263 Tasting Notes
I’ve taken to brewing this tea in Gong Fu style, using a very hot water and leaving the leaves in contact with the water only for 15-30 seconds. This method keeps the tea from becoming seriously over brewed and bitter, which happens VERY FAST with this tea. Latest batch is a bit light on the bergamot.
Preparation
This is a nice, smooth Oolong from someplace. A friend at work brought this back from his visit home to Taiwan. Its all in Chinese, except for a single reference to www.gfbz.com, so thats how I filed it. That may just be the company that did the packaging…but the packaging actually merits comment. There are a dozen or so individual servings in the metal can, which is a “pop top/pull ring” sealed can. Each serving is vacumn packed in a pasticized paper bag. It seems to work well, the leaves smelled very fresh and vegetable when the serving package was opened
The leaves are compactly rolled, but unfurl to full sized leaves (torn edges) and soft stems and leaf buds when steeped. The brew is a pale yellow with a hint of rust when brewed in a clear glass carafe.
Taste is smooth, no bitterness. Not to much green leafy vegetable
Preparation
Finished the last two pearls. I’ve found 2 pearls, 4 minutes, boiling water makes a good 16oz mug for me. 3 pearls and a bit shorter time if I want to have a resteep available. Woody and bold come to mind as descriptions. Still has a slight burnt/hardwood smoke edge to it. It adds a bit of complexity.
another tea in my fall cupboard cleaning bunch…gotta make room for new ones as the weather gets colder. This Ceylon became one of my go-to teas for the occasion that I just wanted a nice, plain cuppa. Its brisk and can be easily overbrewed, but takes to watering (down) like a duck! Hot or cold.
This is the first of several teas I have finished off in the last week. I mention that because it was that good…it went first. This being a Nepal tea, I don’t know where it fits in the spectrum of India teas vs China teas. Based purely on taste and probably incorrect sterotypes of tea regions, I’d say its more of a Chinese tea…. Regardless, its lightness in body and flavor makes it a good sipping tea; the kind I like when I need something to occupy my hands and not my brain. Book reading tea.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this tea; I don’t drink a lot of Darjeelings. I decided to be conservative when brewing it, so it only got about 3 minutes with cooler water (190) for the first steeping. Brewed in a clear glass carafe, it has a pale brown color, tending more towards yellow than red. It is a clear, sharp (vice translucent) brew that is light and clean in the mouth. A good tea without much outstanding, good or bad.
