China Zhongshan Baiye Oolong 519

Again another moment of silence for a company that is missed by the tea loving community. Every tea that I have from SpecialTeas is always fabulous. Thank you Mercuryhime for this one. I have a high liking for dark oolongs they definitely have their own unique characteristics. The dry leaf has a woodsy aroma to it. When I was putting the water in with the dry leaf I noticed a sweet cranberry honey like aroma. That lovely aroma transfers into the cup. Hints of honey, cranberry, bing cherry, maybe even a little bit of grapefruit hits the palette. However I what I find odd about this tea is it’s ninja like camouflage skills. The dry leaf is a dark brown but add hot water and you the green. A great oolong though. Ahhh SpecialTeas if only I had found you sooner(sigh).

Special thanks to Mercuryhime for this one! I really like it! :)

It’s nice malty-darker oolong with super sweet notes and hints of toasty/roasty/nutty fruit-like hints! There is a honey-like end-sip to it too!

Very nice!
I’m glad Mercuryhime tried this and enjoyed it but also shared some with me! I enjoyed it very much! :)

Thanks to Mercuryhime for this special treat! The aroma of the brewed tea is like nothing else I’ve ever encountered. It’s 100% unique. It smells strangely fruity and meaty at the same time with a dash of pine needles and spice. This is going to be interesting.

I’m not usually a fan of darker oolongs. My first experience with them is funny now in hindsight. I bought an oolong sampler from Adagio, and it was exclusively dark oolongs. I had no idea what was going on because I’d only ever had green oolongs before, which are completely different. I loved the green version and not so much the other. I thought I was losing my mind. Did I even know what oolong was?

The taste is something entirely new compared to the aroma, the beginning of the sip is anyway. It tastes like woodsy honey with a small hint of smoke. The end of the sip mimics the strange aroma from before and lingers into the aftertaste where it morphs yet again into floral, vegetal notes. The aftertaste stays prominently in my mouth for what seems like forever! It’s definitely stayed with me for at least 15 minutes.

And this is only the first infusion! Let’s see what happens with the second steeped for 3 minutes. Hmm, it’s very different and very similar at the same time. It’s less fruity meat and more floral oolong, so that’s a change to my liking. This must be directly halfway between green and roasted. From my research, that would make it a semi-oxidized oolong aka “blue-green tea.” The third infusion for 4 minutes tastes like an above average dark, woodsy oolong with no astringency.

It really is too bad SpecialTeas no longer exists because this is something more people should have the opportunity to try. If it’s from tea trees that have been harvested for over 700 years, hopefully someone else is still harvesting and distributing it. This is harder to describe than anything else I’ve ever tasted. The flavor is so strong yet so capricious. This is truly magical tea.

Well! I am just surprised! I think I’m actually enjoying this despite the fact that it’s a darker oolong. At first, it seemed like your typical toasty woodsy oxidized oolong. Yawn. I put the cup down and went about a few chores. I came back and took a sip. Then something amazing happened. I liked it. When I cooled down, there was a strong honey note behind the toasted grains and oxidized tea leaf. It’s a perfect fall tea. Very enjoyable. I think I’ll cold brew this and see what happens. :)

I’ll have to thank TeaEqualsBliss here for being the catalyst that caused me to unseal this bag. It had remained unopened for about a year patiently awaiting the day that I would take notice. Then TeaEqualsBliss asked for some of it in a swap and so the bag was unsealed. Then, well…since I had the bag open anyway, I thought I’d give it a try. And here we are today.

Edit: The honeyed notes disappeared after the first two steeps so I’m decreasing the rating a bit. It turns quite ordinary towards the end. Good for an everything tea. Except that I have so many samples of awesome tea that my everyday teas are usually high quality stuff.

This oolong was my favorite till I bought #40 from Adagio. Love the flavor. It was my awakening to oolong. Nutty and woody notes.