I was trying to find a really good Formosa Oolong for my friend to try. Alas, Teavana didn’t have anything like what I was looking for. It did have this one, which I’ve belatedly realised – thanks to the description in their printed catalogue not mentioning this – is a Ti Kuan Yin.
Vegetal is the first description that comes to mind. It’s very green, in the plant sense rather than the green tea sense. I don’t remember other Ti Kuan Yins I’ve tried having this quality, at least not to anything like this extent, though it’s been a few months since I’ve had one.
The tea is also a little floral, but nothing like as floral as, say, an Alishan oolong. Overall, it ends up less sweet than I was expecting, and also with none of that silky, buttery sort of texture that I’ve come to expect from the top drawer Formosa Oolongs.
This is not to say that I didn’t like this tea: I did. It is smooth, it is floral, and it is… green. < / star trek reference > It’s a good oolong if you’re in the mood for a Chinese oolong at the greener end of the scale – but I’ll be ordering a good Formosa Oolong from somewhere else for my friend before I go home. ;-)
