Naivetea

I did try cold brewing the rest of this sample for 24 hours. It really brings forth the buttery flavor of this tea but it also made the passionfruit very strong, almost bitter. So I think I can safely say I prefer this hot and it’s a great fruity oolong!

I haven’t had this one since I first tried it a while ago, which means I haven’t had it since I figured out that I prefer Naivetea’s oolongs steeped at 2 minutes, not three. I love love lychees and lychee-flavored things, so this tea is a definite fit for me.

I do like it with a slightly shorter steep as it keeps the vegetal-ness from overwhelming the other more delicate flavors. This is such a great balance between the lychee and the oolong base. When it’s still pretty hot I get more lychee than oolong, but as it cools more of that buttery, smooth oolong comes out. I think also the “oolongy” flavors (florals and such) blend together well with the floral-ness of the lychee so it’s hard to take them apart. This tea is definitely on my re-buy list, along with their Passion Fruit Oolong.

Taking a break from my standard afternoon pu-erh routine to focus a bit on finishing up these oolong samples. I really loved this one when I gong-fu’d it, but drinking it in the office in my infuser mug it really isn’t the same, alas. Also I think I got a big load of the osmanthus flowers in this cup. It is still quite good. I was very happy with the Naivetea sample packs.

I really do love the smell of these high-altitude oolongs. The taste too, but really I love the smell. So creamy and floral and oolongy. That pretty much applies to the flavor of this one, which is a really nice version. I find most of these high-altitude taiwanese oolongs to be more floral and fresh and less buttery and creamy than other green oolongs I’ve had. I called this one “creamy” but it’s not creamy like a jin xuan is creamy… there’s just a hint of creaminess in the main part of the flavor, but then there’s a bit of oolong astringency (the palate-cleansing kind) in the aftertastes. It’s a tea I really, very much enjoy drinking, but not one I crave a lot.

As others have noted, this is a decidedly more robust Bao Zhong than what I am used to. Sweet, but also vegetal. Substantial.

Backlogging from earlier today – one hot cup and one cold…both tasty! See other notes…

I thought I would try these oolongs again before I go to China to get a reminder of their flavors, and what I might want to look out for. I know I’m going to be completely overwhelmed, so I’m trying to restrict the actual kinds of teas that I will specifically look for while I’m there. I’m hoping I can also discover a some teas I’ve never heard of while I’m there, so keeping all the varieties straight in my head is going to be tough. :)

This is a nicely balanced floral and vegetal oolong. It’s got a smooth texture throughout the sip, and then there’s a light astringency and a sweetness to the aftertaste. I don’t find this one particularly creamy or buttery in flavor this time. It’s light and fresh and floral and pretty springy, which is appropriate for the warm, lovely weather we’re having today.

Also, I am completely obsessed with the new Frozen Planet penguin livestream webcam. It’s of the penguin enclosure at Sea World San Diego, and there are a lot of penguins in there! They are hilarious, and I love watching them while I’m working. My favorites are the Adelie and Gentoo penguins. Fortunately my screen is big enough that I can have a small window with them open at all times.

No notes yet.

There was no question that I’d be having a cup of this today. Probably my most floral tea, and rosey to boot. When still very hot this cup seemed almost too floral for me, which is again something I am not used to, but as it cools the florals seem to mellow a bit and the oolong comes out. All the same, I’m just not feeling this one as much as I thought I would. Maybe it’s a particular floral in there (the calendula?) that I’m not as much of a fan of. Even my second steep, which is far less floral, still just doesn’t make me as excited as I would expect to be, being a lover of most things floral and green oolong. Ah well, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t order a whole tin of this back when I put this order in!

I had one Dong Ding oolong and really liked it, so I asked for some samples of others and luckily Amy Oh sent me a sample of this one! I tend to love the teas from Naivetea, so I am definitely excited to try it.

This one smells way more toasty than the dong ding from thepuriTea. The roasted grains aroma reminds me of some of the darker oolongs I’ve tried. When I breath in deep I get a nice autumn leaves aroma. The flavor is not unexpected based on the aroma but not exactly what I was expecting based on thepuriTea’s. That one was basically unroasted, but perhaps it is unusual? In any case, I do enjoy it a lot. It’s a bit vegetal, nicely roasty, a tiny bit sweet.

Thanks so much for this sample, Amy, I’m glad I got to try it!

Dry Leaf Aroma: The dry leaf has a refreshing toasted wheat like kind of smell if that makes sense. There is another smell too but I can’t describe it but it is not a bad smell.
Wet Leaf Aroma: I get a toasted smell that has a sweet smell I almost associate it with honey with a woody under tone to it.
Liquor: Has like a amber type of color.
Taste: I get like a toasted flavor with a woody maybe even smoky flavor with like a honeyed sweetness.
My Score: This is a 94 This is the best Ti Guan Yin to date I have ever tasted. This one is pricey but she is good.

This is really a wonderful A Li Shan in my opinion…

It’s a bit floral-y but also very buttery, exceptionally creamy, smooth, rich. One taste of this and my mouth feels like it’s on vacation. I’m picking up some other things too, like a slight mango and perhaps a bit of vanilla. Not as light as some other A Li Shans I’ve had.

I seem to like this the best when it’s steeped at around 180F for 2 minutes but I would like to do some gong fu sessions with my remaining sample. If you’re looking for a good A Li Shan you might try this one. I would certainly buy this again. :)

hmm. I don’t know why I like this one so much as I normally don’t like flowery teas. Apparently it depends on the flower and the blend. This osmanthus tea doesn’t suck. I also like roses in certain teas sometimes… it’s very sweet and relaxing today. I’d buy more. :)

see my previous tasting note.

Tea of the afternoon……

I decided it was time to go forth with another new oolong. I have had this from the second Steepster Box?, but am just getting to it now.

It is similar in mothfeel to other oolongs; It tastes thick. It really kind of reminds me of Genmaicha as there is a little bit of a toasted rice taste. But it has a sweeter finish than Genmaicha. Good, but I tend to prefer a more floral type oolong. We shall see what subsequent steepings bring to the table.

Steeped according to the label (even though I see better suggestions on the main page for this tea…will try that next time)…. 2 tsp tea in about 12 oz. filtered boiled water for 3 minutes. No additions.

This is not my first Wen Shan Bao Zhong, but it’s close to it. I had a pot of Harney’s at their tea room in Soho once, and I wanted to buy a couple of ounces of it, but alas they do not sell it by the ounce, only in a tin! Being told “no, we can’t sell you this tea in bulk even though we have it loose in bulk right here” discombobulated me so much that I didn’t even think to look at the tin, which is only 1.5oz anyway.

So my point is that I liked that one, but I haven’t tried any other since then. The dry leaf on this one smells lovely, with a nice floral oolongy aroma. Steeped, a much more buttery aroma shows up. The flavor is very pleasant; floral, vegetal, a bit buttery. There’s an ever so faint whisp of sweetness that shows up at the end of the sip. Really, a lovely cup.

I’m getting around to slowly finishing off and logging all of my Naivetea samples – I believe this is the last one?

My first steep I think I accidentally steeped this in water that was too hot. I got a very vegetal buttery cup but not quite what I was expecting…

For the second steep I tried to use water that was around 170 or 180 F. Now I am getting some of the more subtle notes I would be expecting from this tea. It is indeed very floral and delicate but I wish it had a bit more… oomph? It’s very relaxing and sweet however.

Third steep, I did let this one go on for about 2 minutes. I was hoping to get a bit more flavor out of this tea although that probably just killed it… lol

This is lovely but I’m not finding a way to make it work for me today. I wish I had more at home to play around with, but alas…

I am finishing off the rest of this sample today, it is better than I remember it. I have upped the rating slightly. I love Taiwanese green oolongs perhaps better than any other kind of tea. This one is all sweet green peas and clover with not a stinky flower in sight… :)

This one is just so nice. One thing I like about Naivetea’s flavored oolongs is they don’t seem fake or artificial in anyway. This has a light strawberry flavor that is just really delicious. I highly recommend them!

I think this may actually be the last un-tested tea of my high-altitude sample pack from Naivetea. Woah, progress! This has been great because I feel like I know a little more about different types of green oolongs, though I have a ton more to learn. My goal is to have a decent sense of the most popular types of green oolong and which ones I like most before I go to China in late March, knowing that when I get there I will likely be overwhelmed in varieties I’ve never heard of. :)

The dry leaf smells green and vegetal and a hint floral. Steeped, the florals come out more and are joined by a light creamy/buttery aroma. The flavor is a nice balanced between fresh green leafy notes and soft florals. There is the slightest hint of sweetness toward the end of the sip which gets stronger as the tea cools. There is maybe the slightest hint of butteriness in the flavor, but this is really a much more fresh, green floral tea than some others.

I do admit that it’s difficult for me to keep all these Li Shan/A Li Shan/Shan Lin Shi green oolongs separate in my mind! They are all very tasty but none of them has really stuck out as spectacular to me. Maybe I’m a more of a Tieguanyin kind of girl. :) I have some others to try from thepuriTea, so my oolong journey is far from over.

This is the last of my infused oolong sampler from Naivetea that I have yet to try, though I do have a few of the high-mountain ones left. I put this one off at first because I remembered not being totally taken with the aroma of the dry leaf, but then when I just smelled it now the scent was a strong, lovely floral. I’m not super familiar with osmanthus as a flower, though I’ve had a few different osmanthus oolongs that I believe I’ve enjoyed. I feel like they all taste pretty different, though, so I never know what to expect.

They weren’t kidding about the intense osmanthus aroma. Steeped, this tea is incredibly floral to the point of being perfumy. There’s a slightly buttery vegetal aroma hiding somewhere underneath those flowers, but it’s being swamped! The level of florals reminds me of the Rose Violet Calendula Oolong. The flavor of the tea is slightly sweet and super floral. Wow, it’s even a little strong in the florals for me, and that’s saying something. I feel like I am drinking a bouquet, or perhaps even some osmanthus perfume. After reading Amy oh’s tasting note for this, I’m thinking that this is one that definitely needs multiple, short steeps. One long steep brought out so much osmanthus that the rest was kind of overwhelmed. As it cools, the florals calm down a little (or maybe I’m just getting desensatized to them), but it’s not so perfumy. I’m defintiely tasting more sweet, buttery, creamy notes. Not my fave from the pack by a long shot, but I think once I get my oolong gongfu set up, it will be a great tea for that.

ETA: I’m starting to wonder if somehow my samples of the floral oolongs were more heavily scented than others have tried… all these tasting notes talking about light osmanthus, hah! The Rose Violet Calendula oolong seemed stronger than I had before, as well. Odd!

I has been sooooo long since I’ve had an oolong. I miss them! I knew I had to dive back into my sample packs from Naivetea when I got back home and finish trying all the high altitude teas. The aroma of the dry leaves on this one convinced me to try it first… leafy and floral and just a hint of that savory buttery note.

The smell of the steeped tea is even better. The buttery note has come forward and mingles with the florals in a lovely way. The taste of my first sip surprised me, acutally! From the aroma I was expecting something creamier, but the vegetal, leafy notes actually took the foreground, followed by some florals (not super flowery, though), with a light sweetness. It’s definitely on the greener, fresher end of the spectrum. Really quite nice.

this is so delicious this afternoon… light and buttery, a bit nutty and sweet. so refreshing! See my previous notes.

I’m finishing this sample up today… it’s a nice fruity flowery oolong mix. :))

Diary of a tea addict: time for one more tea before I head to the airport and will be most likely be stuck with teabags for 10 days… :-/

I don’t believe I have ever smelled an osmanthus flower and I don’t really like strongly floral teas. So why do I have so many? who knows. ;-)

Brewing method: short steeps in the gaiwan

First infusion: very light, creamy and custardy. Not a lot of flowers, good!

Second infusion: osmanthus coming up a bit more and it is getting a bit sweeter. A little vanilla-y, a little buttery. Very smooth mouthfeel and sweet lingering aftertaste. It’s a bit like a cookie. teee heeee.

Third infusion: tea is getting very assertive. Some vegetal notes are coming up a bit here. I am surprised. I may have oversteeped it.

Fourth infusion: steeped for only 20 seconds. Tea is happier and is back to sweet buttery lightness.

Fifth infusion: getting lighter still but now the floral is retreating and the oolong is emerging more as a clean, bright spring bud.

Now I am running out of time…

Even though I am not that fond of floral teas I would definitely like to keep this around. If you keep the steepings under control the flowers are very light. I was a skeptic but she has managed to charm me with her seductive ways. I could write a poem abut this experience. la la la – love!