My first tea and work combined adventure! Armed with a DAVIDs drawstring tea bag (one of my favourite inventions ever), a travel mug that my mentor bought me on the first day of my internship (she’s the best), a Ziploc bag, my crappy office tea kettle, and half a sample package of this tea, I embarked on an all day oolong adventure.
First steep (7:30 am)- This was my caffeine hit for the morning, so my tastebuds were less attuned to the taste as my brain was slowly being shaken awake by the mild caffeine hit. I steeped it for appox. 3 minutes, and I can’t give a more accurate estimate as I was crazily running around trying to get all of my stuff ready. This tea was much lighter than I had been expecting, for some reason I was expecting a darker colour (maybe because the leaves are fairly dark). Anyway the taste was strongly earthy and vegetal, but overall very smooth and pleasant.
Second steep (8:30 am)- This was my “I made it to work but am not mentally prepared to start yet” cup. The second steep was much stronger than the first, and had a surprisingly different flavour. It was very floral and very sweet, almost creamy. By the end of the second steep the leave (which dry were only a quarter of the bag) had unfurled to take up the whole bag. This steep was my favourite, absolutely delicious and so very sweet without any sugar!
Third steep (11:30 am)- Early lunch today, all alone in the lunch room with only my oolong for company. There were less floral notes and sweetness in this cup, the earthy flavour has re-emerged as the dominant flavour. I am assuming this is what oolong is supposed to taste like (and I do quite like it), but since I have only ever had one other, heavily flavoured oolong (happy kombucha) I can’t really compare pure oolongs…
Fourth steep (4 pm)- My afternoon got busy and left me unable to steep more until my hunger pangs distracted me at 4 pm. Despite making a cup of tea, I still caved to the office vending machine’s call and bought a Mars Bar. Anyway, the fourth steep was very similar in flavour to the 3rd, smooth, rich and earthy. I haven’t noticed any decline in flavour at all. The tea appears to be getting darker, but I also left this one to steep for quite a bit longer because I forgot about it (oops).
I probably could have gone on for more steeps but alas my work day was done and I accidentally chucked out the tea bag as I was cleaning my desk for the evening. Thanks again to Angel at teavivre for these very generous samples. I only used half of one for a whole day of enjoyment, and am so excited that at least 5 days of enjoyment are still to come!
