Pomegranate Oolong

Tea of the afternoon…..

I have new teaware! I ordered a gaiwan and two tiny cups, (and it looks like I should have ordered a fairness pitcher, too!) It looks so small next to my teapot, but I know it will be the tools I need for multiple infusions of the same tea without getting too saturated. I decided to try this tea out first, as I know how to make it and work some of the kinks out of my method. I discovered that my gaiwan holds much more than my two little cups…. And I did find a pyrex beaker to use as my pitcher for now….

As for the tea in loose leaf….. The liquor is light yellow green in color, and the pomegranate flavor is a little sweet and tart at the same time. I love that I can drink this one without any additions….. I had forgotten how much I like this one! The first time I had it was at the SoHo shop last Spring. I purchased 4 oz. of this at the Millerton shop in the early Fall as it comes by the pound in loose leaf on the website. I guess this tea also reminds me of the fun I had visiting the shops…..

Gaiwan, 1 tsp tea, about 180 water, 1 1/2 minutes. More steeping later!

This is the first Harney & Sons tea I’ve ever had, courtesy of Sandy.

I’m not the biggest fan of ‘green’ oolongs as of yet. It’s not that they’re bad, they’re just kind of subtle, and not exactly that… you know… awesome.

However, the pomegranate flavoring of this tea just seems to be the flavor that tea guan yin needs. It’s not overpowering at all in this tea, but it is very apparent. It works very well. Although, I don’t taste any of the ‘juniper’ taste that I normally get with a TGY or assorted green oolongs (high mountain, monkey picked, etc). I’m not sure if that’s just a matter of it blending with the pomegranate, or if this particular TGY doesn’t have that quality at the back of the taste.

Also, if you should happen to be able to pick up a sachet of one of these… I recommend it for nothing else other than the comical value of the post-brew sachet. Missy was giggling so hard at the way the sachet expanded from the TGY almost to the point of bursting. She said it looked like a tea balloon, haha.

So recently discovered that a friend of mine is a tea fan, and she gave me a two bags of this and a bit of unidentified loose green as a way to cheer me up. My pet rabbit was recently discovered by the dorm RAs, and was promptly kicked out, which makes me terrible upset BUT she will take care of him for me till summer. So all is well once again! And now with added tea.

So this is one of first hot oolongs that I’ve had in sometime and it was as delicious as I remember them being. The tartness of the pomegranate melted into the light taste of the oolong. I really like how delicate and light the tea was overall. Downside, kind of bitter and doesn’t re-steep very well. Very pleasant, but may not something I buy with my own money.

I had to drop of a return to UPS and my favorite tea shop is right next door, so naturally I had to go in :) Just to window shop. Right. Picked up another ounce of the delicious peach oolong they carry and grabbed some of this to try. So glad I did. I purchased it loose leaf.

It’s very nice and tart with the pomegranate flavor. The oolong beautifully expanded in my Teaze. I should have taken a picture. Next time. Like the peach oolong, I really thing this would be amazing iced. I’m going to have a lot of fun this spring/summer :)

BTW, my sissy just joined Steepster!! You should follow her. Her name is Anna. She sends me tea and brings me tea when I see her. Gotta love it!!

I received a sample of this in silken sachet form with my most recent order from Harney & Sons. (I didn’t realize how much I had ordered until I started unpacking the box. It was like a circus car full of clowns.)

When you first open the packet, there’s a burst of a bright and fruity fragrance with a bit of tang. This was a perfect representation of pomegranate at its most ripe state. The sachet was full of bright green rolled oolong nuggets.

Upon steeping, the leaves plumped so that the bag was almost bursting. The fruity and nutty fragrance was strong and wafted from my desk; no need to get your nose into this tea.

The tea brews to a very pale champagne color and the fragrance in the cup is even more nutty.The tanginess of the pomegranate compliments the butter and nut oolong very well. The lingering aftertaste of the fruit was a little surprising since it wasn’t overly prominent in the tea.

Usually the free samples from H&S don’t do much for me but this one goes on the reorder list!

So, my favorite lunch place on Peachtree has Harney & Sons tea now! They have a few different teas there, so I picked two to go in my purse for later. This one intrigued me because I haven’t had many flavored oolongs in the past. Also, the package said it was a tie guan yin (Iron Goddess), and I’ve had a few of those that I really liked.

Anyway, the fruit flavor is very powerful in the scent. It burst out as soon as I opened the packet. At first glance, I thought the balled up leaves were a little small, and not as glossy. However, they expanded enormously in the pyramid bag, filling it completely. I gave the tea 3 minutes to steep, and it became a pale straw-like yellow. Upon tasting it, I think it could have benefited from steeping longer.

The fruit is in the forefront, as one would expect. It does taste a bit like tart pomegranate, but also sort of like strawberries. Real ones, not the artificial strawberry candy taste. The actual oolong flavor is hardly present. It’s more present in the scent of the tea. Still, I like it. I would probably grab another and try again.

I got a sample of this (loose leaf) from Harney & Sons. With the loose leaf tea I know that I steeped a lot more leaf than one could get in a Harney bagged tea. While this tea was simple and sweet and not particularly impressive as I drank it, I started to notice that the after-taste was quite authentically pomegranate and very sweet and fruity.

It would not surprise me if I never think of this tea again.

It would not surprise me if I suddenly have a deep craving for it in the future. It’s made an imprint, at the very least.

I notice that they suggest this as an iced tea and I think that it would make a very tasty and flavorful one.

I was browsing Barnes and Noble today and was excited to see that they had a few Harney and Sons teas for sale in sachet form, and I decided to try this one. I was expecting it to be a darker oolong but it turned out to be a tie guan yin, but I was still just as excited. It’s pretty good, nothing remarkable but solid. The oolong is lightly floral (much less so than Teavivre’s tie guan yin) and there’s the slightest touch of juicy tartness that goes well with the floral aspect. Not sure if it’s gonna go on my list to re-purchase, but it’s good.

I recently placed a huge order on a tea impulse buy from a company clearing out their Harney stock. (Impulse buys? Me? Never!) I’m not mentioning that company’s name because my disappointment is in no way their fault. I didn’t realize that I was buying teabags in this tea blend and a couple others. I thought I was buying sachets, and now I’m super disappointed to have a 50-count box of this tea in individually wrapped teabags. Gish…

I’m also disappointed in this tea. The pomegranate flavor tastes really artificial to me, and the oolong is bitter. Maybe I got a bad teabag, maybe I over steeped it, maybe this tea is just better in loose leaf form (I don’t even know if it’s sold in loose leaf). This is not what I’ve come to expect from one of my favorite tea companies.

There could be many factors at play here so I’m not going to rate this tea now. I’ll try it again later because I want to believe that it can’t be as bad as I think it is at this moment. If any of you tea-obsessed kiddlets are a fan of Pomegranate Oolong, or if you just want to give it a try, please let me know because I have PLENTY to share.

Another sample that I received in my latest H&S’s order.
When I first opened up the little packet, and took a big whiff, I became very frightened.
It had a very strong and overly sweet odor.
Almost candy-like.
I could not identify any Oolong odor at this point.
Then I added the water.
And immediately sighed with relief, the Pomegranate mellowed and out emerged a nice earthy Oolong.
The Tea is a lovely golden color.
I think if I had more then just a sample, I would try this Tea cold-brewed.
Overall, This is a nice fruity Oolong.

A friend gave me a sachet of this tea to sample. She received a tin of it from a family member and found it was going to be too sweet and fruity for her (simply not to her taste). I had been thinking of trying a Pomegranate Oolong from somewhere else, so jumped at the opportunity to try it quickly and easily.

The scent of the dry leaf is very sweet and the pomegranate tang overpowers the scent of the leaves. Once I steeped it, however, everything changed. The liquor is a nice light yellow/green and the aroma clearly displays the Oolong as well as a light amount of the pomegranate.

I was still a little worried that the pomegranate would overpower the Oolong, but I could not have been more pleased with the result! The balance of sweet tanginess from the pomegranate is perfect with the earthy Oolong. Both flavors are clear and full, while working complementary with one another.

Well done, Harney & Sons on this one!

Many, many thanks to ashmanra for this tea!!!

I was trying to learn something new at work, and had one of those frazzle dazzle mornings that turned to afternoon before I knew it. This was my company :) Delicious pomegranate taste! Delicious tie guan yin type oolong! BUT – perhaps they are like two perfectly good people who just don’t get on together – maybe they would be better apart. I kept on wanting to taste the green oolong alone, and also have a fruity tisane – alone! (in fact I’m drinking Tazo Passion as I write this note because I was really enjoying the fruity!) Really nice high quality tea – and I’m even looking forward to drinking the other sachet ashmanra so generously sent!! but not an OMG run out and get it one for me. I love the flavors but I’d like then in two separate cups ;)

I received this one from Doulton as well! Thanks D!

This is an average tasting flavored oolong. A bit tart but juicy and pleasant. I’m drinking it hot right now but am thinking for the rest I will do it iced! It’s just SCREAM “Ice me”
:)

This smelled so fruity and delicious that of all the sample packets that came from Harney & Sons, this is the one I wanted to try first. (Other than Boston, but I couldn’t NOT drink that one yesterday.)

Steeped, it still has that very tart, juicy smell, but underneath it you can smell a nutty kind of oolong scent. It tastes just like it smells – mostly like delicious pomegranate, but supported very well by a tasty base oolong.

The leaves expanded like crazy, too. With only 1 tsp of tea in my infuser, after three steeps it was exploding out all over the place. Fun!

EDIT: I should probably specify that I had the loose leaf version of this tea. So. I did.

I think green oolongs are growing on me . This is pretty tasty! Better review to come later…

Nice and delicate, and even when I didn’t take great care with it, didn’t go bitter. Even better was the encouraging note that came with it. (Thanks, ashmanra … encouraging words are keeping me propped up these days!)

received this in my march tea swap. Just brewed it up on my break. the liquor was a light yellow green, which was unexpected but welcome as I expected the liquor to be a red color due to the pomegranate. The fact that it was not red most likely indicated that it was not full of artificial colors. It had a subtle sweet smell and a mild taste. It tasted like an oolong, but the pomegranate was there, lingering in the background. I had it with a little honey, but think I will enjoy this one more once I get back off the mountain dew (it has a way of ruining your taste buds and making everything else taste less sweet. Darn high fructose corn syrup water). Overall, glad I got to try this one, and I will drink the other packets I got, but not one I would go out of my way to drink. I am pleased with the quality of Harney and Sons so far, but like Paris much more than this.

Thank you so much for some of this, SimplyJenW!

I gave up finishing the Hot Toboggan and moved on to something new. I really love this. Unlike the other fruit flavored oolong I got recently, this actually tastes like real pomegranate with oolong. It’s tart and sweet, and I can taste the tea base. I can’t wait to give it a second infusion later.

This classic specialty blend sachet of Pomegranate Oolong formerly known as Ti Quan Yin oolong is infused with Pomegranate.

It is sweet and liquor like, a very soothing drink. I like it very hot with nothing added; as this was a morning cup of tea, needing a little more flavor with my oolong. I don’t find this to be roasted in flavoring or robust even; just sweetly and liquor like because of the pomegranate.

I am sorry that I only purchased on sachet when I spotted this at The Map Room Cafe at the BPL, Boston’s main library.

I was surprised to have found Harney & Sons being sold as individual sachet. Another novelty to be in awe!

This is a lovely oolong tea. The pomegranate flavour is clearly there, but not overwhelming. The oolong base is lovely and comes through clearly. Overall a great balance between tea and flavour.

Thanks jessiwrites!

The second resteep is still quite flavourful. The pomegranate has diminished somewhat but the oolong base is still nice and strong.