I believe this is the tea sample I received from Nature’s Tea Leaf, although my package says Buddha Hand Oolong.
I have never had a Buddha Hand oolong so I looked up several and found that some sites consider it to be just another name for Ti Guan Yin, and some referred to it as a Wuyi Rock Oolong. If anyone has more detailed information, I would love to know it!
The leaves are a mix of dark green and light green, very pretty to look at, hard and tightly curled, and very consistent in size. I almost did a rinse but decided to keep a close eye on the tea instead and make a decision based on how it was shaping up. The leaves began to unfurl very well, so I left it and drank the first steep with no rinse.
The liquor is a fairly strong golden yellow color, not pale. The aroma is sweet and that rock mineral quality is present, though not as strong as in a monkey picked oolong. There is also another elusive aroma that is so hard for me to describe that I find in Ti Kuan Yins – perhaps slightly vanilla? It really is an aroma that for me is so distinct and so particular to oolongs that I don’t know how to describe it otherwise!
The second steep is an even more golden yellow and seems to have greater clarity of color than the first. This was a nice tea start to my morning! I only wish I had time to drink more, but I must go work at early voting. My evening cups will be desperately needed!
Oh, and I got the big news I was waiting for last night! The phone call came just after midnight. My daughter’s Irish boyfriend, the one you guys said was a keeper because he brings me tea, proposed on Myrtle Beach at midnight, and she said yes! He had asked last Sunday for our permission to propose, so I knew it was coming! :)
