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This tea served as a reminder to pay attention to what I am doing. Even if you are paying attention, if you don’t like the results try something different. I used boiling water and a 3 minute steep with this yesterday. It was gross. There were some floral notes and some roasted but then there was this whole other thing going on that was sour and a bit like gym socks meets pool chemicals.

Today I decided to use just steaming water and a two minute steep. The sip is a bit mineral tasting and milky up front which gives way roasted notes late in the sip. The aftertaste is floral leaving a cooling sensation on the breath. The overall taste is a bit thin but otherwise nice. As this cools the smoky roasted taste comes out more and fattens up the flavor. Now it is good.

The second cup with steaming water and three minute steep is the best cup yet. It is like toasted rice along with a floral taste that reminds me of the rind of watermelon. This tea, while not my favorite of the samples, was pretty good once I adjusted how I prepared it.

This was the last sample to open that I received from Fong Mong Tea. Thank you for sending these samples my way. I am now a bit more educated in Taiwan teas – and I like them

This is (or was) my last unopened sample from this round of Teavivre teas. I think I may have a new favorite. I love this! The dry leaf smells of Honey Nut Cheerios. The cup tastes of warm buttery milk, and cereal. Sweet and grainy with a touch of vanilla. Also, there is a bit of salt, smoke, and hay. It has a light non-offensive bitterness. Like the other Taiwan oolongs I have had lately, I am getting a neat cooling sensation on my breath. I could enjoy this cup without additives. You all know that rarely (never!) happens. I added Splenda to see if it improved the taste. It accentuated the flavor and diminished the light bitterness. I Love this! And you didn’t think I could write a one paragraph review of a new tea ;)

This sample was provided by Teavivre. The tea originates from Dong Ding Mountain. I opened the generous bag and poured out a spoonful of leaf to examine. This looks like little pieces of volcanic rock covered by moss or maybe petrified tea pebbles. It is dark gray/green and rough textured as if it is painted rocks. I am going on about it because it is really different. The scent at first makes me think peppery. Of course it’s really the ginseng. It also has notes of oats or some kind of grain.

I brought 12oz of water to a roiling boil and poured into my press with about 4g (one good spoon) of nuggets. I steeped for two minutes. When the timer went off some of the leaf was dancing on the surface and some was on the bottom. None of it was completely unfurled. Interesting, there is a light roasted aroma coming out of the press – this wasn’t even hinted at in the scent of the dry leaf. The brew looked golden with a light green tint, in the press. Once poured it became a light orange in the cup.

As the cup sits to cool a bit, the smell of ginseng keeps catching my attention. It is beginning to make me nervous. Is this going to be an overdone flavor extremophile?

I take a sip and must admit I am confused, in a good way. The ginseng is mainly present at the front of the sip, then fades only to return at the end of the sip and is felt at the back of the mouth and throat. It is done with balance. It leaves the mouth with a wonderful cooling sensation. The roasted smell of the wet leaf is a very subdued hint in mid sip. Given that this is from Dong Ding mountain, I was expecting heavy oolong floral notes. Instead this tastes closer to a green tea but not bright and grassy or floral. The best I can do to describe this is it is like a lightly roasted green tea and grain soaked in milk with some ginseng sprinkled on top.

The second cup, also at 2 minutes, is darker. The wet leaf smells like steak. Mmmm steak. This cup is tastier to me. The roastiness comes out more and the ginseng is less pronounced. The sweet floral notes I was expecting are now in the aftertaste taste. A good cuppa. Not that they taste the same but it reminds me of Gurman’s Pepper Mango green tea.

Cup 3 is back to being orange in color and is weaker in flavor but still pretty good.

I highly like this. I can’t say I love it at the moment. More tastings are required. I am fascinated by how different it is from my expectations.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to write a book today.

So there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky for weeks. We desparately need rain, but that is another story. Last night we pack the telescope and all the 7000 pounds of gear that goes with it (yes I greatly exaggerate) and head to the state park. We meet up with a half dozen like minded families to put on a public star party. As it figures the clouds roll in and the evening is a bust. So I go outside this evening and of course we have cloudless skies. sigh. I consoled myself with this fruity delight. yeah tea!

Fong Mong asked me if I liked dark oolongs before they sent this. I told them sure (I didn’t really know). Right now I am hoping it was not a mistake. I do love Yamamotoyama and Foo Joy Wuyi oolongs in bag form so I am not really too concerned.

I used half the six gram sample for my tasting. The leaf is rolled tight but not as tiny as the blue jade. It has a light smoked aroma. I held the first steep to 3 minutes. The liquid is clear and dark yellow. The wet leaf is dark green and smells ominously charcoal smoked.

The sip – interesting! Not nearly as roasted as it smells. It actually impressed me as more green than smoked. The taste has almost a honey like quality about it. The aftertaste has a neat cooling thing going on like mint or menthol but it is not in the taste. It is just a sensation. As the cup cools the sip becomes a bit creamy.

On cup two, also at 3 minutes, the leaf has relaxed enough to reveal some stems. How were they able to roll 2” long stems into those tiny little pellets? I am noticing the oolong floral notes coming through especially in the aftertaste.

The third cup @ 4 minutes is milder as the flavor is fading. The cooling sensation is actually more noticeable at this point.

There is some resemblance between this and the bagged Wuyi oolongs I have enjoyed in the past. Really, they are only a shadow of what is going on in this tea. It is as if you took the flavor knife and lopped off the ends, then cut what was left in half and discarded the bright happy side of the flavor. I say that, all the while admitting I like those bagged teas. Now that I know what I am missing, I am not as likely to rush into restocking them. I have no idea if this is a good quality example of this type tea. What I do know is I think it is really good.

It brings up a question in my mind. Why do I like the roasted/smoked taste in greens and oolongs but not so much in black teas? I have no answer other than preconceived ideas of how I expect a tea to taste.

After breakfast at steak and shake we went to ‘The Walmart’ for no good reason, then to Lowes where we replaced our firepit. Had it for several years and the legs kind of rusted out from under it. Not sure if I am allowed to use the new one. We are under a burn ban. Does that include firepits? I don’t know. Anyway, its hot and dry and everyone but me wanted Starbucks. I went along because this is fattening and pretty tasty. Just got a tall and was disappointed I didn’t get brain freeze from it.

Started the day at the Farmer’s market. Bought some purple bell peppers and 4 zucchini. The zucchini is for bread – anyone know a fool proof recipe? Afterwards we hit Steak and Shake for breakfast. I had sausage egg taco,a bean taco, and this tea.

Short review – Wow!

Long review for those who like more -

Today I finally got to slow down enough to give this tea time for a proper review. This sample was generously provided by Fong Mong Tea Shop. Again, I am impressed with the packaging. The pouch is heavy duty, the sample is vacuum packed, and inside is an oxygen absorber to help maintain freshness. There is 6 grams of tea inside. It all fit in one spoon. I was tempted to use all of it but just in case I mess up something I decided to save half for a later steep. Turns out, 3g is a lot of tea. The leaf is rolled into very tight tiny dark green balls that really expand. The dry leaf did not have much aroma to me.

I brought my water up to temperature and poured over the leaf. Immediately an amazing floral scent began to fill the room. Fong Mong recommends a six minute steep. I could not bring myself to steep it that long and went only three. The liquor is extremely clear and a pale yellow.

Since my reaction and following review are a bit different than the others, let me state up front that I added sweetener at this point. I usually wait until I have at least tasted the tea straight. Today I knew I was going to add it eventually so I just got it over with.

The first sip is electric, with a lot going on all at once. When I say electric I mean it literally. There was a numbness and a feeling of shock at the very beginning that I have never experienced before and it was not in later sips. The sip was very floral and sweet. At the same time it struck me as salty. Again this was only an initial reaction. The press and cup were both cleaned and well rinsed just prior to the tasting so it was not something left over from a previous brew. This has the lingering aftertaste typical of green oolongs. One Steepsterite describes this as a latex glove taste. I can make that connection but it is far more pleasant and green than it sounds. To me it is more like the taste of the white part of a watermelon rind.

As the cup cools I am getting a better sense of the flavors. It remains intensely floral at the front of the sip. Mid sip there is an underlying earthy quality. The floral notes pick back up towards the end and this dissolves into the lingering aftertaste. I am not sure this qualifies as milky but it does flow smoothly across the tongue. Another thing I am noticing is a dusty sensation on the throat and a tingling in the checks. I would normally associate this with astringency but it does taste astringent.

As the cup reaches near room temperature I get a mineral taste. I hear that description used often but this is the first time I have felt compelled to use the term myself. Interesting.

With the second cup the leaf is still not completely unfurled, yet it hangs in the press making it look full of leaf. It looses the earthy note and the dusty feel on this cup, and settles in at smooth and lingering. By the third cup, the leaf has completely unfurled. It makes for a lot of leaf. I stopped with the fourth steep, making 48oz and it could have gone more. Still a lot of sweet flavor. I am glad I had the time to spend with this one. It is quite complex. It is also quite tasty. This is a very good tea.

This has a production date of 2011. I heated the water in my usual way – 12 oz heated until the kettle got loud. Turned it off. As it stopped roaring I opened the lid and listened until the kettle became silent. Then I did something different. I poured the water in to my press, then added the leaf. O My Goodness! The flavor coming out of the press was like being in a fancy kitchen. Buttery asparagus, maybe squash. I don’t know my veggie smells well but it was incredible. The taste is just as fresh as the day I opened the sample. I can’t imagine that the superfine can be better than this. How do you improve on perfection? Buttery green goodness that flows like cream across the tongue. It has a nice bite at the end of the sip and a lingering fresh green aftertaste.

Funny, when I drink jasmine pearls, I think this is the best tea ever. Then I have this one and think this is my absolute favorite. Let’s face it, if I had only these two teas (and an Earl Grey) in my tea drawer I could be very content for a very long time.

I am not going to rate this as I didn’t prepare it and it was mostly ice. What I do want to comment on is how nice the mint in this tasted. I am not a big mint fan but this did not overpower the tea. The ice however gave me brain freeze.