Vietnam Gui Fei Oolong Tea

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Citrusy, Fruity, Honey, Orange Blossom, Roasted, Smooth, Citrus Fruits, Floral, Apricot, Cloves, Lemon Zest, Nectar, Nutmeg, Peach, Pleasantly Sour, Stonefruit, Sweet, Brown Sugar, Molasses, Orange, Raisins, Bamboo, Cedar, Grass Seed, Resin, Sap, Spicy, Vegetal, Wood, Almond, Herbs, Lemon, Mineral, Osmanthus, Rose, Toast, Citrus
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Kawaii433
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 7 oz / 207 ml

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From What-Cha

A highly aromatic oolong with a wonderfully sweet honey aroma and taste accompanied by citrus fruit notes of orange blossoms and peach.

Gui Fei is notable as it requires the leaf to be nibbled by leafhoppers just like Oriental Beauty. The tea plant responds by releasing more polyphenols into the leaves, resulting in added sweetness and complexity in the tea.

Tasting Notes:
- No bitterness or astringency
- Smooth texture
- Sweet honey aroma
- Sweet honey taste with citrus fruit notes of orange blossoms and peach

Origin: Phuc Tho, Lam Ha, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam
Cultivar: Jin Xuan
Oxidisation: Medium
Roast: Low
Altitude: 1,000m
Sourced: Direct from the producer

Brewing Advice:
- Heat water to roughly 95°C/203°F
- Use 1 teaspoon per cup/small teapot
- Brew for 1-2 minutes

About What-Cha View company

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20 Tasting Notes

85
379 tasting notes

Free sample from What Cha. Yay.

I didn’t take any notes that day. I did something I normally do not do, and I didn’t weigh it. I just put the whole sample in the gaiwan. I had it a few days ago… But I wanted to make a quick note. I really enjoyed this tea, and as Daylon mentioned in his note, it lasted a long time. I literally drank it all day, and it never stopped giving out the flavor. I’ll have to get more and give it the full gaiwan treatment (timing, temperature… Etc.) to be able to get a good flavor profile next time. It is complex.

It was citrusy, slightly floral, honey-sweet, and lots of stonefruit notes throughout the day. No matter how long I steeped it, it never got bitter and that is a plus. Overall, I am really a fan of their Vietnamese oolongs.

Flavors: Citrusy, Fruity, Honey, Orange Blossom, Roasted, Smooth

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 OZ / 147 ML
derk

Oh, thanks for your note! It’s a reminder to buy some more with my next order. I really like this tea cold-brewed during the summer with a short rinse to help those tight little nuggets open up.

Kawaii433

I will definitely try it cold-brew next time then too. :D

Kawaii433

derk, what is your typical tea to water ratio for cold brews? Thanks in advance. ^^

derk

Hah, I went to What-Cha’s website to check the review I left there for this tea since I didn’t write one here. The website has been overhauled and previous reviews no longer exist! I’m pretty sure I used 2 heaping tsp to a liter because I like my cold-brews lighter in flavor. 5g:1L?

derk

I do remember being able to get 2 separate overnight brews out of the leaf which impressed me.

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82
1 tasting notes

This tea came as a sample from Alistair in my last order. I must admit this tea surprised me with the floral notes. It’ll probably be in my next order!

Flavors: Citrus Fruits, Floral

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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75
6444 tasting notes

It’s funny because this review starts off by saying something along the lines of “I may have gone a bit overboard when ordering teas this past Black Friday”. Except, this past Black Friday I ordered no teas. The Black Friday in question is from 2017. I wrote the review in April 2018. Sometimes Sororitea Sisters takes forever to post reviews and then you get weird discrepancies like this one.

Anyways, I quite enjoyed this tea. It is somehow light and rich at the same time and dessert-y without being a dessert-inspired blend. I really should drink this more often.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/01/07/vietnam-gui-fei-oolong-from-what-cha/

Evol Ving Ness

This one is from our joint What-Cha order. I lost my mind that Black Friday as well. Hell, make that every BF since I discovered tea, with the exception of this past one.

Thank you for reminding me of this tea. It’s a good one.

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78
943 tasting notes

The most interesting aspect of this Gui Fei is definitely its smell. It is very invigorating, sweet and fruity. I could identify hintsof honey, peach, apricot, cloves, nectarine, faint nutmeg and rosemary. Not too dissimilar from a second flush Darjeeling actually. The texture of the liquor is somewhat thin, a little milky and not too exciting. It becomes a bit better in later steeps though. Taste is quite sweet, with notes of fermented nectarines and lemon skin. The aftertaste is fairly sour and a little drying.

Flavors: Apricot, Cloves, Fruity, Honey, Lemon Zest, Nectar, Nutmeg, Peach, Pleasantly Sour, Stonefruit, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
derk

I’ve already hit up Roswell Strange’s tasting note on this tea and I’m going to do it to anybody that posts a new review… After discovering I didn’t like this tea gongfu, I tried it cold-brewed and ended up railing through the remaining amount that way. It just did something for me. Highly recommended if you’re into that.

Togo

Thanks! I will try that next time. Actually, maybe tomorrow already :D

How do you usually cold brew ball rolled oolongs? I would normally hit them with some boiling water for about 30s to help them open up. After a few minutes I add cold water and the wash to the leaves and let sit at least overnight in the fridge.

derk

Yeah, that’s what I typically do for balled oolongs. I don’t remember how much of this leaf I used, though. I prepared it as one long 24-hour brew or two overnight steeps, both methods with good results.

Girl Meets Gaiwan

I’ve had good results starting with room temp water (my tap water is awful, so I’m usually pouring bottled spring water anyway) & leaving the vessel out on the counter for an hour before I move it to the fridge for overnight. That period at room temp seems to help everything open up.

derk

Cool, I’ll have to give that a try.

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85
1704 tasting notes

I liked this one a lot. I was able to get eight cups and I did not want it to end a lot. It was super sweet and citrusy with a creamy texture and floral background. More will come on this one.

Evol Ving Ness

I found this one to be very enjoyable too.

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90
1403 tasting notes

Sil sweetly divided this sample which Alistair was kind enough to include in our somewhat recent group order.

This will be my very first time trying a Gui Fei oolong, I think, so I will not rhapsodize much or compare it with others. I have also not done any research into this type of tea, so I step into this review in full ignorance and with little experience.

I will say though that I am enjoying this very much.

The leaves as they unfurl are small, perhaps the length of a dime, and lovely, hazelnut brown and many with intense green centres with mostly browned edges.

The flavour seems oddly familiar, in ways that are difficult for me to describe, and fresh.
The best that I can come up with at the moment is a honeyed butter milk oolong. And I am getting a faint hint of citrus here too.

Beautiful oolong. I will be enjoying the rest of this sample.

Seriously, it is teas like this that make me wonder why I don’t drink oolongs more often than I do.

Thank you, Alistair. And Sil.

edit—I just read the tea descriptor on the site and shockingly, or perhaps just surprisingly, my tastebuds picked up on most of the flavours present in my cup, including the Jin Xuan cultivar which I tuned into through the milk oolong flavours I was detecting. Perhaps all this tea drinking is paying off. :)
I would have thought that my tea doctoring lately has been killing my tastebuds.
Still a long long long way to go before I can confidently rhapsodize, but sharing my joy, nonetheless.

Sil

awesome, glad you enjoyed it! Was nice being able to split the sample out.

Evol Ving Ness

Yup, loving this one.

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87
335 tasting notes

I got this free with my Black Friday order. I can’t believe I just had this hidden away. That happens to a lot of us tea addicts! I’m blown away by how tasty this was! I am on 5th rebrew. It just keeps producing tastiness. It’s not too dark and oxidized. I actually prefer this over the milk oolong. I followed eastkyteaguy’s gong fu brewing timing. It was perfection!

I am really loving What-cha’s Vietnamese tea offerings.

k22

Hey, are you still into swapping? : ) I’m in NY and have MF tea.

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70
15006 tasting notes

Free same in our group what-cha order. I tried this one today so i can divy up the rest of it for VariaTEA and Evolvingness. On the whole, not one i’d order for myself, though i generally like roastier oolongs. Had a cup of this while i tried to make wonton soup from scratch! haha. All in all, a decent cup but nothing to knock my socks off. IE. glad i tried it but that’s enough for me.

Dexter

You were making wonton soup from scratch? Wow that’s awesome!!!

Sil

Yeah…was a fun experiment and turned out really well…technically I used broth for the soup, but I added things to it, so I think that counts! Wonton making is fun…got the hang of it after the first couple.

Indigobloom

wonton… its even fun to say :P

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72
2955 tasting notes

Wow, interesting coldbrew.

1 tsp leaf, 500 mL cold water. This doesn’t steep well cold. It was very light and the pearls didn’t open up very well. I think a longer steep (306 hours) would produce a much more flavourful brew.

My immediate thought was raisins and brown sugar. Molasses, lighted roasted, fruity (apricot and navel orange), sweet. Normally when I get molasses and roasty flavours I expect the slight bitterness associated with burnt sugar or buckwheat, but this tea has no bitterness.

Flavors: Apricot, Brown Sugar, Fruity, Molasses, Orange, Raisins, Roasted

Preparation
Iced 1 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML
LuckyMe

Rolled oolongs don’t open up for me either. Try hot steeping for 1 minute prior to cold steeping. This gives the leaves enough time to unfurl and extracts better flavor. Learned this tip from the Mei Leaf and it works well with rolled oolongs.

Arby

Good to know, thanks!

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83
1048 tasting notes

The weather has turned colder here, so my sinuses are acting up yet again. To make matters worse, my senses of smell and taste are once again spotty. I’m still not back at full strength from the severe respiratory infection I’ve been fighting off for the past couple of weeks either. Since I can’t properly evaluate them right now, all of those lovely green teas and high mountain oolongs will have to wait. Fortunately I can still get something resembling the full effect from bug-bitten and/or more heavily roasted oolongs such as this one.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 6 grams of loose tea leaves in 4 ounces of 195 F water for 10 seconds. I followed this infusion up with 12 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of honey, nectarine, and wood. After the rinse, the honey, nectarine, and wood aromas intensified and were joined by scents of osmanthus, toast, and roasted almond. The first infusion produced a similar, though more balanced bouquet. I was able to detect thin notes of wood, roasted almond, toast, osmanthus, nectarine, apricot, and honey in the mouth. Subsequent infusions featured more prominent impressions of honey, toast, roasted almond, apricot, osmanthus, and nectarine balanced by emerging lemon, orange, and rose aromas and flavors. Subtle traces of herbs and minerals were also detectable on the finish. Later infusions were quick to wash out, though I could still detect subtle herb, honey, toast, wood, citrus, and rose notes beneath the mineral presence.

To be clear, this was far from a bad tea, but I could not help comparing it unfavorably to the last couple of Taiwanese Gui Fei oolongs I have tried. The main problem I have with this tea is that it was too similar to a typical Taiwanese Gui Fei for me to consider it unique, yet it displayed just enough subtle differences for one to deduce that it was not a Taiwanese tea. I’m probably being a bit harsh here because this was far from a bad tea, but it was hard for me to figure out how to take it. I couldn’t quite compare it directly to classic Taiwanese takes on the style, yet could not quite treat it as a unique twist on the style either. Overall, I liked the citrus and rose notes, as well as the pronounced bready, nutty, and honeyed characteristics, yet I would also probably not reach for this over a Taiwanese Gui Fei if that makes any sense.

Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Floral, Herbs, Honey, Lemon, Mineral, Orange, Osmanthus, Rose, Toast, Wood

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 g 4 OZ / 118 ML
Evol Ving Ness

Here’s hoping that all that ails you is dispatched promptly.

eastkyteaguy

Thank you.

mrmopar

Hope you get better soon. My allergies are kicking in this time of year as well.

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