ching ching CHA House of Tea

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 500ml 195°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: strong sweet passion fruit
Steeped Tea Smell: hints of sweet passion fruit, slight toasty tea
Flavor: toasty tea, with a slight sweet passion fruit at the end of the sip
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: slightly toasty
Liquor: barely translucent dark brown

Post-Steep Additives:
agave nectar, brings out the sweet fruit a bit more

Resteep:
500ml at 195°F for 2:30minutes
tastes like a light black tea

Unremarkable, tastes fine but not novel or extremely well done

Gift from a friend.

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/02/ching-ching-cha-loose-leaf-oolong-tea.html

Nothing special to speak of hot – though it does fill the room with a very pleasant strawberry aroma – but ice this and mix it with some strawberry simple syrup and you’ve got a fantastic summer treat. I keep this one on hand constantly.
-Cash

I’m normally very pleased with Ching Ching Cha’s teas and have learned to acclimate my demanding American tongue to the generally mild flavors they offer, but this tea is weak in scent, weak in flavor, and doesn’t even have the classy attractive look of most genmaicha due to the leaves being far too small and way too much “tea dirt” in the bottom of the bag. Pass.
-Cash

Went with a group to Ching Ching Cha today… tried a number of their teas. Nice place – standard tables with chairs and low tables with floor pillows to sit on. Good selection of attractive but pricey cast iron teapots. They’re good about refilling the hot water.

So the Orchid Oolong was pretty good. Kind of a stargazer lilly spice fragrance and taste, though a much milder version. Green and fairly light, but buttery. Table mates liked it, including one who only likes sweetened teas.

Being a cheap white tea, I wasn’t expecting this tea to be fantastic. It wasn’t, but it was still very pleasant, with a very light, sweet taste. Very soothing and relaxing.

Any oolong which reveals two leaves and a bud leaves me in awe. Strikes me as a mix between ti kuan yin and pouchong profiles. Quite lovely.