! :)

The jasmine scent is quite faint. There’s some unpleasant astringency in the tea, which might be also due to my brewing methods, not sure about that yet. The recommendation was to brew for 3-5 minutes, and I did only for 2 minutes. So maybe my water was too hot (I really need a thermometer of sorts!). Or maybe this just isn’t that good green tea.

I don’t fancy jasmine teas so much, but I gave the score to this one based on how it is as a green jasmine tea, and not if I like jasmine or not.

3rd steep. The taste is starting to get a bit watery. I think this tea would easily give at least three infusions if the first ones were timed shorter.

2nd steep. This was even less astringent than the first one, and maybe a bit sweeter too. Not so much aromatically flowery anymore, but still a very pleasant drinking experience. I will try different steeping times next.

Before this tea, I have only tasted one kind of high mountain oolong from Taiwan, and that tea was from a friend from there and I did not understand anything of the package notes. So I don’t know what that was exactly, but it was the best tea I had ever tasted. So, I had very high expectations of this Jade Dong Ding.

I love the sweet flowery scent of this tea, although it is not as clear as it was in that unnamed tea I just mentioned. The wet leaves smell just like the fresh birch leaves when in sauna (okay, this smell might not be familiar but to other Finns :)), but anyway it is a nice smell. The tea itself does not have that grassiness in it anymore, but it is replaced by that delicate sweet flowery kind of aroma. This is not very dark oolong, or at least it is not dark compared to some others I have tasted. I love this tea, and I would have given it a higher score, if I had not had the previous experience of that perfect unnamed high mountain oolong from my Taiwanese friend.

I will have to try different steeping times, starting from 1 minute maybe. I will also try second and third infusions and see how they turn out from this oolong.