Fruity Sijichun Oolong Tea

Ooh! This one’s really good! It clearly tastes like an oolong, and I definitely taste a fruitiness moreso than floral taste. This is really, really delicious! I’m actually rather surprised! The aroma is also fruity rather than floral. I’m really pleasantly blown away by this one! It’s also deliciously buttery and good. Man… I’m so impressed! I would buy this again in a heartbeat :) I used about 3g of leaf (maybe 4 by accident?) in about 8 oz., maybe less, water, at 94C. Yum! Going to go do another couple infusions now. Thanks to Fong Mong Tea for this sample!

ETA: Second infusion (94C/3 min I think, or possibly 4) is not nearly as tasty :( Smells like an oolong, tastes like a weak oolong that has somehow been oversteeped. I’m a bit disappointed. The first infusion was spectacular. Downgrading the rating a bit, because I expect at least 3 good infusions from an oolong, otherwise it’s not worth my while as they are typically expensive. It’s possible that I used too much water, and did use 4 min which was too much, but I’m not sure. I’ll try a third with quite a bit less water.

ETA again: Sadly, disappointed with the third infusion as well. There’s a bit of oolonginess, but it’s just not up to par with other oolongs I’ve had. I’m so disappointed because that first infusion was worthy of a high 90 rating.

Steeped for 6 minutes at 85 as suggested, but tastes a bit “overcooked”. Not astringent, or bitter, just overdone. Liquor is a light sunflower yellow. Has a strong oolong taste and smell, but also reminds me of a dragonwell – buttery, reminiscent of veggie broth and a titch earthy.

Definitely not what I was excepting at all. I don’t detect any floral or fruity notes. I was also surprised to see some twigs/sticks in the tea, which I haven’t encountered before – unsure if they’re supposed to be there or not, but would guess not.

In subsequent steepings I lowered the water temperature to 80, which I found much more favorable, but only got 3 steeps total out of the leaves.

Trying another gongfu session this afternoon. This is 6g (exact measurement) of tea for my 6oz pot. This tea was a sample provided by Fong Mong for review (that I’ve been bad about getting around to tasting), so thanks!

Perhaps it is just the power of suggestion from the name but the dry leaf on this tea does smell fruity to me. This time I steeped this oolong at slightly under the boil, for 45 seconds as recommended by Fong Mong, after a rinse. The tea smells very floral and a bit fruity, with a bit of vegetables underneath, but not leafy vegetables like I often get with oolongs. More cooked zucchini or something. The flavor is mild at first sip but it quickly blossoms in the mouth, sweet and candy-ish. Still with a bit of those vegetables, as if it was candied zucchini (which I saw some chefs do on Chopped recently, so maybe that’s where I’m getting the idea from). I like it, it’s pretty different from most other oolongs I’ve tried.

Second steep is, once again for me, kind of lackluster. I steeped it an additional 15 seconds as instructed by Fong Mong, but it has now lost much of the sweetness and more of those leafy vegetal notes are coming out. I don’t blame the tea because, as I’ve said, this is a problem that has plagued me for a while. I tried to do an extra long steep, almost western style, but it’s always as if I steep out all the good flavors early on.

I am rating this one based on the first steep, which was very tasty and unique.

This is tied with the Pou Chong for favorite sample from Fong Mong Tea!. Thank you, Fong Mong!

I made this gong fu style this morning. A quick rinse, maybe five seconds, released buttery aromas, and the scent of sweet green veggies.

I kept the steeps fairly short and made five so far, tasting a sip in my tiny cup as I first poured it, then adding the remaining tea in the pitcher to my tetsubin to meld each steep together so that I will have an impression of the flavor western style as well.

The liquor is a soft golden color. The aroma is buttery sweet greens, and there is a slight astringency, not unpleasant and quite possibly due to my steeping. This is excellent and very enjoyable.

There is a sweet fruit flavor that rises in the throat after drinking this. Delicious!

Thank you again for the opportunity to sample your tea, Fong Mong Teas!

I didn’t really get the fruity connection but that’s ok with me because I did get all of the smooth oolong goodness and it was lovely! This is a great, true Oolong to have on hand any time – any season! Clean, fresh, pure! A delight!

Thank you to Fong Mong for the sample.

I’m getting a little fruity notes from this one, but not too much. It definitely has that unmistakable oolong taste. It’s a little bit creamy, too. I’m getting a slight bitterness, which makes me wonder if I steeped it for too long. I did the recommended 6 minutes, but that seems a little high.

Another sample courtesy of Fong Mong Tea – thank you!

Steeped 150 ml of 190º water with 3 grams of oolong for an initial time of 3 minutes. This produced a nice mild oolong – not overly vegetal. It smells more vegetal than it tastes. The second steep (same amount of water with a 5º and 1 minute addition) is a bit stronger in vegetal flavor, but smells less so. The third steep I think I may have left the leaves in too long, because I’m not fond of the taste. There’s kind of a bitter taste in it.

I really like the first steep the best, but next time I’ll try the full 6 minute soak.

Thanks for Fong Mong Tea for this sample, I have been delayed in reviewing them because I want to ensure that I had a couple hours over which to do multiple steeps.
This tea came in lovely little balls with not too much of a fragrance.
1st steep: colour is a pale green, deliciously sweet smell. The main flavour is a sweet citrus-y flavour- almost lemonade-esque. Not too much in terms of vegetal flavours yet.
2nd steep: More earthy notes came through, less sweet but the citrus is still there
3rd steep: All sweetness is gone, earthy citrus-y taste, pleasant enough but I like my oolongs sweet.

Overall, this is a good oolong, but not among my favourites. It wasn’t sweet enough for my liking, but it was still a nice cup.

Thanks to Fong Mong Tea for such a generous sample!

First steep (~5s): Very light, almost buttery. Liquor so pale it’s almost like water.

Second steep(~15s): Liquor’s a bit darker, a very pale gold. Light scent of toasted walnuts, maybe a bit of rice. Not like a genmaicha, but sort of as an afterthought. Almost a sort of potato-y sweetness.

Third steep (~25s): Still a very pale gold. Similar to the previous steep. Maybe the sweetness is sort of a lychee flavor?

Fourth steep: (~40s): Very pale, light flavor. Reminds me of a Dragonwell green – light, buttery, smooth. I’m thinking that I should have either used more leaf or started steeping longer. It’s good, but a bit tame.

A review Fruity (Sijichun) Oolong Tea by Fong Mong Tea

I am enjoying another oolong sampler from Fong Mong Tea Company in Taiwan. This oolong was processed with the fragrance of fresh flowers making for the fruitiness that is to be found in this cup of tea.

I am using half of the leaves for this brew. I place freshly drawn water into a small pan on the stove and left to boil. Having placed the leaves into the cup, I then pour the boiled water over the leaves (which are tightly rolled/pressed) and left to steep for several minutes with covering on the cup.

After the set time I remove the lid to find that the tea leaves did indeed unfurl to fuller leaves and there is not a particular smell to the tea at first. Tea’s color is light yellow almost, especially once the leaves are removed from the cup. Tea leaves are light green in color, they are partial cut leaves and smells mildly vegetal…broccoli like.

Anyhow, I take my first sip of the tea and it is fine. No drying effect, and very light in the body and I take more sips of this tea I am thinking of broccoli and rice. Steam rice when cooking, at times so very faint and yet one can know of such a smell. It is warm moisture, steaming from the heat as it moistens the face of the cook.

In all, this tea has no astringency. It is very light in body and tea color is light yellow when the leaves have been removed from the cup. From the first steep and sipping this tea tastes of steaming broccoli and rice. It is very faint.

It is tea and it’s drinkable. I am looking forward to trying the remainder of the unused portion as iced tea, at a much later time.

Thank you Fong Mong for making me aware of this tea and for sending the samples.

Free sample from Fong Mong

Lovely tea. There, that’s all I need to write. It isn’t? Ok, well, upon opening the packet I got that proper oolong aroma, which immediately got me excited. The 6 minute recommended steeping time made me go “Eep!” as with the Blue Jade from Fong Mong. Still, I followed the directions and soon a lovely aroma was arising from my teapot. Impatiently I tapped my foot and waiting while the tea steeped. Then I got to taste it. It was light and creamy on my tongue. There was a definite fruity note to it with a sweet, slightly floral aftertaste that really came to the fore as I exhaled. Fresh, tasty, definitely one to keep in stock. I really liked this tea.

Outstanding blend. I was never really interested in blended teas, but this one I got as a sample. I was waiting for a special occasion to try it and it came one rainy day.
The tea caught me by surprise. Such palate of flavors! You got there everything: a chocolate tasting red tea followed by a nutty roasted oolong and ending like a jasmine scented sencha.
Unusual tea, highly recommended for blue days..

Another sample from Fong Mong today!

I also don’t get the fruity aspect of the title, but I get a very prominent floral taste out of this tea! I dnt know all my florals too well, but I recon this one is a bit of a jasmine floral. There is a buttery and vegetal taste with this, but definitely the most prominent aspect is the jasmine floral. Even after the sip, I can still sense it on my tongue.

I’ll see how further infusions go, as this is just my first.

My third oolong tea for the day.. And so far it is my favorite. It has the smooth taste of an oolong but a fruity taste after words. The tea has a mellow mild taste but it still packs a wallop. I do enjoy this blend and it has officially made me a fan of oolong. The subtleness of green tea but with the flavor of herbal. In short it is amazing