Anlina Send Message

205 Followers / 228 Following

drank Kenya Hand-Rolled Purple Varietal Oolong Tea by What-Cha
894 tasting notes

I’m having trouble brewing this one right. The rolled leaves are incredibly long and fluffy, so measuring a teaspoon was a lot of guess work, and then some of my leaves were clumped together and didn’t really separate and open up properly on first steep. 3min at 80C didn’t yield a lot of flavour, so I pulled apart the clumped leaves, added a few more from the bag in case I underleafed it, and steeped for another minute.

I still feel like I haven’t done this tea justice. More flavour is coming out as it cools, but it still seems far too mild for an oolong. I’m getting some malt, fruitiness, some floral notes and a touch of honey, but they’re all so, so subtle and not distinctive.

I need to give this another try before I rate it, because I can tell there’s more to this that I’m just not getting on this steep.

Flavors: Floral, Fruity, Honey, Malt, Sweet

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 4 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML
2 comments
Edit
What-Cha
Delete

I have found that the second and third steepings are best with the flavour evolving and changing from the first. In my experience it is very hard to overbrew purple varietal teas so you could try increasing the water temperature to see if it yields a better brew.

Anlina
Delete

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely keep that in mind for my next cup.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

People who liked this

Comments

What-Cha
Delete

I have found that the second and third steepings are best with the flavour evolving and changing from the first. In my experience it is very hard to overbrew purple varietal teas so you could try increasing the water temperature to see if it yields a better brew.

Anlina
Delete

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely keep that in mind for my next cup.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I grew up drinking jasmine green tea with meals, but really fell in love with tea on a trip to Britain in elementary school. My first great love was Earl Grey, and I still adore it and all its variants.

I discovered the beauty of loose leaf tea much later, when, on impulse, I picked up a few teas that were on clearance at a home store. My introduction to loose leaf teas were Masala Chai and Provence Rooibos by the Metropolitan Tea Co and an unknown brand of kukicha and gyokuro (little did I know what a precious treasure I’d stumbled onto with that.)

At the time I was lucky to live in a place with multiple tea shops and several places to have afternoon tea, which is a delight I still miss.

Tea is part of my daily ritual and a nice, affordable way to appease the collector in me.

I enjoy distinctive whites, greens and oolongs, flavoured blacks, and herbals that are heavy on the citrus, lavender or mint.

Rating rubric, to give myself some consistency:
0-15 Yuck, not even drinkable.
16-30 Disappointing, not really inclined to give it a second try.
31-45 Disappointing, but maybe there’s potential? Worth one more try, prepped differently.
46-60 Mediocre, not terrible but not memorable.
61-75 Not bad. I’ll definitely finish what I have and might buy again.
76-90 Very enjoyable. Tasty, complex, it’ll keep me coming back.
91-100 BEST! I love everything about it and I will drink it forever.

Beyond tea, I’m a sex educator, polyamory activist, and radical queer. I love backwoods camping, abstract painting, baking & cooking, nail polish, cats, ceramic sculpture, and home nesting.

Location

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Following These People

See More

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer