Me and Oolongs don’t have a very good history. We don’t always see eye to eye on flavour. So when I get one, I tend to not expect too much from them…
So today I thought I’d try this one as something different. It was another one of my three free samples from Enjoying.com. I got some yixing pots from there and they sent me this as one of the samples.
Dry, this tea smells actually quite nice. Almost refreshing if that’s possible. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the smell of it.
Once steeped, the smell became more… I dunno. Grassy I guess? I didn’t really enjoy the smell of the leaves steeped. I love how big the leaves got though. I definitely overleafed this one. By like a lot. But that gave me some really great, strong flavour without being bitter.
I am VERY surprised by this one. I actually enjoyed it! It is grassy, but in an almost refreshing kind of way. Normally that wouldn’t have been something I like, but for some reason, I like it this time. I drank it straight up. I figured that would be the best way to start this one off. And thankfully it was good that way.
I steeped it up for 3 minutes as I really didn’t know what the proper steeping method was. And that seemed to be okay. I figure even two minutes would be good really. I used 2 tsp for 16oz of water, but I think that I could have just used like 1.5 instead.
So, today, this was a surprise and I liked it! I would definitely get this one again if the company was located closer to me, but since it is literally across the country away, and took a week to get to me, I probably won’t get again… Unless I purchase more teaware from them, then I might order it. Their teaware seems to be pretty decently priced so far from what I’ve seen. I actually want to try a yixing mug at some point, and this company has some pretty nice looking ones.
Edit My second steeping of this one is also very good. I’m going to have to savour this tea a bit. I’m not so sure if grassy is the right way to describe this one after all. It’s almost like a sweet leafy taste… if that makes sense. It’s just got the slightest bit of sweetness to it and it’s almost like a lovely leafiness to it. It’s so weird to explain, but it’s really quite nice. I’m intrigued by these straight teas that have so many flavours to them. It’s very nice.
