So here we are my kindred spirits, another oolong to drink.
We’re somewhat new to oolongs over here, and nary a gaiwan to be found in this household! So, for better or for worse, we’re going to western style this tea. The western style thing is kind of a funny label, come to think of it. I’d consider us to be east of China. Gringo, it’s gringo brewing.
This oolong has a very fresh scent to it, like meadow flowers… it just smells fantastic. Like I want to put it in a bag and toss it in the dryer. Though, that’s probably a terrible waste of tea. Anyway, very floral, very pleasant smell.
Missy put this in the pot for about two minutes, and then pulled it out, and poured us some to drink. It really didn’t taste much like tea. It kind of tasted like a hot liquid that once met some tea at the bar, and hung around all night. It had a little bit of a tea flavor, reminiscent of tea, but it really wasn’t tea yet.
We dumped that pot. Let’s just pretend it was an extended leaf refreshing. Our leaves are now VERY refreshed.
Four minutes later, we decide it looks like it might be dark enough to try another pot. It’s now less khloros, and more a fluroescent green, looks like it has a little more life to it. Not quite the vibrant radioactive green of my genmaicha, but almost heading that way.
I have to say though, the flavor is still rather muted (and maybe this is just how this one goes). The tea itself is a very still, very calm flavor in the cup itself. Its transformed from that flavor of ‘hot water’, into something a bit more vegetal. The flavor of the tea has a freshness to it, and a subtle hint of that floral fragrance that you smell inside the bag. Underneath that, there’s a sweet honey note that creeps in, and then the flavor just fades away from you.
It also has a ninja-like astringency that I never quite felt before. It was like all of the moisture had been drained from my mouth before I ever really knew it was gone. I was still looking for footprints on my ceiling.
Anyway. I don’t think I’m a fan of this particular oolong, on this particular day. It could very easily be our gringo brewing, or our extended steep time, or something else completely. It’s likely that we’ll sort of hide this one in the back of the tea cabinet until we get a gaiwan to give it a more fair shot at life. But as it stands… eh… I don’t see us picking up more of this.
