Carolyn Send Message

I’m so excited that I get to try this Hawaiian tea! Thanks so much to takgoti for sending it to me. I’ve read about it in books and online and daydreamed about lazy afternoons spent drinking Hawaiian teas, but had no idea where to find it. Once she sent it to me I’ve looked and looked at it and longed to try it. But there was never a moment when I was healthy enough to taste it properly, had time to dedicate to it, was not running to a meeting, had a thermometer, and hadn’t had my taste buds corrupted by other teas previously. But today is the day!

The leaves are beautiful, big, full leaves wrinkled into variegated colors of green, dark green, and brown.The tea itself brews into a golden liquid that smells like flowers along with some sort of dark flower. Here in Memphis there are flowers that scent the air at night. This tea’s fragrance is reminiscent of walking through a Memphis summer in the moist flower-fragranced night. There is a slight undernote of resin as well.

The taste is light and flowered as well with a sweetness that doesn’t cloy. This is a really nice oolong with none of the strange boiled vegetable taste that some oolongs have. There is a very slight grassiness, a brief flirt with the taste of green tea, but not strong enough or lasting enough to be anything other than a tease. Mostly I taste flowers and a whisper of honey. It is splendid!