2003 Reserve Four Season Oolong

I’ve never tried an aged oolong before. When I first opened the bag I was surprised at how dark the leaves are. They’re almost black. It had an unidentifiable smell. It didn’t smell particularly good or bad. I’m very sorry to say that I didnt enjoy this tea. I just didn’t care for the taste. I mean no disrespect to Butiki Teas. Maybe I don’t like aged oolongs? I think I’ll see if somebody that would appreciate this tea would be interested in a swap.

A sample from the lovely Courtney.

Roasty, sweet in a vaguely fruity way. Yum!

Imagine Wonka’s everlasting gobstoppers, now shrink them down and baked them 12 years in the past.
You now have 2003 Reserve Four Season Oolong and you don’t need Butiki to exist anymore because you went 12 years in the past… in fact, this review might not be here after you do so considering the concept of all the time travel complexities and such.

Whilst I’ve really grown to love Green Oolongs, I’m still undecided about darker ones. Using a lovely little glass teapot that I got from the London Tea Club, I gave some of this a session a day or two ago. The smell of the dry leaves is pretty potent – smoky and roasty!

The first infusion was mild (after a rinse, I probably only infused it for ~10 seconds) – it was surprisingly tasty, too. Kinda like… when you melt sugar and it just starts to burn. Not when it gets all extreme and bitter, but at the point when it’s clearly starting to char a little. It was lovely and smooth to drink, though.

The next batch of infusions were much more potent – I stuck to short steepings, and I know that the amount of leaf I used was OK, but this was definitely a different beast to the green oolongs I love! It was just so intense and strongly flavoured! Not, of course, that this is a bad thing – it was really good! Just so different.

Over the course of the two days I used these leaves for, the intensity wore off, as did the kind of ‘burned’ flavour, and it just became a tasty, lighter cup of oolong. It grew a little sweeter, as well-infused leaves often do, but still retained plenty of flavour.

I don’t think I’ll score this just yet (for much the same reason I don’t score Puerhs) – I don’t really know enough about these teas and I’m not really used to drinking them. But I could definitely appreciate this one – I imagine trying it (and my other, roasted/aged oolongs) more will give me a better perspective :-)

I was afraid my most recent order from Butiki was lost in the mail! This order contained the last remains of this tea, so when it arrived I had to try it immediately. This tea is very smooth yet toasty. Reading some other tasting notes by other users, they say it tastes too charcoal/smokey.. but I don’t feel the same way. I steeped this at the recommended 4 minutes (with 1.5tsp/4.5g of tea) and it turned out perfectly fine. The first thing I noticed after brewing a cup was the incredible smell… even after I’ve finished the cup I find myself wanting to go back and smell the roasty wet leaves! I’ve only had one cup of this, but my first impression is that it tastes like a roasted light butter. I was surprised when it was actually the buttery note that hit me first, followed by the main course of roasted/smoky oolong. There is also a hint of sweetness toward the end that seems to be more noticeable as the tea cools a bit. Great tea, a shame that there is no more of this tea available to order, but glad I was able to score the last bit of it =D

If anybody has tried this tea and can recommend other oolongs with similar taste-profiles, please let me know!

Whoa. This tea is INTENSE. Dry, it smells a little smoky but mostly just earthy. I rinsed it briefly and it smelled like actual burning. I was a little dubious, I admit. The rinse water was like ashtray.

1st steep, 30 seconds: Hello smoke. I can taste almost nothing else. I enjoyed it and sipped until I realized it was so pungent I was bordering on a headache. Never fear though, I already realized what awesomeness could come of cooking with this stuff, and I put a container aside. 30 seconds was clearly too much for me.

2nd steep, 15s: Smoke, but also lots of other deep scents like wood and sweetness coming out. I think a candle needs to be made of this. But upon tasting it, decided it was still too smoky to drink a whole cup, so I added it to the container to make pasta with later.

3d steep, 15s: Ah yes, now I can taste more than just the smoke, though it is still present. It is a bit sweeter, and a lot woodier.

4th steep, 15s: Very similar to the last steep, but less smoke.

5th steep, 30s: I think it is safe to resume longer steeping times. Now this tastes like most oolongs would on first or second steeping. Also, shockingly, the leaves seem to have barely unfurled. Even if I only taste a few sips of every infusion, I am really determined to see how far I can stretch this.

6th steep, 30s: Also delicious, but sadly I am tapped. I steeped the rest for 5 minutes to make the remaining water to boil pasta in for pasta salad. I also cooked my mushrooms in the first steep and it was delicious. It added a meaty flavor that made it seem like I cooked them in beef stock. The leaves were still mostly unfurled and crunchy to the touch. Very impressive.

Overall, a bit too smoky for my taste. But, I do really enjoy the later steeps. Now I know I need to reserve the first few steeps as cooking liquid to make the most out of it, and drink the rest happily.

Hm….not really sure how I feel about this one. First off, it’s the darkest oolong I have ever seen. It’s so dark. Like, pitch black.I guess it is aged, so it makes sense why it’s this dark. But for some reason It’s still surprising to me. xD Not used to it I guess.
The aroma reminds me kinda of charcoal, or something else that’s burnt.
The flavor is kinda the same.
It’s like a roasted oolong 2.0, since it’s way stronger than any other roasted oolong I’ve ever had. Not really been enjoying roasted oolongs lately, so this one isn’t my favorite at the moment.
But I can see myself drinking more of this kind of oolong once I’m off my floral oolong kick. For now…it’s just an interesting tea.
Think this is my first aged oolong…and I’m not really sure what to think. :S I’ll have to try it again I suppose.
But thanks to MzPriss for a generous sample of this tea! Happy to try it!

What a sultry brew this is. Dark, smokey, woodsy maybe teak or mahogany, creme brulee crispiness, Brasil nut, hint of patchouli. All the thing one loves in roasted oolong. This is pretty imposing 10 year old, not for the faint of heart. That said I did have a quick sensation that it may be over roasted, but got over it after another sip. If you like big & bold this is for you.

I snagged this one from the massive Lewis & Clark tea box! There are a few of those around. Dark little oolong bundles here! There was only a teaspoon of the sample left, so I was planning on not filling the mug all the way (should be 1 1/2 teaspoons for 8 ounces). It’s a little tough for my palatte to tell all of these roasted oolongs apart. Maybe I’m not there yet, maybe I never will be. The main flavor from these types of oolong is charcoal, making it not my favorite. With this one, I’m also getting autumn leaves, roasted marshmallow, the lightest sweet potato. It reminds me a bit of Formosa oolong, though I’m not sure how different the two oolongs are. It’s a lighter flavor, focusing on charcoal, but of course this is Butiki so there are some other elements there. It is interesting that my favorite green oolongs can be boiled, but roasted oolongs should be at 180 degrees. The second and third steeps were very similar to the first, but the second steep seemed to have stronger flavors. This one doesn’t change much between steeps. I’m happy I tried this tea but I think I’d like every other Butiki tea more than this one…if I don’t love the roasted oolong that Butiki carries, I think it’s enough to tell me they aren’t my thing. I’m planning a Butiki order soon!
Steep #1 // 1 tsp // 30 min after boiling // 4 min steep
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 4 min
Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 4 min

I haven’t posted a tasting note in a while even though I’ve been drinking tea everyday. I think it’s just because I’m going through a tea blah phase where even some of my usual favorites are just slightly off-putting. I find that when I go through these phases, I just need to find that one tea that puts me back on track and play it safe for a while. I think that this oolong may be the tea to do it. I’m loving the roasty, charcoal flavors tonight. Although, I do detect some astringency that I don’t remember encountering with this particular tea before. Odd. Hopefully that’s just a fluke.

In other tea news, I finally bought a Finum brewing basket because (drumroll), I’m starting a new job next week! I’m kind of scared, actually, for my first real, full time job out of grad school, but at least now I’m armed with new tea supplies to help me make it through the day!