Thanks to Mercuryhime for this special treat! The aroma of the brewed tea is like nothing else I’ve ever encountered. It’s 100% unique. It smells strangely fruity and meaty at the same time with a dash of pine needles and spice. This is going to be interesting.
I’m not usually a fan of darker oolongs. My first experience with them is funny now in hindsight. I bought an oolong sampler from Adagio, and it was exclusively dark oolongs. I had no idea what was going on because I’d only ever had green oolongs before, which are completely different. I loved the green version and not so much the other. I thought I was losing my mind. Did I even know what oolong was?
The taste is something entirely new compared to the aroma, the beginning of the sip is anyway. It tastes like woodsy honey with a small hint of smoke. The end of the sip mimics the strange aroma from before and lingers into the aftertaste where it morphs yet again into floral, vegetal notes. The aftertaste stays prominently in my mouth for what seems like forever! It’s definitely stayed with me for at least 15 minutes.
And this is only the first infusion! Let’s see what happens with the second steeped for 3 minutes. Hmm, it’s very different and very similar at the same time. It’s less fruity meat and more floral oolong, so that’s a change to my liking. This must be directly halfway between green and roasted. From my research, that would make it a semi-oxidized oolong aka “blue-green tea.” The third infusion for 4 minutes tastes like an above average dark, woodsy oolong with no astringency.
It really is too bad SpecialTeas no longer exists because this is something more people should have the opportunity to try. If it’s from tea trees that have been harvested for over 700 years, hopefully someone else is still harvesting and distributing it. This is harder to describe than anything else I’ve ever tasted. The flavor is so strong yet so capricious. This is truly magical tea.
