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Ti Kuan Yin from Adagio Teas
60

I must confess – my sample is old, I don’t even remember how old it is, even approximately… but there is a reason why it became neglected and spent so much time in the back of my tea cabinet. To start off, I’m very upset with the leaf quality, the sample almost entirely consists of small broken leaves rolled into very loose pellets. For this price I find it unacceptable.

Now to the taste. This is a lightly roasted TKY that tastes slightly woody, nutty and dry. I am not getting much of floral notes, more of irony aftertaste in the background. Oversteeping and/or subsequent infusions bring a lot of vegetal flavor which I don’t like. Can’t say much about aroma probably due to the age of my sample but it reminds me of hay and has some toasty edge to it.

Overall, I found this oolong unremarkable and overpriced.

People who liked this

Cofftea
LiberTEAS
Angrboda

Comments

Cofftea
Cofftea 2010-05-10 19:51:58 -0400

That’s a shame. Mine is so good!

Dax Pamela Dean
Dax Pamela Dean 2010-05-10 20:33:29 -0400

Oolonga, how about playing teamaster and roasting what you have left? I use my toaster oven at 375 or 400F, closely watched. You don’t want it to get brown, but close to it; when the tiny flakes turn brown, it’s done. You won’t regain the same qualities of the original tea, but make a different tea entirely. Maybe take one serving and experiment on it first? What do you have to lose? ;-)

Cofftea
Cofftea 2010-05-10 20:39:34 -0400

@Dax Pamela Dean- you should start a thread about toasting your own tea and other crazy things. That’s AWESOME! And it would be even more awesome if I actually liked toasty teas lol.

Dax Pamela Dean
Dax Pamela Dean 2010-05-10 20:52:58 -0400

Dear Cofftea, thanks for the appreciation. I’ve been able to lightly roast an oolong or two without actually toasting it. The object is to drive out the moisture, which affects the remaining drop of plant juice in the tea. This is what tea vendors do to preserve their oolongs. Every 14 months they roast them slightly to dry them out and prevent mold. Then they sell them as “aged oolong” or “roasted Ti Kuan Yin” — and sometimes charge more than for a new-made ti kuan yin. I know — obviously i spend way too much time surfing the net. Another idea — throw it in some water in a jar and put in the fridge overnight. What the hey? (yeah, i hate to throw anything out)

Oolonga
Oolonga 2010-05-14 01:28:34 -0400

Cofftea
My sample might as well be the previous year harvest, who knows? I just received some White Peony from Adagio and doesn’t taste as the one I had a few months back…

Dax Pamela Dean
Thanks for the advise but I don’t like heavily roasted teas.

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Bio

I’ve been drinking loose leaf tea all my life. I always take tea plain without adding any sweetener or milk to it. Would love to swap for tea, feel free to contact me about it.

Teas Ratings:

1-9 Undrinkable
10-19 Hardly drinkable
20-29 Strong dislike
30-39 Dislike
40-49 Unpleasant but still has some merits
50-59 Average tea, no strong feelings either way
60-69 Good solid tea, isn’t worth repurchasing for some reasons
70-79 Quality tea, might repurchase once in a while
80-89 Great tea, will keep in my regular rotation
90-100 Outstanding tea, staple of my collection

Location

El Dorado Hills, CA

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