Taiwan Ginseng (Lan Gui Ren) Oolong Tea

This was my first Ginseng Oolong so I was curious. There is not much of smell in dry leaf except for some slight grassiness with a touch of pungency. When sipping first you get a quick impression of a roasted oolong with some grassiness again – but it quickly replaced by a powerful medicinal flavor of ginseng that tapers off into an extremely long and somewhat choking licorice-like aftertaste. And I am not a big fan of licorice.

All in all, it is weird drink that is not much of tea but rather some kind of a miracle health potion. I bet this tea was invented primarily because of a Chinese obsession with ginseng and, undoubtedly, is being promoted as curing a thousand of illnesses. I am glad I tried it but not being a fan of herbal folk remedies nor licorice I will not return to this tea again.

According to their site, this ginseng oolong has 95% traditional oolong tea with 5% American ginseng. Small powdered non-uniformed green nuggets of oolong, coated with American ginseng powder. The nuggets smelled vegetal, floral, ginseng. The liquor was a clear apricot color.

Steep 1 and 2 was very sweet. There was also a strong menthol taste/feeling. The sweetness sat in the back of my throat for a long time after. The 3rd steep was not as sweet, slight tart notes came out, a TGY-ish tart, which I preferred far more than the overwhelmingly sweet taste. The 4th steep all I can think of is ‘green’, perhaps grass. From steep 4 on, the sweet taste was still there but not as strong, but the original sweetness was still just sitting back in my throat. Could it be the powdered ginseng just sitting in there? I don’t know. It felt strange, almost a stevia-feeling sweet which I don’t care for. I rarely experience sweet tea since I avoid them. Because of my taste buds, I don’t think I’m the right one person to judge this fairly. For example, if I order iced tea at a restaurant, I always say unsweetened with a ton of lemon. I am not one for sweet things (typically anyway, there are some exceptions like sesame mochi yum :P and that’s not often.) so this ginseng oolong was not for me. If you like ginseng and if you don’t mind something sweet, perhaps this would be for you. Some of the reviews said not sweet enough. That left me thinking !?@?#!? hehe.

The 8th steep was the best to me which I had a few hours later after a break. The original long-lasting sweet feeling was gone, and there was just a normal oolong flavor with a bit of ginseng left.

Porcelain gaiwan, 110ml, 212℉ / 100℃, 7g Tea, 8 steeps: rinse, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s, 95s

Flavors: Ginseng, Grass, Licorice, Menthol, Root, Sweet, Tart, Vegetal

Dry leaf has a sweet vegetal note in the aroma somewhat reminiscent of matcha.

Heavy brothy mouthfeel. The sugary zing of the ginseng is present at the end of the sip into the aftertaste. The first part of the sip gives a dull vegetal flavour.

Four Season oolongs and ginseng will never be my favourite things, but this is still a nice tea to pull out when I want something green, clean, and vegetal. I’m placing it into the “when I’m sick” category.

If there is anything interesting going on with the base oolong I’m not picking it up. The ginseng is the Boss here.

Steep Count: 4

Sample obtained from purchase. Brewed in a gongfu session with a porcelain gaiwan. Since I decided to brew the entire sample, I slightly changed the website’s steeping directions: flash rinse, 20 seconds, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 4 minutes (the gaiwan overflowed with water at the last infusion).

The dry leaf smells a little bit floral but mostly of ginseng, the latter of which is intensified when I let the leaf sit in the pre-heated gaiwan. Once rinsed, the wet leaf smells roasted, absent of ginseng and floral notes. (Both the oolong – the Four Seasos variety – and ginseng were roasted for 4-6 hours, according to the website.)

The liquor looks beautiful in morning sunlight: clear golden yellow. Halfway through the session, though, when the ginseng has completely dissolved, many small leaf bits pour from the gaiwan. Of all the infusions, the first tastes most like ginseng. I’ve never had ginseng before. It’s like a sticking sweetness, reminiscent of stevia and licorice, and clings to the back of the tongue. Beginning with the second infusion, vague floral notes from the oolong appear. The ginseng and oolong are balanced for the remainder of the session and complement each other. The sweet aftertaste lingers for at least half-hour.

This is my first Ginseng Oolong. I’m not sure what to think of it and this particular one that Teavivre sells. It seems like it can grow on me. I think I should try it again Western style to see how it steeps. It didn’t undergo much evolution during the gongfu session since the quality of the oolong wasn’t great (totally understandable given it’s meant to be coated with ginseng in this case). For what it is to me now, I remain neutral about the taste but I am positive about the quality. It wasn’t off-putting at all. I commented on the numerous leaf bits in case you wondered you should use a strainer or not prior to trying this out for yourself and didn’t know what you were getting into (I didn’t myself).

Thanks to Christina for the sample! Happy pi day to all and a happy snow day to everyone in the northeast. I’m wishing you lots of snowball fights and no shoveling.

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of this particular tea. The first steep has a weird, stevia-like sweetness. The second steep tastes more like a generic oriental beauty, but it leaves behind an unpleasant, sickly-sweet film after the sip. I don’t want to go in for steep three. I still have a bit of leaf left so I’ll try cold brewing the rest.

I got a sample bag of this as an add-on in a swap with somebody. I used the whole 7g in a 100mL gaiwan. The dry leaf smelled weirdly sweet and herbal – must have been the smell of ginseng – not sure I’ve ever smelled or consumed that before.

Turns out ginseng is gross – to me anyways. It was sickeningly sweet with a weird almost medicinal vibe. Also left a very strange feeling in my mouth. Sort of like menthol, but also I tasted that funky sweetness every time I inhaled – like the ginseng powder coated the inside of my mouth. I only made it through around 3 steeps, as it wasn’t good and was starting to make me feel slightly unwell.

Maybe it’s for some people, but it’s definitely not for me.

Today I brewed a bit thermos of this for a rock climbing/hiking adventure! This is always a good thermos tea for me. 1tsp in 20oz @ 205F, 2.5min. Afterwards we went to a Japanese garden park and there was a tea plant area! Thus I got to drink tea while looking at tea plants. hehe. It was very peaceful.

I’m not sure if that’s sadistic or not, like eating eggs while watching chickens.

Picked out as a sample for me. This smells mostly vegetal. The flavour is a bit sweet, and a little medicinal. Probably not the best to have with my eggs.

Not really my cuppa, but glad I got to try it anyway.

Best
Ginseng
Oolong
I’ve
Had
.