Gong Fu Sipdown (650)!
Apr Tea was kind enough to send me a whole bunch of samples in exchange for reviews, and they showed up yesterday so I’m breaking into the first sample today and steeping that up. I just randomly picked which to start with, and this is the one I selected. It’s a good pick though; I’ve been craving a really good oolong all week.
I’m just going to do this review stream of consciousness style, so jot notes for each infusion. However, since I was specifically asked to review these teas in exchange for the samples I will be tracking how many infusions I do/writing jot notes for each specific infusion. That’s something I’ve been moving away from in more recent Gong Fu sessions/I’ve been following a more casual and laid back approach without heavily taking notes – so my compromise for this is that I’m not going to heavily monitor the steep time for each infusion; for that element of the session I’ll be following my “let my gut direct me” approach since that’s been working so well for me.
So, let’s get started shall we!
Infusion One
- Sweet and slightly roasty overall
- STRONGLY and distinctly tasted like lightly roasted peanuts
- More flavourful than expected from a first infusion
Infusion Two
- Still very nutty/peanut flavour with a bit of general roast/typical roasty oolong flavour
- Floral elements creeping into the background/undertones but in a really light way
- A greener, slightly sour finishing note
Infusion Three
- Decrease in overall nuttiness and increase in floral characterics; more of a 50/50 spread
- Still smelled heavenly in a nutty/peanut way when steeping through
- Feels greener overall with more grassy and chlorine sort of undertones
- Sour aftertaste; but a clean one that doesn’t linger
Infusion Four
- Beautiful peanut qualities have been relegated to only light whispers/undertones
- And a general floral overall profile; kind of a lily and lilac thing
- A mix of fresh/light florals & perfumey/heady ones like jasmine (without being jasmine)
Infusion Five
- Leaves in gaiwan appear about ‘half’ opened up
- Aroma is greener, with nutty undertones still to it
- Peanut notes interact in the same way as the last infusion in terms of flavour
- Finish is more lingering now – tastes almost metallic while also tasting very green
Infusion Six
- Same as above infusion
Infusion Seven
- Let this infusion cool down quite a lot prior to drinking; distracted by Instagram
- Feels like we’re circling back to more of a full bodied and sweet peanut flavour
- With sweet floral undertones, and less green finishing notes
Infusion Eight
- Nope; I think that sudden surge of peanut notes was a fluke ‘cause we’re back to floral
- Noticeably weaker/lighter
Infusion Nine
- Same, but just lighter in flavour
- Ending the session here; I’ve got a lot more teas set aside for the day to move on to
Thanks again Apr Tea for the samples! This is one of the nuttiest Tieguanyins that I think I’ve ever had; I’m sure that means it’ll be a super memorable one. I look forward to trying everything else too, though!
