65
drank Kamiya Papaya Oolong by Teavana
1271 tasting notes

Love sent out to Emilie for sending me this tea for a tea trade!

OBSERVATIONS: Why is there pictures of cantaloupe in the background of this tea on Teavana’s page? Theres no cantaloupe in this. At least I think it’s cantaloupe (or maybe over exposed watermelon?), seems too light for papaya and it would be easy to identify with papaya + seeds.

DRY: Fruity. I’m trying so hard to smell out some candy papaya but not smelling it. Darn. Very tight and chunky tea. The oolong is in rolled ball form and lots of chunks of fruit and rosebuds.

STEEPED: Light cinnamony and sweet smelling. This tea would be impressive to steep into a glass travel mug with all the colourful chunks, leaves opening and rose bits. Steeps up to a pale yellow. I was crazy and dug into the steeped leftovers and ate chunks of apple and pineapple, yum!

TASTE: There’s a lot going on here. Warm cinnamon (not spicy), bit of citrus, floral, slight bitterness from the oolong, slight papaya essence, sweetness. Kinda tropical. Burpy pineapple aftertaste.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Oolong drinkers or peeps who like complex flavors.

COMMENTS: Too much going on in this tea! I do like lots of fun flavors going on but I think there’s something throwing it off. I blame the cinnamon or maybe the floral. Take one of those out and this might be pretty nice tea.

That or maybe this cup just had way too much cinnamon. Teavana says “subtle and sweet cinnamon”. This was not subtle cinnamon. I was hoping for a more stronger fruit taste.

Overall, okay. Maybe I’ll have better cups from this batch – sometimes I find big chunky tea gives you various results. I probably won’t buy any myself once I polish this tea off.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Emilie

I had to go look at the page myself after seeing this! I’m thinking it’s under-ripe papaya with no seeds. Or maybe Teavana just wanted to mess with everyone, who knows :P

When I tried this, I didn’t get much oolong flavor, everything else drowned it out. If you’re looking for more fruit, I think I iced this one and had more fruit flavor come out. I would say cold brew it, but that could make the cinnamon super strong.

Kittenna

I had to look too, hahaha. I’d say papaya too, but nobody presents papaya like that, at least from what I’ve seen! Ah well.

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Comments

Emilie

I had to go look at the page myself after seeing this! I’m thinking it’s under-ripe papaya with no seeds. Or maybe Teavana just wanted to mess with everyone, who knows :P

When I tried this, I didn’t get much oolong flavor, everything else drowned it out. If you’re looking for more fruit, I think I iced this one and had more fruit flavor come out. I would say cold brew it, but that could make the cinnamon super strong.

Kittenna

I had to look too, hahaha. I’d say papaya too, but nobody presents papaya like that, at least from what I’ve seen! Ah well.

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Bio

I’m a tea blogger – The Oolong Owl
www.OolongOwl.com – I do tea reviews, obsessively photograph teas with mischievous crocheted Owls and get tea drunk. I am also a crochet and knitting designer at Awkward Soul Designs.

To contact me for reviews, check out details at OolongOwl.com/about or email me at [email protected]

I was raised on floral oolongs and green teas, mostly “beauty” teas. Early on as a kid, I can guzzle an entire pot of tea (or two) at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.
These days I like adventurous and interesting tea blends. I’m fearless in trying new teas! I’m into oolong, pu’erh, white, green, black, guayusa, mate and herbals. I’m not into red rooibos but I keep buying it anyway.

The tea brand that got me started into loose leaf teas was DAVIDsTea. I used to live in Vancouver Canada and had access to their shop, however that is now limited since I moved to southern California.

However, the perks of living in the US is ultra cheap, fast shipping! Since then, my tea stash insanely expanded.

Other stuff I’m into that sneaks into my tea notes: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, metal music, drawing, painting, cooking, photography and nail polish.

BTW, my Steepster cupboard is not even close to accurate and I track my teas on a spreadsheet. Last update 573 Teas – August 2015.

Location

Seattle, WA USA

Website

http://oolongowl.com/

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