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Nilgiri Frost Oolong from Butiki Teas

Steepster Score 12 Ratings Rate This Tea

82/100

Nilgiri Frost Oolong

Oolong Tea by Butiki Teas

Our Nilgiri Frost Oolong originates from Nilgiri, in Southern India and is graded TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe). Since this tea is grown at a high elevation, the leaves are exposed to a light frost during some nights of the winter months. The long thin chocolate colored leaves are hand twisted and produce a weighty body. This smooth tea has notes of citrus, peach, pecan, and oak. There are many qualities similar to a Nilgiri black tea; however, the frost oolong is much gentler and sweeter. This tea is produced in very limited quantities due to the short harvest period and special conditions that must exist.

Ingredients: Nilgiri Oolong

Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes
Recommended Amount: 1 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 170 F

For more information, check out: http://www.butikiteas.com

17 Tasting Notes

Azzrian
94

Just had this and its surprising!
Its like a black and oolong had a baby!
Great for those mornings that I am not sure which I want to grab first!
I love oolong and I love black tea but this is interesting!
There are many different flavor notes here including peach, pecan, woodsy, oak, and more!
Its deep, dark and robust!
A great one to have in the perma stash!
A full review will be on http://sororiteasisters.com/

LiberTEAS
90

This is awesome!

I noticed the fruit tones immediately – peach with hints of citrus. Sweet with a slight sour note that arrives just before mid-sip, and disappears almost as quickly as it appears. Nutty with hints of roasted flavor. A deep, delicious tasting Oolong – this is the Oolong for those who don’t really like the floral tones of the typical green Oolong – this one has no real discernible floral tones, but instead more woody, almost masculine kind of flavors that are a little reminiscent of a Darjeeling, but with a smoother, thicker mouthfeel and flavor.

Very lovely.

Shmiracles

you know what is a great idea, distracting yourself from a pile of work with a little compulsive shopping on etsy!
i ordered two vintage tea cups & saucers this morning.
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/132627082
https://www.etsy.com/transaction/132627319
(one for john and one for sherlock) (i’m totally making fun of myself there)

gently dark and sweet and subtle.
i will say i think the second steep worked out WAY better for me than the first. i didn’t even time the second one. but man this is delicious.
i definitely get the peachy oak in this second go. mmm

thank you again Shelley_Lorraine

Dinosara
74
Dinosara 2 tasting notes

This sample comes to me thanks to Azzrian! Thanks!

I am not the biggest fan of roasted/dark oolongs, so I never felt a need to seek this one out to try. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not happy to try it now that a sample has been provided! If there’s one thing I’ve learned about pure, high quality, unflavored teas, it’s that my tastes can and do change, so I never know when I’m going to try one and decide that I love it.

I followed the exact instructions when brewing this one. The steeped tea smells intriguingly sweet and fruity, with the expected roasted note over the top. The scent is fairly light, and the flavor is pretty light too. I feel like I should have brewed this one hotter, against recommendation, because it just seems under-steeped. The flavors that are there are pretty decent… definitely edging toward a black tea, though with fruity oolong characteristics. There are definitely oak notes in there, too. But man, I wish this had more flavor. I will try it at a hotter temp before I rate this one.

Sipdown: 262

The last time I had this one I brewed it at the recommended time/temp, but was wanting more flavor so I decided this time I would go hotter/shorter. Not sure that entirely worked for me, as now it is edging on bitter. Not quite at that point, but maybe I went too hot this time. Ah well. In the end, I’m still not really a fan of dark oolongs, but I do like trying well-rated ones occasionally just in case my tastes have changed.

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ashmanra

Hooray! I have time to try some of my new teas today! This is a sample sent by Liberteas and is my second Butiki tea ever.

I made a 22 ounce pot to share with hubby. I was surprised to see a recommended temp of 170F for an oolong but I obeyed, and took it to about 2 1/2 minutes on the steep. I served it with lunch, which may have kept me from picking up all the nuances of this tea, but I can say it was very good. It had a nice level of complexity, it was sweet and smooth, and my first sip made me actually think of frost! I kept feeling like I was picking up a hint of some spice, perhaps a mild Ceylon cinnamon, but it was awfully hard to put my finger on. There was a nice baked stone fruit flavor.

I wish I had tried it by itself first. The food had a good bit of seasoning – we had asparagus with lemon pepper, small red potatoes that had been boiled, then smashed on a pan and baked at 450F for twenty-five minutes with coarse salt, pepper, and rosemary until they were a bit crispy, and black bean soup with a lot of chili powder in it. All this seasoning kept me from picking up all I wanted, but fortunately I have enough leaf to do a little gong fu serving later!

Overall, a delicious oolong!

whatshesaid
69

Had a sample of this from Kittenna, merci!

It was good, but not as good as the Taiwanese Mountain Black (I know they are two totally different types of tea but my repertoire of straight teas is limited), as I found the flavor wasn’t quite as strong. It was roasty but not super roasty, there are some unique flavors within that I (of course) can’t really identify (told you i will never be able to pick food notes out of an unflavoured tea!) but I did enjoy it!

Just a bit too weak for me, I think I would have to use more leaves or steep it longer in order to get the desired flavor. I suppose that’s why it works well as the base for the Maple Pecan Oolong (which I love), it lets the delicious flavor shine through.

I probably wouldn’t order this one, though I wouldn’t mind trying it again! It may have been just a tad too delicate for me. So happy to have had some though!

Kittenna
79

Tasting this alongside everything else this evening, I conclude that this is not my favourite oolong from Butiki. Although it does work quite well as a base for the Maple Pecan Oolong, by itself it tastes to me like a fairly standard oxidized oolong. Lightly woody, a bit sweet, a bit fruity. Not particularly remarkable. Other offerings are definitely better IMO! I think it might do well in the Timolino, so I’ll likely drink most of it that way :)

ETA: Second infusion (160F/nearly 6 min, oops) has a raisiny sort of sweetness and a bit less woodiness. I don’t think this is actually as typical an oolong as I first indicated, but I’m just finding that it isn’t quite suited to my liking. Not bad at all though.

Terri HarpLady

Sipdown #4 from Azzrians Box of Wonders! Thanks girlie!

The first thing I noticed was a taste of cinnamon! That was followed by honey & peaches & a little graham crust! This is very nice, very smooth, & very flavorful. It reminds me a little bit of the oriental beauty, with a honeyed sweetness to it, but the underlying flavor has a robustness as well. I was really careful to brew this at 170, even putting my cup of hot water in the frig for a few minutes with a thermometer in it to get the temp right (unusually anal behavior for me, must have been Ms Theresa’s idea).

Next on my agenda: a rehearsal with a guitarist friend who is working on a composition Masters degree at a local university. He has a concert coming up next month of his original works, 3 of which include harp, so we’re gonna go over our parts together, & I’m gonna help him perfect the harp parts (which are a little lame…). The harp is a difficult instrument to write for. Most people don’t really understand how it works, & there are a lot of misconceptions about what the instrument can & can’t do. Luckily, I’ve played it for a long time, so I know!

He said he likes green tea, so I’ll fix him some.

Sil
Sil

Alright Stacy….I did it. I tried it lol. Picked this up as a sample in my last Order from Stacy because it might just be green oolongs that are all wrong for me.

Verdict on this one? It’s not too shabby and doesn’t bear that distinctive OOLONG taste that makes my mouth cringe. However, that being said I don’t know that I’d pick this up again just to enjoy. It’s a really nice tea but it doesn’t have the kickass haaalloooooo! That I like from my straight teas. DOnt get me wrong it’s a great tea for oolong lovers :) just not for sil :) really glad I tried it though cause its a really nice tea…with no oooooolongy taste! Haha

Claire
88

I had this last night in my new gaiwan from Butiki, which is gorgeous! This tea really made me scratch my head for awhile. I kept thinking it’s really a black tea…no, it’s an oolong…but it tastes kind of like black tea…

This was like a tippy black tea and a fruity oolong. The flavor was unfamiliar, but that made it really fascinating (as you can probably tell from my ellipses brain wanderings). The first steep tasted almost exclusively like black tea to me, and in later steepings it got more and more raisin-like, and sweet. I think I need to drink this one a lot more so I can figure it out. ;)

tperez
85

Wow, this is delicious! Tastes like a mix between an oriental beauty oolong and an Indian black tea, which I suppose is exactly what it is! Sweet, peachy, creamy, and a pastry feel with touch of cinnamon and vanilla.

If peach cobbler were a tea, it would be this one :)

Rachel J
90
Rachel J 2 tasting notes

2 tsp in 16 oz

Seriously, what does Stacy put in her tea? I cannot even describe this tea properly, but I loooooove it. The dry leaves look black like a black tea, but after steeping, you see that it’s definitely an oolong because the leaves range from olive green to light brown. It is oxidized to the level of a Bai Hao. Lovely golden liquor.

It is sweet and silky with just a little bit of astringency in the finish, but not enough to scare me away. I might try 3:30 and/or 165F next time.

1/2 tbsp in 12 oz

This is a great oolong that’s a bit lighter and drier than a Bai Hao. Just as last time, I really love it. It isn’t astringent (now that I have a good thermometer!), and has a very pleasant, soothing flavor. (Not really floral like many other oolongs I’ve tasted.) It’s perfect for me when I want tea in the late afternoon and have already had a few stronger teas earlier in the day. This is probably the “lightest” tea I’ve had that I really like. I’m embracing the fact that I’m not a green tea person (at least for now).

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Geoffrey Norman
97

‘Bout damn time I got to this sample. It was my second day off, didn’t roust ’til the most excellent hour of NOON!

I thought to myself, Damn, I haven’t had an oolong in, like…forever.

So, I decided to rectify that with this. I didn’t have too high o’ hopes for it. The last Nilgiri oolong I tried…didn’t taste like an oolong. Like, at all.

This, however…

Tasted IDENTICAL to a Dan Cong – right down to the tart-sweet delivery. I was in flavor-FULL heaven. And if I displayed any more ALL CAPS-ness, I might come across as an eighth grader. Point being, holy balls this was good.

Okay, ’guess I am an eighth grader.

Shelley_Lorraine
78
Shelley_Lorraine 2 tasting notes

This tea smells very sweet when brewed. I almost expected it to taste similar to my Rep. of Tea Wuyi oolong, but it doesn’t. I can definitely detect characteristics of both back and oolong teas. It also has a sort of musty flavor, not necessarily bad, just different. I am more than happy to finish off my bag, but I don’t know about a repurchase. I have other favorite dark oolongs.

I just realized that I haven’t been adhering to the recommended brew temperature. I was brewing this like most oolongs at ~195-200. I did try a shorter steeping this time. I did 2min30sec this time for 3 tsp of leaves in a 20oz pot.

It is sweet now without the musty characteristic from before. I wish the sweetness was more pronounced though. I might up the rating after I try a 170deg steeping, we’ll see.

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