Coconut Oolong

Thank you Terri HarpLady for this sample tea!

The London Tea Room is a local place where Terri meets her friends for tea and friendly conversation, sort of a fancier version of Happy Lucky’s Tea House with a food menu. I’ve seen some of her pictures and I can see how much fun she has!
When one of you Steepster people comments “I wish that I had a Happy Lucky’s by me”, or “I wish that I had a tea Pub”, I often look up your town or city…hoping to find somewhere for you to go. A special little place of your own to check out for tea. The internet isn’t always helpful unfortunately.

With her trips to The London Tea Room, Terri has acquired a good stash of their tea’s for her cupboard and has shared some in a swap with me. Thanks Terri, I need to buy your CD now!

I used more than the normal amount of leaves (on a whim, at least a tablespoon and a half) and steeped them for 3 minutes in 6 (not 8…again a whim) ounces of water.
The first steeping was a little bitter, harsh but fragrant. It tasted vegital and the coconut was a little strange tasting too.

I repeated the same 3 minute steeping with the same amount of water and voila’….perfect coconut Oolong tea!
There wasn’t any bitterness or harsh flavor, just a subtle, creamy coconut taste with an aroma that smelled like cream pie.

As the tea cooled down the creaminess increased and coated my tongue, my teeth, my lips…so eh cudnt tk! (pause)

This was REALLY CREAMY COCONUT OOLONG! And yes, I did sweeten mine!

Here’s the deal though…and don’t forget!
The first steep is YUCKY!
The second steep is YUMMY!

oh god. i don’t know what’s worse…the oolong or the coconut. DEAR GOD NO! :) sooo sample from terri, and even though i was pretty sure that was going to be my reaction, i figured what the heck, i’ll give it a try. Especially after quite enjoying the coconut mango tea from last night.

the rest of this is going to kittenna whether she wants it or not…because i said so. Only enough for a cup but it needs a good home.

So sorry terri…lol at least i tried! not rating this since it really is because of my preferences and NOT because this is a terrible cup of tea.

I’m drinking this tea & writing this review in response to Nik’s review of Coconut Pouchong. I love coconut!

The scent of the dry leaves is toasted coconut with a hint of vanilla & something sweet. While brewing, I smell that mildly floral oolong base, always so smooth.

While my tea is cooling down enough to sip, I’d like to say that this is my last cup at home this morning, as a group of my adult harp students & I are taking an excursion downtown to have lunch & tea at the London Tea Room, from whence this blend came.

Unsweetened, this tea has a wonderful floral & toasted coconut taste that is smooth & deep, without being overpowering. There is a ‘wetness’ to it that I don’t know how to describe.

A little stevia & I’m drinking a macaroon! I love macaroons, nomnom, they are so yummy, nomnom…

“Hey? Where’s my cup of tea?”
It’s gone!

Thanks to Azzrian for another tasty sample!

This one is very good. It’s sweet creamy coconut milk. Like a coconut sorbet in a green oolong. It reminds of Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong. I’d love to do a comparison but I don’t have any of the other one at the moment. :(

Mmmm….heavenly scent. yum.

Smells much like other coconut oolongs I’ve had. Taste is a little bit sweet and nicely coconutty, without much oolong aftertaste. I have some of Golden Moon’s coconut pouchong left (and some more on the way from iheartteas.com); I should compare the two. Unfortunately I did use up the sample from Spice & Tea Exchange, so can’t compare that one with it, but it would be nice to narrow down and choose the best coconut oolong!! Hopefully more infusions this evening.

Thanks for the sample, Azzrian!

ETA: Second infusion, 180F/3min, is toasty and light. Still pretty tasty, so I suspect a third would work well. (A day passes) Yep, the third, 180F/3:45, is still pretty flavourful. I wish I could taste more oolong though, that’s my only complaint. I love that toasty coconut flavour. The leaves don’t smell like they have much left in them now, so I think I’ll stop there :)

Backlog from yesterday! was too tired… after my spinning class and last day of work before my boss goes on vacation. Phew!
Anyhow, thanks so much to Azzrian for sending me this lovely tea!!
It’s a lovely roasty coconut.And slightly creamy to, I really like that part! Though… it hides the oolong a little too much for me in the first infusion. The second and third were SO good!!
Mmmmmm. Thanks Azzrian! :)

Thanks to TerriHarpLady for the sample of this!

I’m currently reading a play for class right now, so I put about a teaspoon of this into my basket infuser and set it in my 8oz Bodum Pavina. It’s a great size for doing 3 or 4 steepings.

The dry leaf smells great – really coconutty. I love coconut, and I was super excited to see this. Checked the London Tea Room website – no steeping instructions, so I came onto Steepster. Water at 180, steeped 3 minutes.

It’s a rather light oolong. The tea is very lightly yellow, and the scent is also pale. The oolong itself is deliciously roasty, and the coconut is definitely there, wrapping itself around the flavor of the leaf.

Thanks Terri! This is super relaxing!

Coconut Oolong- The London Tea Room

I couldn’t find a proper teaspoon so I probably used more of this than the standard measure. The dark little snaky pieces unfurled into lovely green leaves. Following the three minute brewing period, I strained them out and found myself studying the leaves with great interest. They actually looked very fresh and an experimental nibble confirmed this. They were like cooked green veggies I could much down with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper. I don’t often do this, but hey, those steepings looked and smelled so good, I actually did exactly that. They were a tad bitter but mostly delicious. Hopefully nutritious too.

After finishing my little mess of boiled tea greens, I turned to the tea itself. The scent from the cup was pleasant, perfum-y and coconutty. I didn’t have much experience with oolong but found it quite nice. Fragrant seems such a mundane word for it—I do a lot of flower cookery and rather enjoy a flowery scent in my mouth and it was a little like that. The coconut scent tops it beautifully, harmonizing with the rest as if it belongs there, as maybe in this case it does.

I liked it. A lovely tea I look forward to having again.

PS Since I liked this A LOT, when my husband came into the room, I urged him to sample it. “Kind of bland…” he commented and proceeded to brew up some mainstream variety and dump a ton of sugar into it. I guess there’s no accounting for taste.

Lovely Coconut taste but wish it were a tad stronger tea. Still working with trying to get the perfect brew out of it. Have followed brewing instructions – next time will add more tea and see if I get more flavor.