Sugar Caramel Oolong

I received this tea from Alphakitty months ago, but with moving house, plus pregnancy, plus being home with a toddler means I sometimes forget things. Today, though, I’ve been nursing a cup of this all day, thanks to being able to multi-steep. However, I can’t write a long note since my 26-month-old has decided that she wants to avoid napping in favour of throwing every blanket + plush toy out of the crib, THEN testing her mattress for weaknesses via repeated jumping. This nap = not happening.

This tea = getting me through it all! PLUS, since it’s an oolong and I can steep it multiple times I get to stay hydrated as well. Win/win. I’m loving the caramel paired with creamy oolong… interesting how with each consecutive steep the caramel slowly fades until all I’m left with is the oolong. Yum, yum.

Now, to check on this manic tot of mine… uuuuuuuurgh.

Golden Moon Sample 5/31
and also my 50th tasting note :)
I LOVE this tea. Like many other’s I had my nose buried in the tea packet smelling delicious sugary caramel goodness. Once I finally got around to brew the tea, it tastes just as wonderful as it smells. Very slightly oolong with a sweet caramel pairing as well. I wish there was a little more oolong, however i’m not sure that a stronger oolong presence would create discord in the mixture of tastes.
This is a perfect tea to curl up to during a blizzard (yay for winter weather)

This reminds me a lot of Mighty Leaf’s Bleu Peacock. Like, a lot. Caramel flavored green oolong. This is probably a little smoother, a little sweeter on the aftertaste. They’re similarly priced (Bleu Peacock is $3.25/oz. This is $4.21/oz), so I’d probably buy this instead for variety when my bag of BP runs out, but I don’t drink it that often so… that could be awhile.

Nice, but nowhere near as awesome as the Coconut Pouchong – it doesn’t have the synergy between the oolong and the flavor.

It’s been almost 10 months since I last wrote a tealog on here and a whole lot has changed in those 10 months!! I really need to make an effort to start getting on here again, I’m just so busy these days. I’ve got enough tea to last me a good long while and I really need to get to drinking it. I’ve been on a coffee kick lately which I know isn’t all that great for me. But I feel like I need the pick me up in the morning! Bad bad bad….

I am so extremely worn out this week between school and work. And I’m getting sick on top of it. I could barely sleep last night because my nose and throat were hurting so badly. I almost failed a test this morning and I decided to leave school early just because I’m feeling so crappy and I’ve got to work again tonight. I’m spreading myself awfully thin…but such is the holiday season. My customers need me to take care of their pooches.

I thought I’d rip into this sample today as a pick me up. I don’t think the sample was quite big enough to put into my breville, but it was just so easy to brew it in there and forget all the hassle. It came out pretty weak. Or maybe it’s the sickness coming on. Or the fact that I haven’t been drinking much tea lately. Something’s definitely off here. But it does feel amazing on my throat. And for that I am thankful.

I’ll hold off on rating this one.

Edit: used less water and still not terribly impressed. It still feels great on my throat though.

Trying this tea thanks to RachanaC (A.K.A. Rachel)! (If you’re on TeaTra.de, be sure to check out her samplers!) This is only my third oolong, so I am feeling very newbish as I sip this tea. I was thrilled by the way the leaves are rolled up into glossy dark green pebbles.

It brewed up to a pleasant, springlike yellow that makes me think of green teas. (And kinda makes me worry that I used water that was too hot.) The flavor is very nutty, like the description described, with faint hints of caramel. Something sort of reminds me of cocoa in the aftertaste.

All around, this is an interesting and complex oolong. But I think I’m going to have to compare my preparation with everyone else’s before I make another cup, so I can sip and review with confidence.

Why hello, steepster! Long time no.. oh whatever.
I have no excuse for visiting, aside from the simple fact I haven’t tried any new teas lately. But I assure you I’m drinking the good stuff that’s already in my cupboard.
Tangent aside…
I’ve reviewed this one in the past, but I just made myself an iced version of it for the summer (I anticipate doing this a lot with the stuff I have). Like most of you, I’m sure, I received the GM newsletter about making iced tea, and I was all excited to try it out with my White Persian Melon when I realized I don’t own White Persian Melon (shameful). So I went with this one instead.

Excellent choice! The tea is naturally sweet and sugary, so there’s no need to add anything to it (That that I would of course, but you know how iced tea can get…). I still like the hot version better, but this makes an excellent iced tea. Luckily, no one in my house wants my real tea so I get the entire pitcher to myself :)

You may see more of me now over the summer as I try out some more teas!

I got this from Rachel. Thank you so much again!

This tea is a lovely flavored oolong. I like how dark and large the leaves were. The brew was a nice deep, golden amber in color. The scent and taste were like burnt sugar and a hint of nuts and caramel. It is a warm and toasty/roasty blend. I steeped this twice and the nice light flavor persisted. It tastes light and slightly sweet. It is a smooth tea. A good blend overall.

Sampled this today, thanks to the traveling tea box! I realized as I was brewing it that I had no idea how long to steep it so I quickly got online and saw all of the 2 & 3 minute brewing times in the reviews. I was already at 4 minutes at that point, so I was worried I had oversteeped by a landslide, but honestly I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. The tea is a beautiful golden yellow colour, with a sugary, slightly caramel scent (that reminds me of the Creme Caramel blend by The Tea Spot). The taste is sweet with a vegetal aftertaste, but honestly I don’t get a blatant caramel flavour from it… it’s much more subtle. Overall, very pleasant and light. This would make a great afternoon or dessert tea in my opinion. I might just put this on my shopping list for future purchase (once I pare down my collection a little bit… I have way too much tea at this point)!

Finally, a good selection from my Golden Moon Tea sampler! What a treat on a grey, rainy day. The smell when I opened the package was intense — I think I smelled the leaves for a good minute or two. A nice, deep rich caramel scent with some subtle smoky undertones. (Must’ve been that burnt sugar the package alluded to.) The finished cup was just as pleasant, although I tasted more caramel than oolong (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing). I could see this as a good after-dinner tea. Even after three infusions, the caramel flavor was still strong, but not overpowering. A real winner.

Mmm, this tea is really lovely.

When I opened the package it smelled like maple candy (as someone else described in their review) and I loved it. I do wish it was as good as it smelled in the package because then I’d give it a 100.

I smelled it while it was brewing and almost gagged and got really worried. I didn’t like the smell while brewing at all – very vegetal.

Now I am drinking it and it’s very nice. It has a background flavor of caramel and it’s very delicate. I’d actually like the caramel to be stronger in it. I may have too much water for this amount of tea in the sample (there were not any instructions about the amount of tea that this sample makes).

Being a novice to oolongs and recently having learned to rinse oolongs in hot water before brewing, I was a little confused about this one. Since it has flavor I wasn’t sure if rinsing it for 10 seconds in hot water washed away some of the caramel flavor. I’d be curious to know if other people rinsed and whether this is recommended or not for this tea.

Update – second steeping is grassier and has less caramel flavor.