A generous sample sent my way from Ashmanra. The scent coming out of the press is peachy keen (stop groaning). This is light to medium bodied. It reminds me of Hedley’s Peach Apricot. That one has a black Ceylon base that is obvious in the mix. This one has no apricot and an oolong base. The oolong in this first cup stays mostly hidden. I guess it is the osmathus and jasmine that are responsible for what I am detecting as apricot. This is nice and light with a long lingering peachy aftertaste. The more it cools the more peach it becomes. It has just a touch of drying astringency.
On the second cup, the strangest thing happens. This turns into lemon drop tea. Ashmanra advised me this would happen. It is still sort of peachy but this now tastes more lemon flavored. This is cool – two teas in one. It’s like Indiana weather. Give it five minutes and it will change. Can’t wait to see if there is a third cup in this leaf.
Cup three when hot is straight lemon balm. As the cup gets cold the peach comes back in to play. I could catch the tea base every now and then. I thought this on the second cup but did not mention it – the oolong base tastes like Darjeeling to me, or maybe like the tea sold by Charleston Tea Plantation. I don’t mind. The point is it does not taste like any oolong I have ever had. This tea keeps me guessing and that makes it interesting to me. I like it.
