98
drank Gui Fei Oolong by Butiki Teas
6106 tasting notes

Accidently brewed this one for over 8 minutes, my bad! However, it doesn’t seem to have suffered! It’s just a toasty oolong, with… wow, a super sweet flavour that reminds me strongly of an ice wine I had recently. Like, very strongly of this ice wine. So delicious! Oh man. I’m drinking this one waaaayyyyyy too quickly now. I suspect I won’t get a second infusion this fabulous, but this is absolutely delicious!!

Wow. I can definitely see myself picking this one out again when I’m looking for a darker tea that isn’t a black but has lots of flavour! Too many times I’ve found darker oolongs to either be super finicky, or lacking in flavour. This is neither!

I just realized I’m the first person to review this one?! Seriously!? C’mon, people!

ETA: Second infusion, not sure how long I let this one go, is still pretty tasty, but not nearly as intense in the syrupy ice wine flavour. There’s a bit of astringency, perhaps, coming out (but it may have been a very long infusion, again), but it’s still very delicious, and the aftertaste remains that delicious sweet ice wineyness. Hopefully I’ll get to #3 tomorrow. This tea definitely hit the spot tonight! Exactly what I wanted, apparently!

ETA again: Third infusion, 180F for 5 minutes, is more your generic sort of woody oolong flavour. Nothing wrong with that, and it’s still quite flavourful, but I definitely enjoyed the first two infusions much, much more. I may try for a fourth tomorrow if time permits.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 8 min or more
Oolong Owl

ooooooh, tastes like ice wine? I’m all over that! /adds to shopping list

Kittenna

It was crazy! It was initially that typically woody oolong flavour, but then there’s a huge rush of delicious sweetness that yeah, was bang on the mark for ice wine for me. It may need a long infusion to be like this, I’m not sure!

Butiki Teas

Wow, I can’t believe that survived 8 minutes. How accurate would you say our description of the tea is based on the 8 minute steeping? Hmmm, maybe I should try a long steeping to see what it tastes like.

Kittenna

I was shocked, to be honest! It would have gone into the cup at 180F, and stayed there for about 8.5 minutes. Not sure what the temp was when I removed it, but it was fabulous! I think the honey notes were intensified by such a long infusion, and there was definitely no astringency. I’m terrible at picking up specific flavours, so I’m not sure about almonds/apples. It was very, very good though!

Kittenna

I’ll have to try the tea with the recommended infusion time and compare :)

Indigobloom

makes me think this might be good cold brewed :P

Kittenna

Possibly! I don’t have a ton of it so may not try that since it’s so good this way.

Sil

apparently you need more teas that let you make them and be distracted cough

Kittenna

I am innocent!

Butiki Teas

Very interesting. I’m going to try this at a long infusion.

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Comments

Oolong Owl

ooooooh, tastes like ice wine? I’m all over that! /adds to shopping list

Kittenna

It was crazy! It was initially that typically woody oolong flavour, but then there’s a huge rush of delicious sweetness that yeah, was bang on the mark for ice wine for me. It may need a long infusion to be like this, I’m not sure!

Butiki Teas

Wow, I can’t believe that survived 8 minutes. How accurate would you say our description of the tea is based on the 8 minute steeping? Hmmm, maybe I should try a long steeping to see what it tastes like.

Kittenna

I was shocked, to be honest! It would have gone into the cup at 180F, and stayed there for about 8.5 minutes. Not sure what the temp was when I removed it, but it was fabulous! I think the honey notes were intensified by such a long infusion, and there was definitely no astringency. I’m terrible at picking up specific flavours, so I’m not sure about almonds/apples. It was very, very good though!

Kittenna

I’ll have to try the tea with the recommended infusion time and compare :)

Indigobloom

makes me think this might be good cold brewed :P

Kittenna

Possibly! I don’t have a ton of it so may not try that since it’s so good this way.

Sil

apparently you need more teas that let you make them and be distracted cough

Kittenna

I am innocent!

Butiki Teas

Very interesting. I’m going to try this at a long infusion.

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Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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