Taiwan Dong Ding (Tung Ting) Oolong Tea

A lovely Oolong – sweet, and so delicate! The floral notes are very soft in the first cup. With subsequent infusions, the flavors do pick up a little bit, but they remain a little on the delicate side. It is like drinking the air that breezes through a garden: the flowers and the grass, and the clean, crisp air. So delicate and serene.

It is very refreshing too, I find the delicate quality of this tea to be so thirst quenching, and less dry than a more astringent tea might be. Sweet and exotic, and just the right tea for this afternoon. I find myself adoring this tea more and more with each sip.

Thanks LiberTEAS for this sample. Let me start by saying this is a good tea to break me (or anyone else needing broken in I suppose) to green teas in that I’ve not had but a couple I enjoyed and I am an oolong fan so obvious deduction= green oolongs.

Dry leaf is, as you would expect- green (shocker) and smells floral and maybe even fruity. The liquor steeped to a bright yellow with just a tad of greenish brown. Wet leaf smells very green indeed, kinda like seaweed maybe.

I was happy to see that, although this is a green oolong, it starts out not overpoweringly green and with a certain amount of nutiness in the sip. A faint sweetness is present, aside from the organic kind of sweetness I associate with grasses,but there’s not a strong enough presence for me to decipher what it resembles. The level of astringency is within my embarrassingly low threshold of tolerance for enjoyment. It, as I’m learning, leaves my palate feeling clean without any kind of bitter aftertaste. As the cup cools the grassiness becomes stronger, thereby reinforcing my earlier statement that it’s a good drink to break in to greens with. With the utmost of manners it brought me along into it’s vegative flavor and in turn kept itself from being poured out prematurely. Who knew that common manners could be so self preserving.

Since the cordial mannerisms of this tea were worthy to make mention I also deemed it worthy a second steeping. Fret not those of a frugal mindset; I shall not waste this sample but rather once this note is finished will continue steeping for any family members enthusiastic about drinking it during the wind down moments before bed.

Second steeping; a little info to start- often times I try to split even small samples in half in case I oversteep or something. I’m not stocked up on teaware yet so to do this I use one of those two cup glass pots with the finum basket inside you see at Asian groceries. It loses temp quickly. That said, when I went to steep a second time I forgot to set a timer (do not mock my primitive means you fortunate ‘Breville One Touch’ owners) and it went for maybe ten minutes. To my surprise it wasn’t bitter or overly strong…it seemed fine. I can only now assume that with the rapid temperature loss that the tea ‘stopped’ steeping once it got low enough. It was greener still,with a slightly more dry mouthfeel which may have been due to oversteeping. Generally this was a good tea, just not so much for me with my slowly but surely leaning away from green stuff palate.

tunes-Johnny Cash=Hurt/Rusty Cage/Thirteen/God’s Gonna Cut You Down

One of my samples from Teavivre! It’s so hot out, there was pretty much no way I was going to be drinking this hot this afternoon, but I’ve kind of neglected my teas from them so I was determined to make this one. I cold steeped it for 15 hours or so, maybe for too long—it has an ever so slightly bitter taste that I haven’t encountered in cold brews before. It’s not really unpleasant, just there in the background. I also dumped a whole one of the cute little packets in, so maybe that had something to do with it?

This is a soft, light oolong, with mild floral and fruity notes. The floral taste reminds me a bit of gardenia, the fruit like a faint whiff of fresh peaches. There’s also a bit of palate-cleansing creaminess at the end of the sip, perfect for a hot day! I’m getting some light vegetal notes as well, maybe some grassiness though it’s honestly a bit harder to pick out such subtle things when your glass is ice-cold! I’m definitely enjoying this iced though, very refreshing and summery.

Tea of the afternoon…..

I this is the last Teavivre sample I have to taste, but I have one more than this to review. Then I will probably be going through my samples to put an order together. In general, I am thoroughly impressed with the tea I have received from this company. Thank you so much to TeaVivre for the opportunity to try the samples. I know I sound like a broken record, but I greatly appreciate their approach to tea, as well as the quality I can purchase for the price.

Onto the tea. This one is very good. The leaves are green like you would expect with a green oolong. The brew is light yellow with only a hint of green. The vegetal notes are light. There is definitely a hint of butter and a creamy, heavy mouthfeel. Yum. I really like this one. I think I need some soon, but I need to go back to my Tie Guan Yin for a cup just to see how it compares.

Mug method, 2 minutes, 175 degree water. No additions.

Thank you Angel at Teavivre for this sample!

For some reason, I really like the Frozen Summit Oolongs! This one is certainly no let down.

The smoothness is accompanied by the lack of fruity notes, resulting more of a grassy flavor. It resembles a light, more subdued Pearl Green Tea.

There is a mild sweetness to the after-sip, that leaves you satisfied. I will be coming back to this one a couple different times, I’m sure.

Dry aroma puts me in mind of an Iron Goddess, it smells very much like a green oolong. There is a bold aroma, distinct sweetness with some hay and grass underneath it. I’m not much for greener oolongs typically, but this smells pretty nice.

Steeped at 90 degrees for about 2 minutes, the beau thinks we under-steeped it a bit and I tend to agree. There is a very slight oolong aroma and taste, more sweet than vegetal but it was barely there.

The second steep (of 5ish minutes) shows more strength of flavour, with a fairly strong floral aroma and taste. Still fairly unassuming, but nice. Green oolongs aren’t really my forte and this doesn’t really change that but it was a perfectly palatable cup of tea.

I think this is one of those times where I should have followed the instructions and used boiling water, but boiling water doesn’t work with oolongs for me very frequently. I still have three more little pouches, will try again at some point. Thanks Teavivre for this sample! (From ages ago, whoops!)

I did a swap for a few oolongs, dong dings especially, with Amy oh a few weeks ago, and she offered to throw in a sample of this tea in the package. I of course said yes, and then almost immediately after she put the package in the mail Teavivre said they would be including it in my next round of samples. This one happens to be the sample pouch that Amy sent, so thank you so much again for it. I’ve had two other dong dings… one from thepuriTea (unroasted) and one from Naivetea (a bit roasted). This one is definitely unroasted, so I’m expecting it to be more similar to thepuriTea’s.

Mm, I really like the scent of this one when it’s all steeped up. Very floral, a little buttery. The flavor is quite nice, but more vegetal and less buttery than the aroma suggests. Still floral and smooth, and definitely a lovely tea to drink. It’s got a hint of that green-oolong astringency that “cleans” your palate. It lacks that faint lingering sweetness that really sells a tea for me, but that’s ok because it’s still overall a very tasty tea.

THANKS TO ANGEL FOR THIS SAMPLE…THEY ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED

These are beautiful leaves and so aromatic. This tea is extremely satisfying even before the first sip. It may sound a bit geeky, but to watch these vibrant green leaves open up and release an undeniably beautiful aroma could be considered a transcendent experience.

The somewhat grassy dry aroma, when awakened, blossoms into a very green, asparagus-like aroma mixed with floral overtones. A very enticing lt. green liquor also emits a slight evergreen scent.

This lightly oxidized oolong possesses a delicate taste that is pleasing and noteworthy enough even to someone (me) who usually demands and enjoys the big, bold tastes of shu puer. The taste has the complexity most will enjoy. Green beany, asparagusy vegetal predominate, but there are a host of others which I am unable to concisely identify. Nonetheless, multiple flavors abound in this cup.
Obviously, this is a high quality tea,possessing attributes typical of many good Taiwan oolongs. This tea has a very clean, pleasant throat. A subtle throat belonging to a subtle tea. One shouldn’t expect more.

My only regret regarding this oolong is that I exhausted the leaves when I could have drunk more.

This is a very nice, complete oolong with no obvious flaws.

This is a sample tea from Teavivre by way of Krystaleyn. Thanks for the sample!

Let me just say I’m new to oolongs. It’s an area I’ve been wanting to explore for a bit and now I’ve got some to try. I looked the brewing parameters up on Teavivre and have stuck with gringo brewing since I’m pretty comfortable with it. The gaiwan is a bit tricky to pour still! Very messy tea making.

I didn’t know what to expect as far as taste, but I’ve found it pleasant so far. My first surprise is a butter association. I looked in my cup to be sure I didn’t drop some in there some how. Not one little oil bubble on the top of my tea, no butter added! I get a vegetal taste but it passes quickly. I’m kind of playing with it now. Holding the tea on different spots on my tongue. Yay! Another surprise! Now I get a hint of fruit. Very interesting tea. I shall have to see how it goes for the rest of the day. Thanks again Krystaleyn!

This sample was provided courtesy of Teavivre for review.

I decided to use two of the sample packets in my Gaiwan because I wasn’t sure one would have given me enough leaf.

My first steep was with around 180 F water for one minute. It is buttery, very rich and fresh. I got a tiny bit of sharpness towards the end so I think I may have steeped it too long that time.

The second steep was for around 30 seconds. The leaves have expanded so much that they have almost filled my entire gaiwan so I’m not sure using all that leaf was such a great idea. hee hee… but now I am picking up a bit on that lychee flavor and it’s still very nice and buttery.

Third steep: a little less butter and a little more fruit. It’s really a nice relaxing cup of yum-ness. I do happen to like Dong Ding oolongs quite a lot.

Fourth and Fifth Steep: still going strong in terms of flavor and richness.

Overall I give this good points on flavor but I’ve been drinking sooo many Taiwanese green oolongs lately that I’m not sure it really stands head and shoulders above the crowd. It is very enjoyable though! I would have liked to seen this roasted a bit.

Dry Leaf – Milky, buttery sweetness with some sweet pea scent.
Wet Leaf – Buttery, Sweet and nutty. Slightly milky.

- 1st Steep – Sweet and slightly savory background with nutty taste. faint vegetal scent.

- 2nd Steep – Nutty sweetness resembles sweet corn and some raw honey. (smells like roasted sweet corn). Starts sweet and nutty with savory hints and buttery feel that then feels clean.

- 3rd Steep – Slightly smells like sweet corn when roasted. the leaves opened fully and the brew is sweet with floral tones and butter like feeling.

- 4th Steep – Sweetness fades away and more floral, is not at clean as the first steeps this steep has a floral aftertaste to it.

Good tea, not the greatest to me, but If you like smoother Oolongs this is one to try.

Naturally Sweet and Fruity – I would agree with that! This is very tasty! It’s good hot or cold and it makes my mouth water! YUM! Special thanks to LiberTEAs for this one!

Thanks to Krystaleyn for the sample!

The scent of this tea is like steamed vegetables on a breezy summer day, there’s just a hint of floral in the aroma that doesn’t quite fit in with the veggies. It smells good, but it’s almost like you’re smelling two different things at once.

The flavor of this oolong is very earthy, with a deep almost roasted vegetable flavor. Definitely a little buttery, and if you swirl the tea around in your mouth a little bit, a light fruitiness starts to show through the buttery vegetables.

It’s a very interesting, flavorful tea that I’m glad to have experienced. It doesn’t quite fit what I want, but is easily the best oolong I’ve had so far. Quite tasty, actually.

I decided to make a cup of tea today and this oolong won over my other oolong that I got from the fantastic people at Teavivre. I brewed the water and took it off the heat as soon as I heard the slightest noise come from the kettle, exactly as if I was going to be brewing my green tea.

I put one sample packet into my french press and did about a 15 second rinse on the leaves. Then I steeped my first cup for two minutes. The liquid came out a very light tint of yellow. I wasn’t expecting it to be that light in color. It had a very light sweet scent. At first it didn’t taste like much, but it did have some sort of flavor.

The second steep was three minutes. The color was slightly darker and the taste was slightly stronger. Strong enough that I could taste fruit in the tea. What? Fruit in a non-fruity tea? This is amazing! Sweet and fruity. If I knew that, I would have saved this tea for the afternoon because it is really light. I’m not sure how I like it yet, but I have three samples left and I am more than willing to try it again.

I probably still have a good two steeps left in these leaves, but I’m going to save them for later. The leaves don’t have that much liquid left in them and I have the plunger down on my french press, so they should keep until the afternoon.

From what I read, this is similar how you treat an oolong when you make it in a gaiwan. But how else can you steep the tea? Is it possible to just throw it in a mug and steep it without it coming out really bitter? If it is then it would be a nice tea to drink throughout the day in classes.

_{Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review}

After having the Milk Oolong today, I didn’t expect to be so blown away by Dong Ding’s scent. When I stuck my nose in the small tea pouch, the scent of lichee was a nice surprise.

Sipping from the first steep, tasting something quite earthy, a little sweet, and still has a touch of lichee fruit flavour with a hint cinnamon.

Third through fourth steeps continued to build in flavour, with the fruit flavour remaining.

I could keep resteeping but decided to stop here as I grew less interested in drinking more Dong Ding. It satisfied me and that’s enough.

Unfortunately I do not have a lot of experience with Dong Ding oolong so I can’t say how good this is compared to others. What I like about this tea is the fruity flavour, it keeps the tea interesting and slightly sweet without becoming too sweet for my tastes (I do not have a sweet tooth, so this is important to me). But the fruity flavour is not very strong, just a hint of it.
My husband came home to try the third and fourth steeps. He liked it but was not too interested. I think the thoughts of bringing a bit of Milk Oolong to work tomorrow raised his tea expectations too much. ;)

125ml yixing teapot, 1 packet (5g?), 4 steeps (rinse, 30s steep, +15s resteeps)

I needed a gong-fu tea tasting today, so I tried it with this tea. I followed Teavivre’s parameters:7 steeps: rinse,25s,35s,45s,55s,65s,75s,85s.

I found this green oolong to be buttery, slightly vegetal but not overpowering. I found it fruity and slightly sweet, just as the description states.

Overall, I am glad that I ordered a sample of this tea and ejoyed it.

A review of Taiwan Dong Ding Oolong Tea by Teavivre

Date: 11/13/2012
Company: Teavivre
Tea Name: Dong Ding
Tea Type/Varietal: Oolong
Region: Taiwan
Steeping Vessel/Amt. Leaf: cup/ leaf
Plucking Season:
Liquor Color: light green with shorter steep, then peachy with longer steep.
Leaf Characteristics: leaves were finely somewhat rolled than plump when brewed for few minutes and fully blown with even longer steep.

1. Steepings

1st Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 3 minutes

Note: I brewed this tea for few minutes, as I watch the tea leaves unfold and the leaves are very green and always I think of green veggies. There was a sweetly aroma that came from this tea and when I took sip I was pleasantly pleased to find it sweet and smooth with a creamy texture not unlike greens like broccoli.

2nd Steeping:
Water temperature: 200 Fahrenheit
Time: 3 minutes

Note: I brewed this longer this time since I was planning to have my meal with this tea. It brewed a lovely peach color when I removed the tea leaves, there is hints of fruits like nectar. When I taste the tea it is that smoothly full-bodied effect that I had earlier with first steep. I find I always like oolong teas as they are good way to rinse off; no, I mean to finish off a good meal. I enjoyed sipping this with the noodles I had again this evening. I should say half noodles and half pasta since I must sample what I cook for the husband.

I remember sampling earlier this past summer some Charcoal Dong Ding Oolong as there was not a smoky aroma to this oolong. Well I trust that this palette is experiening this oolong correctly; in that it is smooth and lush, not so much of veggie taste with second steeps and third but more of a nectarine/raw peach flavor and I washed it down with dinner wonderfully.

I like oolong teas and thank you Teavivre for sending these samples for me to experience; as this one was definitely likeable by this reviewer. I am a fan of Oolong teas. Thank you.

I think I’m discovering that my tastes lean towards the darker teas (though I’m yet to order any samples of puerh—I’m afraid of it!). But that’s not to say that I haven’t enjoyed all of the greens and whites I’ve had. I haven’t had that many oolongs yet; this may be my third or fourth one. Descriptions I’ve read of Dong Ding in general and of this one by Teavivre sound delicious.

As usual, I’m following Teavivre’s recommendation of steeps of 1, 2, and 3 minutes with boiling water. I’m using the whole 7g sample package for 200-250ml.
1st steep: Opening the package I found lovely scents of gardenia that remind me of my mom, sweet grass and a buttery note. The wet leaf is amazing: I found it hard to keep my thoughts together as the scents raced around, full of cooked greens, heavy white florals, a light vanilla (but only just), and then butter, butter, butter! I could not believe that a tea could have this much butteriness just in the wet leaf, let alone the liquid! In the cup it was a pretty pale yellow, very smooth feeling and maybe a little oily. There was a very slight bitterness, but that seems really fitting with the flavor full of buttery greens and white florals that are lighter than in the wet leaf.
2nd steep: It’s hard to pour the right amount of water in the pot this time because the leaves take up so much more space in the infuser, so there’s probably closer to 250ml or maybe even more. Despite extra water, the tea is darker now as a nice light sunshine yellow. The flavors are also more equal now between the buttery greens and the white florals, but the florals really linger in my nose. Lil’ Miss is watching her shows now, but even with Postman Pat and Peppa Pig on, I manage to feel a little refined while drinking this on the couch.

And once again, the day took over and I never got to a third steep.

Super stressed and trying to write a paper that’s due in about 6h that I’m nowhere near complete… gah. Why do I always do this to myself.

Anyways, 6:30am, sounds like a good time for a tea break (also I need some caffeine. Fading really fast.) Time for another sample from Teavivre!

Getting quite a vegetal smell from this one – didn’t know what to expect as I haven’t tried a Dong Ding oolong before.

First infusion (3min/100C)
Smells like sweet boiled veggie. Taste is pretty strong, astringent without being drying. Probably should have gone with shorter infusions but that wasn’t happening tonight… er, this morning.

Second infusion (3min/100C)
Definitely less aroma. Also less flavour, and possibly a strange taste coming out that I’m not sure I like.

Hmm, so I’m not sure that Dong Ding oolongs are for me. This certainly isn’t bad, but it tastes to me like more of a green tea – I’m not getting that oolongy finish that I love. Also, I’m finding there’s too much astringency for me to really enjoy this, so I think I need to cut down the infusion times for the next packet, and perhaps try it when I have time to write a more detailed note!

Today I’m trying Taiwan Dong Ding gong fu style using the instructions provided by Teavivre. I got 7 infusions, tasted each one a few times, then poured them together to finish. This is a lighter roast, more green oolong. It had good character and flavor through 7 infusions. I would describe the flavor as light green vegetable with underlying floral sweetness, even a hint of buttery character. It will appeal to those who enjoy lighter oolongs and is a good value-a very nice tea.