Yu Lan Dan Cong

I am having problems getting this tea to be much other than astringent and little bitter. I’m playing with the parameters, but since I’ve only got a sample I won’t get much experimental room. I do get hints of floral and citrus.

This was definitely a unique oolong as far as background goes. Can’t say it differs much from the oolong milieu in taste and presentation. I will give it this, though, it delivers on its promised floral notes and has an inherent creaminess that reminds me of osthmanthus-scented teas. Even at a two-minute steep, it embittered a bit. For future attempts, I might go with a lighter temperature to see what I end up with. A decent cup, just not the best.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/12/25/review-canton-tea-co-magnolia-blossom-oolong/

The dry tea has virtually no scent. I had to put some in my hand and literally touch my nose to it to detect anything. Even then, the scent is unremarkable.

195/1 min 45 sec. I tried to steep very lightly with this tea, but it ended up being too light and watery, so I dropped the basket back in for another thirty seconds.

It’s very, very floral. In fact, I think it’s the overdone floral that ruins the tea. The oolong itself doesn’t have time to properly steep before the floral scenting grows bitter in the cup. It’s a barely okay tea, but certainly not one I’d choose again as I like to taste the tea much more strongly than I’m able to produce with this one before it becomes too bitter.

Still working with this tea, but it already seems remarkable.

First impressions of this tea upon opening the package: It smells old, and it smells like lemon. Not a bad old, but just…aged. There was also a bit of honey in the smell.
When I poured the water over the leaves, there was a really strong smell of flowers, but not an overwhelming smell.
Steeped according to the directions on the website: 1 tbs of leaves per cup of water for about two minutes.
After a couple minutes, I started to notice a deeper oolong smell to the steeping tea. Deep and rich, it smelled wonderful.
My first of this tea was delightful. I felt like my mouth was filled with flowers but not in a bad way at all. Delicious and smooth, I enjoyed how light it felt on my tongue. Then I swallowed the tea and encountered a whole different side. The aftertaste was completely oolong, no more flowers. The oolong flavour was rich and deep, and perhaps even a tad rough (something I am sure that will smooth out after a few steepings).
I had to force myself to drink the first steeping slowly. It was so tasty that I wanted to keep on drinking it.
The second steeping tasted much like the first, but sooo much smoother. There was a definite developed sweetness to the tea as well.
This is a great tea for people who want to start drinking oolongs, but are used to the light sweetness of floral green and white teas. I was a little disappointed that this tea did not live up to much of the hype I have heard surrounding Dan Cong oolongs. Regardless of this, I really enjoyed the experience of drinking this tea and give it a 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

Initially I brewed this at a bit over 90C and though I liked the the vegetal flavour it seemed a little too astringent, even bitter but reducing the temp to about 85C and reducing the first steep to less than 2 minutes cured any bitterness and just left a taste which is really difficult to describe, well I can’t think of an appropriate analogy or comparable tea… so to me a most unusal tea and I am glad I bought 50g as I think I need more than just a sampler to properly do this justice