Formosa Baochong Premium Whole Leaf Oolong

The Final Sipdown: Day 12.2

Got this tea thanks to the ever generous Auggy and I must say it was one of the ones I was most excited to try. However, pretty descriptions does not a pleasant tea make, because…

This tea sounds a lot more impressive than how it tastes. Mostly, I am getting hay. Hay with maybe a hint of not particularly distinct floral. The tea itself tastes of the smell of hay, if that makes sense. And…I’m thinking raisins?

I dunno. I used the entire sample and, much like my prior log, am finding this not unpleasant, but altogether unremarkable.

Is it because I’m so tired? I feel slightly guilty that these teas might be served a light injustice via my fatigue, and so I’m going to call it a night and leave these both sans ratings.

In an effort to catch up, I am going to officially declare tomorrow Tea Day. Down with turkey! Up with tea! And up with being awake enough to pay attention when I’m drinking tea and cogent enough to log them without writing idiotic logs. Time to go to sleep to the dulcet tones of Vince Guaraldi. How is it that A Charlie Brown Christmas is so simultaneously dull and comforting at the same time? It’s a holiday tranquilizer.

Anyway, nothing, AND I MEAN NOTHING, is going to keep me from counting this towards my TFS total. Tomorrow, TFS shall rue my existence! For now, Christmas tiiiiiiime is heeeere, haaaappinesssss and cheeeeer… Zzzzz.

Teas Downed: 20

The smell of the dry leaves reminds me of my grandparent’s barn after my grandpa died and my grandma got rid of the cows – dusty but clean with a residual sweet smell of hay. After steeping, it smells very freshly green and rich, almost like sencha but not as grassy.

The flavor is rather delicate and sweetly floral and green with a fresh hay and flower taste going on. Really very pretty but with less mouthfeel than I’m used to having with baozhongs. Ah, there’s the mouthfeel. Apparently the tea has to cool a little bit to get that silky, almost textured quality that I’m used to/look for in this type of tea.

Second Steep: 2:00, slightly less delicate with less floral and tasting faintly of buttered greens though I can’t identify what type.

Third Steep: 3:00, a more solid flavor but I do miss the sweet hay and floral. It’s leveled out to a more buttered steamed asparagus. Based on the smell, the leaves might have one more steep in them.

Overall a nice tea that I like but I have the feeling that I should be able to get a bit more out of it. I think I’ll try this with more leaf next time and see how that goes. If it doesn’t work, I’ll up the water temp.
^2.8g/5oz

I could drink this tea at any time of the day, which makes it very likable. It may not have a strong taste, but I like it that way. It is a little light on the floral flavor, however you can still taste “something” after each drink. I enjoy the subtly of the flavor. I was especially impressed with the number of times I could steep this tea. Even after my fourth steep I found the taste to be just as potent as the first steep.

Some places suggest a steep time of about 1 minute. I personally enjoy adding an extra 30 seconds to bring out the taste a little more. This is some pretty tasty tea – although I am a bit in favor of oolongs in general. Overall it’s a good tea that I think the general public, including non-tea drinkers wouldn’t mind trying.