Ripe Mango Oolong

This tea, this tea, this tea. I know exactly when I first made it, how cool the counter was against my fingertips, where we went for dinner that day, what the text message I wrote just then said (you were barely awake; maybe I woke you up; oh you), and what this smelled like.

Exactly what this smelled like.

When I find a new scent or flavour, and it’s one of my scents or flavours, it feels like coming home; like simultaneously burrowing into myself and stepping outside myself. It’s one of the best feelings. There’s a distant little click as one of my puzzle pieces snaps into place and I am nudged one step closer to completion.

Sipdown no. 74 for the year 2014. A teabag from the work stash. (Oolong in a bag just seems weird to me because of leaf expansion and all.)

But wow. After yesterday’s not particularly successful vanilla oolong experience, this redeemed the flavored oolong genre for me.

This is a flavored oolong where I can actually taste the oolong, which is a green, buttery, floral one of the type I really enjoy. The mango, which was a strong fragrance before steeping, is much more of a team player in the aroma after steeping. I don’t find it to be overly strong in the flavor of the tea and in fact I’m not sure I would have identified it as mango, but some of that may have to do with the age of this teabag. There is a light, tropical fruit flavor though, and the mango becomes more pronounced in the finish and aftertaste.

Unfortunately, my water source at work is so far from my desk that I can’t easily do multiple steeps, but I’ve tasted enough to warrant giving this another try, if/when I come out of lockdown and order from Lupicia again.

I am so behind on my tasting notes, this is from 3 days ago! I think it just slipped my mind, so I suppose I should dive back in. This was in my box from LiberTEAS, which yes I am still digging through. Honestly, I doubt I’m even halfway there yet! The shame of a slow tea-drinker.

I love mango, and it seems to be a flavor that’s pretty easy to capture in tea-form. After a 12-hour cold brew this had a really fresh, juicy mango flavor, almost like fresh juice or biting into a ripe mango. It’s not artificial at all, which is always nice. However, surprisingly I am getting a really strong floral taste as well. I thought at first it might be from the oolong base, which adds some nice grassy vegetal notes, but it’s clearly rose. Like, if I didn’t know better I would swear this was a rose mango blend. Though really, that’s not an issue for me since I LOVE rose! In fact, I think I enjoyed this a lot more because of the rose taste. The fruity and floral notes just go so well together. I’ve really enjoyed the teas I’ve tried from Lupicia so far, they really nail their fruity blends.

In one word, delicious delicious delicious!

I don’t have much time to type, so in short, this reminds me of a mango version of Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong. I love it!

Got this free teabag yesterday in the mail along with Lupicia’s newsletter. What a great, summery choice. On to my shopping list this goes!!

This one I have had for too long and it really needs to go, so I brewed some up in my handy little Lupicia cooler. I’m having some hot now and the rest is going into the fridge so I’ll have an iced tea tomorrow!

Wow. This is MANGO TEA. Yes, it deserves all caps. Probably the most distinctively mango tea I’ve ever had. It’s smooth, sweet, has a very true-life mango flavor. You would think all these things would combine to give a delightful tea. And it does… Kinda.

See, I’ve got this thing against flavored oolongs and greens. It just makes me grumpy. Oh sure, sometimes it’s done right – I love the creamy coconut flavor of GM’s Coconut Pouchong – but that one is the exception for me, not the rule. This one is a bold mango flavor and it’s just too overwhelming for me.

However, if someone is looking for a good, mango-juice-lite type tea, this would totally be the winner. And since mango is the husband’s favorite fruit, I passed the rest of this cup (8oz) on to him. He was fairly delighted.

(drinking the bagged version of this tea)

One of my favorite oolongs. It has a good fruit flavor, not overpoweringly mango, but just right.

Sweetened with a dash of splenda.

Since this is the bagged version I was trying to look thru the shear bag to see the leaves and they look green to me but it could be because of the bag, not sure. Anyhow…this smells AWESOMELY like Mango! YAY! The post infusion liquid looks alittle like a green tea as well…grey-ish yellow-green in color.

This tastes very much like a tropical mango with a little woodsy-ness of the oolong…very nice!

This is yummy! :)

This is such a beautiful and delicious tea! The oolong tea base is smooth and delicate. It has the most adorable floral bouquet, which is fragrant and nectarous like osmanthus. When paired with the mango scent, the result is a sweet, delightful tea with fruity and honey notes. YUM!!! Now feeling like a bee in summer garden… :D

It tastes more like a muscat-peach blend than mango – but the smell is just like fresh cut mango. Smooth and sweet, not a hint of bitter to it. Quite good, but more of a novelty than a daily drinker.