Sipdown no. 175. A sample.
I am really enjoying the oolong samples from Life in Teacup. I’ve been wanting to try them, but I wanted to be sure I had the time to really do them justice and I’ve been fortunate to be able to spend some time with them recently.
The dry leaves are dark green and tightly rolled. They have a scent that reminded me of asparagus, fluctuating with a grassy, hay-like aroma.
Indeed, “fluctuates” is a word that describes this tea pretty accurately. I steeped this in the gaiwan at 195F for six steeps, starting at 15 seconds and increasing in 5 second increments, and I found that it moved back and forth in both aroma and flavor between floral and buttery, though with respect to the flavor the butter didn’t come out until the later steeps.
In the earlier steeps, 1, 2, and 3, the flavor was brighter and more “green,” vegetal and strongly floral, even though the aroma had a sort of buttery, milky aspect to it. The buttery flavor didn’t really come out until the last couple of steeps. Even then it wasn’t as strong and creamy as some tieguanyins, but it was still very tasty.
I liked it a little better than the green jade I had yesterday, but a lot of this has to do with mood. If I was looking for something with a brighter, more green tea like flavor, I’d choose the jade. Something more green oolongy, I’d choose this.
Flavors: Asparagus, Butter, Floral, Milk
awesome review
Thanks, Kirk!
:D