Fig Formosa No. 2245

Thank you ashmanra for sending some of this tea my way.

This tea is uncannily similar to the Fig Formosa from Teas Etc, from the name, to the appearance and aroma, right down to the color of the liquid. It’s been a while since I had the Fig Formosa from Teas Etc, so I can’t tell you without a doubt that they are the same tea … but, I suspect that they are.

Anyway, if this is the same tea, I’m happy to be drinking it again… and if it isn’t, well, that’s OK too. I’ll just talk about what I’m experiencing now and not try to hone in on my memories of the previous tasting.

Delicious fig flavor. I love fig, and this so reminds me of the flavor of the figs that I used to pick from the fig orchard belonging to the farm where I lived for a short while. One of my favorite things to do is walk through the orchard and pick the figs and eat them while they were still warm from the sun. Sweet and juicy and yummy!

This tea has a strong, delicious fig flavor. Very true to the fruit.

The aroma of the dry leaf is….candy. Grape candy. Almost grape Dimetapp. This is one of the most beautiful teas I have ever seen. This is SO fluffy that my 100 grams went into a bag that would usually be used for seven or eight ounces of tea, and that bag is STUFFED! This is so full of flower petals that you can hardly find the actual tea! Thus the recommendation to use two teaspoons, heaping, so that you get one actual teaspoon tea.

The liquor is purple. Yes, I mean really purple. And it still smells like grape Dimetapp. It is a good thing grape Dimetapp is a medicine or I would drink it by the gallon and be really huge.

I wasn’t sure I wanted my tea to taste like grape candy, though, and I am glad to say it doesn’t. The aroma is still quite strong but the flavor of the tea is much milder than you would expect from the color and the smell. This is a really smooth Formosa oolong base and I am not picking up any roast-y notes. The grape and fig flavor comes on the end of the sip, riding that aroma up into your sinuses. Then the flavor lingers on your tongue.

We made two steeps so far and the second was as richly colored and flavorful as the first. Those bright blue flower petals are now fully relieved of their color when I look at them in the pot, so I guess I know where this gets its purple hue.

This will be fun to serve next Tuesday for tea party day. I think I want to try this iced as well. I think it would be delicious!