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Oolong Tea by Peet's Coffee & Tea
Long, jet-black leaves that yield a sweet, rich and pungent flavor with hints of apricot and roasted grains.
Phoenix (Fenghuang) Mountain is located near the coast in China’s Guangdong province. For several hundred years, small farmers have grown a unique strain of the tea bush here, notable for its thick central trunk. The freshly picked leaves are hand-processed in small batches by skilled workers, who labor through the night alternately rolling the leaves, then allowing them to rest. Afterward, the leaves are baked four to five separate times over coals until completely dried. The long, jet-black leaves turn olive green after steeping, and yield a strong, natural flavor with hints of apricot, plum and roasted grains.
This is the first oolong that I have really enjoyed.
It starts off a touch watery, but then quickly slides into a slightly fruity taste; the cup moves on to a light-bodied, toasted grain mid-range, and finishes with a slight sesame aftertaste. This tea is smooth and light.
Dry, its leaves are dark, full, and twisted. They are very long. The liquor is a light, golden brown. I drank it without sugar or milk.
Phoenix Mountain Oolong is a lovely high-quality tea which exhibits the rich, complex flavors and sweet finish characteristic of oolong teas. This tea offers a rich, robust flavor and fruity finish which makes it a satisfying tea to drink on its own or accompanying a meal. The brewed tea has a floral fragrance and mellow smoky chestnut taste balanced by fruity peach overtones. For my full review: http://www.leafjoy.com/2010/10/review-phoenix-mountain-oolong-peets-coffee-tea/
I’m convinced this is the best quality tea Peet’s offers on a regular basis. They do (or used to, anyway) offer a DanCong special for mail orders for a couple weeks around January after they got the tea in. The tea buyer has a strong tendency towards Indian teas, but it’s obvious from talking to him that DanCongs are a special exception for him to the point where he purchases incredibly small production lots of only enough for a dozen or so 1oz tins. Those teas are a massive step above this one, but the standard commercial Phoenix Oolong is good, especially considering the size of the company.
A week ago I stopped into one of Peet’s locations for a pot of this and was smacked with disappointment, even after taking control of the variables, which most of the staff do for you, removing that control from the customer. I’ve certainly felt disappointment with a tea I’ve known to enjoy before, but it’s rare that I’ll be really be affronted with the emotion. Today, I’m taking more control and choking up the last experience to water that’s been reheated too many times and a canister of leaves that’s been exposed to coffee-scented air too often. Fortunately, this time is the best tasting I’ve ever managed to get from this tea.
Considering where this tea stands compared to other Phoenix Oolongs, the amount of excitement/boredom inherent in it, the level of consistency of leaves, and the “volume” of expression it conveys I certainly consider this a “good” tea, but I can’t justify a rating of 60 or higher.
9g with 175ml in a rong tian style zi ni yixing pot. Single rinse immediately poured off. Only did three infusions with 85 degree C water – 30sec, 15 sec, 15 sec.
Leaves range from very long to very small… black and very dark green with a grayish reflection. Dried apricot dominates the dry fragrance. Wet leaves are much lighter, mossy green with yellowish stripes. Wet leaf aroma is a little more herbal-spicy, like basil, with a peach fruit note. There’s also a toasted grain note very similar to plain Cheerios. Liquor doesn’t carry much aroma compared to the wet leaves, but has a distinct toasted honey note. Liquor is pale yet richly hued yellow and clear.
Flavor and mouthfeel is like honey dissolved in water and a light peach accent in the nose. Wheat toast sweet and sour in the aftertaste. Balanced, medium body. Faint cedar woodiness in afteraroma. Really straightforward in expression of sweet, sour, slightly weighty, and crispness. Slight peppery astringency in the aftertaste along the sides of the tongue.
Doesn’t shift a whole lot over three brews.
Not spectacular, but easy drinking, and something I don’t mind having alongside food as I don’t have to worry about delicate complex characteristics I may be missing out on.
I didn’t like this tea the first time I tried it with the recommended 200 degree water and 4-5 min steep time. I found it to be a little too oversteeped for my liking. I made it again now with a lower temp and shorter steep time but with more loose tea and I like it a lot better. the taste is stronger without that gross overcooked taste that comes with excess steeping. I added a bit of sugar too.
Go ahead, pay an arm and a leg for an incredible dancong oolong. But tell me, does it beat this rival that costs only 6.50 per ounce (yes, in the land of dancongs that is a bargain)? I’ve paid more and found smokiness and often intense briskness (unusual in an oolong), but never the lovely hints of grain, stone fruit, and honey at the strength that is present here. Sold.
Strong apricot notes with low toasted grain or nuts. Really strong floral notes..kinda like drinking perfume after a while , it also had a buttery texture to the tea.
Great tea with tasty top notes and a sublime aroma
A lovely stronger oolong tea.
A little more flavorful than the Golden Dragon Tea, which made it all the better
Highly recommended
Prepared the tea in a small stone(not clay) tea pot; holds enough tea for one ceramic tasting cup. Rich amber color, fantastic apricot flavor. Adjusting temp of the water up slightly with each additional steeping, rendered 5 in total. Black twisted leaves, open up and turn green as they are brewed.
