Continuing the oolong trying extravaganza, I splurged on some of this. Not very much of it, mind you, as it is $10 for 25 g. That makes it the single most expensive tea I have purchased to date. Anywho, on to the tea. Heated the water with my variable temp kettle (so I finally have exact temps!) and steeped it in my gaiwan. To the untrained palate (IE – mine) this is almost indistinguishable from DT’s Tie Kwan Yin.
1st steep (1 minute at 90 degrees) – Mild and unassuming, slight flavour, no bitterness, not very vegetal. Light floral note in there, lightly sweet. A non-steep, really.
2nd steep (2 minutes at 90 degrees) – Much better, there is more flavour here. Slightly vegetal/floral, still no bitterness.
3rd steep (2 minutes at 90 degrees) – Similar to the second, almost has a milkiness (is this what others think of as buttery?) but I might be reaching for that. The beau says the third steep is the best and “clearly tastes different than the other ones.” There is an elusive hint of something underneath it all, almost like a mild spice (sweet cinnamon?)
4th Steep (3 minutes at 90 degrees) – This is a fairly thin steep. I get a hint of the nice sweetish flavour I picked up on in the last steep, but it is quite watery. Not much depth or richness, this will be my last steep. I still maintain I got a hint of spice like cinnamon but the beau compares it to rosemary.
I think I might prefer darker oolongs to greener ones (not surprising, as I don’t like green tea but love black tea) but this is a nice one to have tried. I like that it never got bitter, but I prefer stronger flavoured teas. Again, this is certainly an enjoyable tea but one I won’t re-purchase. Though it was a beautiful tea, with the large leaves completely unfurling after two steeps, there just wasn’t enough there for me. For my tastes, the cheapo Tie Kwan Yin is a better purchase in terms of quality/taste to cost.
