Spiderweb Oolong

This Oolong reminds me of a Darjeeling in several ways. It has that muscatel flavor, it is crisp and light, much like a Darjeeling, and it has a lovely wine-like finish of a Darjeeling. There is also a really lovely malt tone to this. Not a strong, overwhelming flavor, just a hint. Overall the cup is sweet, grape-like with beautiful muscatel notes, and a deep woodsy tone in the distance. I’m liking it very much… I’m on my sixth infusion!

I’m having a cup of this while trying to learn a few more Norwegian Phrases via YouTube as well as a friend of mine via email. I also have a few ‘lessons’ available via iPhone Ap. I should learn some “Tea-Specific” Phrases, eh!? :)

Anyhow…this aroma of this tea reminds me of grapes…maybe not the plump fruit but more like the skins or leaves, perhaps.

The taste is clean and woodsy with subtle sweet notes underneath. I agree with Cinoi in saying there is a slight wine-like after taste. Maybe a Semi-Dry Wine…to compare a taste, I suppose.

This is very different and I like it!

Backlogging.

I actually drank this tea all week and it took me most of the week to get the words just right about it. I used up the entire sample over the course of five infusions. So bear with me while I revisit my notes and describe each one.

To start, the leaves smell of faint oolong and a tiny bit of grape flavor. The grape is very difficult to detect, but I love grape and can find and look for it in a lot of things… The leaves are small, dark, curled very tightly, with the faint aroma.

The first infusion was five minutes, hot, no additives. The tea is sweet and malty, a delicious oolong with the slight wine taste finishing off the brew. I mustered two more infusions (5 minutes and 7 minutes respectively) with very similarly delicious results. This was day one.

Day two I added some sugar, hot infusion, five minutes. This was still good, but the natural sweetness of the tea itself and the added sweetness from the sugar made this infusion almost too sweet. Still good, but could be less sweet.

Day three, I put my tea in a travel mug and let it infuse with hot water, no additives the entire 45 minute car ride to work, taking little sips when there were stops along the route. The tea is much stronger now, not a gentle, definitely still oolong, but more malt then sweet when brewed this way. The wine aftertaste is completely gone. As an aesthetic note, this long of an infusion allowed the leaves to completely unfurl into long thick green oolong leaves…

Day four, attempting the 45 minute infusion again, but this time with 1/2 teaspoon of rock sugar. The sweetness is back, but I feel like it is kind of cheating, the natural sweetness is gone and overrun by malt, but the sugar brings some underlying flavor to life. Still no wine aftertaste.

Day five, my last bit of the tea, I decided to go back to basics and enjoy what it actually was, hot, no additives, five minute brew. After having experimented with the other ways I thought I could enjoy the tea, I now know, this was superior. An even balance of sweet and malty oolong, the slight hint of grape, with a crisp and clean flavor. Very well balanced, very delicious.

Enjoy!

From my It’s All About the Leaf review, available at: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1761/tea-review-shanti-tea-spiderweb-oolong/

Spider webs conjure up ethereal visions of delicate pale films of almost nothing. Wisps of white that disappear in the sunlight. Shanti’s Spiderweb oolong initially seems strangely misnamed. The leaves are short, black and twisted, but very tangible and more like spiders than their webs. My sample didn’t have much aroma dry, but once steeped, it almost smelled more like grapes than oolong. Or ice wine. Very sweet. Again, not a quality widely associated with spider webs.

Once brewed up, the liquor is a light tan. The tea doesn’t have much of the typical oolong flavor of other teas, but it’s got a pleasant lightly tannic flavor, and a lovely sweetness on the finish that reminds me again of grapes, or on subsequent steeps of sweet lemons. There’s also a malty overtone to the brew. It’s got a thin, tannic mouth-feel, and here’s where the spider web name is applicable. The tea’s flavor dissipates quickly, leaving just the hint of sweetness, and the knowledge that you’ve just had some nice tea.

A co-worker showed me this Oolong. She gave me enough to prepare four cups worth. All I can say is, WHERE did it all go? It’s a really nice, and actually light oolong despite it’s oxidized look. All whom love oolong don’t know what they are missing out on. Try it.