I received this tea from Cofftea in our “Pay It Forward” Karma Tea Swap and I was thrilled with every cup from my first teapot to a fourth forgotten resteep. The delightful coconut scent came through the envelope even before I opened it. To clarify, this is not an overly sweet coconut flavor; if it is flavored oil, it is used beautifully sparingly, if real coco. maybe it was toasted? The first cup has the lovely Coco. scent again and the color is a deceptive brown rather than green or yellow. But when I tasted it, the green tea came through more strongly and almost drowned out the light Coco. taste at the end. In fact, my first thought on the first swig (sorry aficionados—I rarely sip) was >Bang< “This has an acrid taste” with a quick follow of coco. taste. It may be due to the high water temperature that I used. This did not continue into any following cups from this pot or any following resteeps.
As they unfurled, the leaves were lovely, wide, and green. Most of them were full leaves that flitted and floated while I filled my steeping pot. My tea spent around 4 minutes or so in this pot until I filtered and filled my fat brown stoneware two-cup teapot. It probably would hold more if I used cups instead of mugs.
The rest of the pot was much smoother, giving me nutty oolong flavor with additional coconut scent and taste. Even as the pot cooled I enjoyed the tea.
The next three pots were very nice as well, the tea becoming more and more the background flavor, while the coconut came forward. The fourth pot provided the sweetest cuppa I have ever had black. It was completely cold because I forgot the steeped tea sitting and poured a cup before I left for an appointment. This was just like having a bite of coconut macaroon in liquid form, sweet and light and lovely. The tea will be very nice this summer over ice as well.
Looking back over this rating, I apologize for all the superlatives. I was very pleased with this oolong—I used find them a hit- or miss proposition.
