This is tea number 3 from the Canton Tea Club. The almond in the title is what seriously peaked my interest’o’meter in this one and the longest I could wait before trying it was a day. Congratulations also to Geoffrey Norman for being this weeks special guest. Bravo.
Whilst raw this tea looks like your average oolong, long rolled up leaves of a dark brown and slightly dark green colour with a fresh and slightly floral fragrance.
Once brewed this picks up a slight nuttiness in the smell (to add to the floral and fresh fragrances) and it’s also got a slight sweetness about it. The colour is a light honey colour (yellow but with a slight brown tinge).
The first few sips show sweet floral tones that have fresh and nutty flavours. I love tea’s that taste very similar to how they smell and this is definitely one of them. As for the nuttiness I mentioned above I would say that almond is an appropriate nut to resemble the flavours to as it’s not an overly sweet nut and is somewhat creamy/buttery and so is this tea.
There is some strength to the oolong itself which I believe is a result from using Ju Duo Zai tree’s of around 80 years in age to create this beautiful blend but it’s not as strong as a matured oolong. A strength of something in-between would be a perfect(ish) description.
As I am writing this review my tea has cooled slightly which has brought out some of the sweetness and butteryness and around luke warm temperate now is perfect for me.
In one word this tea is: BEAUTIFUL.
