Sugar Caramel Oolong

This one smells of butter and out doors.
Mmm, very smooth. I taste the buttery oolong and a small bit of burnt sugar. There may be a vegal element but it is way back. I think I can pick up a nutty quality at the very beginning of a sip. This is a great tea.

(Oh and random other note, this is my first full day in my new apartment. I graduated med. school on Friday)

Back to the tea, as it cools a bit, the vegal comes forward some and the buttery/nutty goes backward. It’s still smooth but not as much so.

The second cup is similar to the first but with a touch more vegal.
Third steep is again similar but less flavor. Next steep I’ll do 2 minutes. The vegal taste has backed off again a bit.
The fourth steep smells much more vegal. There is still a bit of buttery/nutty but the vegal is stepping forward accompanied by a touch of bitterness. I’m thinking this might be my last steep of this one. I really like this tea though. Perhaps my favorite Oolong

The dry leaves smell extremely sweet. The brewed tea (hot, no additives) also smells sweet. The flavor is not as sweet as it smells, there is a sweetness up front which blends very well with the oolong flavor. I think this oolong is enhanced by the sweetness as I am more easily picking up the dates and orange blossom flavors.

Very good, another success for Golden Moon .

Although the dry leaves have a faint burnt sugar aroma, the steeped tea has a surprising floral scent, at first, which fades to more caramel-ly. Although the flavor is light, it is nutty and sweet, like caramel-nut candy. Intriguing cup—

2nd infusion—more nutty, less caramel. 3rd infusion—light with a sweet afternote. 4th infusion (5 min.)—surprisingly very sweet and can really taste the caramel!

Brewed 3 min at just below a boil. No additives. Drank Hot.
O.K. This is a strange flavor to have to describe and the closest thing I can come up with is the sweet smell of burnt sugar. Not how burnt sugar tastes but the smell it gives off.
The blend with an oolong is a great choice because nothing in this blend is at all sharp. From start to finish it is a smooth sweet cup.
And as a note, this tea is wonderful hot, never ice this tea. The coldness brings out all of the aspects of oolong that should remain hidden.

GCTTB5

This oolong is not as sweet as I was expecting it to be (judging by the name). It was smooth caramel with nutty/woodsy notes. The oolong not base is fairly decent. The mouthfeel is silky with a slightly sweet aftertaste. It is a fairly enjoyable tea. However, there is something that is just kind of “blah” for me, kind of plain and boring for some reason. I am not sure why, because usually I really enjoy this flavour profile. IDK.

Resteeped for 4 minutes and it was much the same.

Evidently I’m losing my everloving mind because I guess I never reviewed this either, even though I’ve had it a while and drank it several times. OOPS.

Anyway, I made this after the great Caramel Cream green tea debaucle. It’s interesting to me how much more forgiveable a green oolong is compared to green tea.

I was NOT picky about this yet it turned out just fine. So much better than the bitter disgustingness of the last tea.

It’s sweet caramel over the roasty oolong base.
The leaves looked very pretty after they all unfurled in my gravity steeper.

I liked this. Not sure I would buy more, but I will drink what I have left.

Also – I’ve been postively starving all day. STARVING!!!!!!

I bought this nearly a year ago and haven’t tried any until today. Bad Christina!

(I’m not a big oolong person, but this was part of the Golden Moon sampler pack I ordered. I remember quite liking their Coconut Pouchong.)

This….is not knocking my socks off. The dry leaf looks really dark and roasted, but I’m getting a really green, floral undercurrent to it. And I don’t think the sweet caramel flavour is playing very nicely with the base.

Meh. Ah well. If you’re reading this tasting note and think you can give it a better home in your belly, let me know – I’m happy to send it your way.

This was a bonus sample from my swap with Tealizzy. I’ve been interested in trying this tea for a while, though I’ve only ever tried one other tea from Golden Moon. They’re changed their business model lately, and now only carry organic teas, so this one looks to be discontinued. Hopefully I don’t fall in love! The pellets are quite small compared to other rolled oolongs I’ve had lately, and they look to be a medium to dark roast. Dry scent is sweet with a brown sugar note.

The steeped tea smells roasted and sweet. I’m surprised that it doesn’t taste overly sweet. The brown sugar and/or caramel notes are present and they make a nice accent to the slightly sweet, roasted flavor of the oolong. There’s a very light taste of apples as well. It’s pretty good, but luckily I don’t love it.

Backlog from a couple days ago. This is an older sample, but it’s basically completely sealed in metal (well, plastic metal) so I thought it would be fine. I’m surprised Golden Moon is now rid of most of their usually stocked teas because they went completely organic. (They still have a couple of my favorites like Sinharaja but I don’t want to think about it too long to remember my favorites that I’ll miss.) This is one of the teas missing. I’m guessing by the odd flavor, probably due to the age, that this one wasn’t entirely organic.

Steep #1 // 2 tsps. // 10 min after boiling // 2 min
There is definitely an odd old flavor that a typical oolong wouldn’t normally have. Honestly, it tastes a bit like paint. It’s really only at the top of the first cup and definitely disappears after that. I think it’s what should be the sugar caramel flavor. Which is a shame because underlying that flavor is what I think is a gorgeous oolong. Mostly floral with undertones of peach. My favorite.

Steep #2 // few min after boiling // 2 min
Another delicious cup (thankfully missing that off flavor). This time along with the floral and hints of peach there is pineapple. There you have my three favorite flavor notes in an oolong.

Steep #3 // just boiled // 2 min
Another delicious cup and the flavor could keep going. I’ll rate this tea even though it is on the older side, since the base tea is so nice. I think oolongs can last a really long while. They don’t seem to age too badly. A decent oolong like this one doesn’t need flavoring… I was a little skeptical of “sugar caramel” anyway.

Oolongs! I really want to try more oolongs. They’re so interesting, so different. Such interesting flavors can happen with them.
Ost sent me this, which was lovely, as I wanted to try it.
Its light, with a faint sugar note laced through it. Mellow, pale, and very good. It was a good accompaniment to the rain that we’re having right now. I like oolongs as afternoon teas.
Thanks to Ost for this sample!