Organic Jade Oolong

Last night I found myself between a rock and a hard place. The medication I take to help reduce the possibility of return of breast cancer has started causing side effects that are unacceptable, and it suddenly struck me last night that every scenario the doctor outlined for me ended with a surgery – albeit very minor. One scenario they hadn’t considered – me stopping the drug – MIGHT not end with surgery but I feel good about the possibility because I am extreme low risk for recurrence and am three years out from starting the drug.

But my head hurt from trying to decide what would be the best path and I started feeling a little overwhelmed. All I could think of was the package of tea that K S sent me a couple of months ago. I had a little of this oolong left and settled down on the living room carpet with a tray for a nice long gong fu session that lasted for two liters from my kettle! Yes, at bedtime. Yes, I had to get up twice in the night. LOL!

The leaves expanded mightily throughout steeping and yielded a medium yellow liquor with a light and airy flavor. Very comforting and just what I wanted last night. I believe I did four steeps and then got fresh leaves and did four more, though it may have been five.
This is a very green oolong, no roastiness, but the occasional attention-getting wang if it leave it a little longer, just enough to get your attention. I let it steep long a couple of times because I was in the mood for that sort of note.

Sipdown # 78!
This one comes from KS, & is a greener oolong, with a vegetal taste & aroma, & what I consider a ‘dry’ quality to it, which doesn’t mean it dried my mouth out, but I don’t really know how to describe it, LOL. Interestingly, the first couple of sips were kind of boring, but as it cools it takes on a buttery quality, & the flavor of sourdough bread with butter & a pinch of salt. I shared several steepings with one of my college students, who was here for her lesson, & she enjoyed it very much as well. Thanks KS!

I glanced through the reviews before trying this – I try not to do it but I did this time. Anyway, so I have to admit after doing so, I was a little disappointed when I first tasted this. I wasn’t getting much flavor. But wait! After the cup cooled down this became buttery tasting and creamy feeling. Then it lit up with floral oolong goodness. I tend to like my tea on the cool side anyway and this one was a very good example. Yum.

I’ve quite enjoyed this oolong so far. I usually drink oolong in the evening but this is one that I think would make a great afternoon tea or even a morning tea if you don’t need a huge caffeine boost. This tea might make a good introduction to green oolongs for those who enjoy green tea as I found it to be less floral than other oolongs I’ve had and it has these great snap pea like accents to it’s flavour. I also think that it might make a great ice tea, as it has this bright citrus like note to it.

I brewed this tea in a 150ml gaiwan using around 2 tsp of tea.
The dry leaf was tightly rolled and mostly dark spruce green with a little bit of light olive and smelled of citrus oils, green beans, and a sharp floral note.

The first time I brewed it I brewed it for 25s at around 85*C The result was a pretty intensely flavoured bright yellow with a tint of green broth and although I enjoyed this steep very much I could easily have brewed it for about 10s less. I did a 15s steep the second time and found the resulting tea tasted more floral with stronger notes of gardenia while the longer steep was dominated by snap pea and lemon. Altogether I got about 11 steeps from this tea increasing time at about 5 s intervals until the later steeps where I increased the length of steeping.

Early steeps had this bright scent that seemed to be a mix of citrus, buttercups, white orchid and snap peas and gardenia. Later steeps became sweeter and both more floral while being softened by grainy, honey,amber notes.

The flavours I detected at various times through out the session were, lemon notes, snap peas, gardenia, white orchid, honey, vanilla, oatmeal, honeysuckle, aged pine wood, amber, sandalwood, clover, and bittersweet greens.

The tea had a buttery consistency with a little bite of astringency in the earlier steeps and left a tingling on the lips and the roof of the mouth.

Altogether, this tea left me feeling refreshed and alert. Thanks again Little Red Tea Company for providing me with this very generous sample!

Thanks, Red Cup Tea Company!

This is a very refreshing oolong. It reminds me a little of rose violet calendula oolong by Butiki teas because it has so many prominent, natural floral tones. It’s tastes like violets or orchids. Jade oolong does have much more of a woody kick too it. It’s a powerful flavor that really spreads quickly. There is a light creaminess that prevents the wood from becoming too overwhelming. There is a little drymouth and bitterness to the aftertaste, but not much.

Thank you Martin @ Little Red Cup Tea Co. for sending me these samples to review.

Even though oolong is my favorite tea by far, I went through a period recently when I just wasn’t in the mood for it. I remember drinking half of this sample, finding it very enjoyable, then putting up the other half for later when I was able to better appreciate it. That time has finally come, I’ve been craving a good cup of oolong this week.

I had my hands full today, I began a two-day chocolate making project for my blog, so unfortunately I only managed a few sips while it was still warm. It starts off very floral, but as the tea cools to room temperature the sweet notes become more prominent. I could drink a lot of this tea, it has that creamy texture to it that I love and have found in some of my favorite teas.

I’ve tried this one a few times now, really nice refreshing green oolong.
Has a nice mellow floral woodsy flavour and I got quite a few steepings out of it.

I’ll be ordering from this company in the future for sure :)

Buttery, green, and a bit floral. Quite refreshing. Even though I’ve recently realised I prefer darker, roasted oolongs, this is still pretty good and can hold up for many short steeps.

Thanks for the sample, Little Red Cup!

This tea has a strong floral, green taste. It holds up well for multiple steeps of it. I definitely prefer shorter steeps since I went a little long at first and the floral taste was too strong. It does have a dry mouth effect after a while. I got hungry and ate some Milano melts cookies with it. The cookies are so sweet that together with the tea, it all tasted really decadent and just right to start my lazy morning. No more school for a week, oh the relief… I’m going to try really hard not to think of my students and just relax. Oh! Also with the sample came a cute bookmark that had steeping and tea info so that was helpful.

Thank you for the free sample Little Red Cup Tea Company!

MzPriss’ Unflavored Tea Box – Tea #25
I might have waited too long for this one to cool, as the flavor was very light… too light to almost tell what type of oolong this is: fruity, floral, vegetal. Not sure! Maybe all of them! The second cup was slightly better, the top of the sip is floral, but then lingering in the mouth it is vegetal followed by a hint of creamy milk oolong… so I suppose the flavor IS all of them. Not too fruity anyway! It seems I haven’t had a peachy oolong in ages, and those are one of my favorite kinds. I used 3/4 teaspoon and filled the mug 3/4 of the way.
Steep #1 // 28 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #2 // 15 min after boiling // 3-4 min