Tea Ave was so generous with their sample packages! I am so thankful to have been part of this sampling for their opening, and I believe they will be successful if they maintain this quality in their products and service. I would not hesitate to say if I didn’t like a tea. What you will get here is my honest evaluation of the tea I had tonight.
I invited hubby to join me tonight to taste this. He was very fond of a Li Shan not long ago so I thought this would appeal to him. We used the aroma cup to experience the tea to the fullest.
First we smelled the aroma of the dry leaf, which was very true to the steeped tea. It was sweet, with chocolate and vanilla overtones more than floral ones to me. It smells incredibly fresh. These are not flavors mentioned by the comoany but I consistently smelled milk chocolate and real vanilla in the aroma cup, the dry leaf, and even some steeps of the tea.
I made about seven ounces of tea at a time, pouring into a fair cup first and then quickly filling the aroma cup. The first aroma was quite sweet and reminded me of delicious cake more than of flowers. The liquor is pale yellow. The leaves unfurled to tremendous size and were deep green.
The taste – first steep was so sweet and still reminded of a cake, really delicious cake.
Second steep went a bit longer and had that edge that immediately makes a sweet aftertaste spring out. Second steep was hubby’s favorite but then, he has always been fond of second steeps!
Steep three was still sweet but now I am tasting more oolong and less cake, and the flowers are beginning to become more evident. At no time was this tea overly floral. Hubby even mentioned that he doesn’t care for very floral tea, and he was glad that the level of this one was just right for him.
Steeps four and five had an increase in the creaminess of the liquor. There is the taste of green oolong with very light floral undertones.
In short, this tea is making me vow that I will keep fresh – truly fresh – oolong on hand. There is nothing else quite like it.
A thousand thanks, Tea Ave, for the generous gift!
This is the next one that I’ll be sampling from them. I loved the Jasmine.