87 Tasting Notes
With the name Oolong #18 I didn’t hold high hopes for this tea. It feels like Adagio didn’t care enough for it to give it a decent, meaningful name. The truth is this oolong is great and totally deserves some recognition.
It has all the qualities I appreciate in green oolongs – buttery, almost oily notes, flowery aroma and flavor with slightly dry aftertaste. It brews very light and gives away two tasty infusions, I found the third to be lacking though so I didn’t go beyond that.
Preparation
I was brewing this tea the other day and decided to read the label on the bag to pass the time while I was waiting. The description said: “isolated within a pristine tropical rainforest” and it hit me – That’s it! – That’s where this weird musty scent is coming from. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the aroma and flavor before, it reminded me of something swampy in a good sense. Now I think it’s must be how a tropical rainforest smells like – damp wood and ferns.
Preparation
The most amazing looking tea I’ve seen so far. It has huge brown leaves with bright yellow, green and red mixed in. It reminds me of autumn.
The smell is very unique as well. It’s strong, aromatic, smoky and fresh at the same time. Very hard to describe actually because it’s the first time I encounter tea like that. Again, autumn forest comes to mind. I mentioned it being smoky and yes, it’s a very prominent note but it isn’t Chinese green or Gunpowder smoky, more like Keemun smoky without any sweetness.
The brew is amber in color and has exactly the same aroma as the dry leaf. The flavor is strong, somewhat dry but very refreshing. I can even catch light lemony notes in the background.
I really am impressed with this tea, it doesn’t even get close to any of the whites I tried before and I tried a lot. It’s totally unique and absolutely delicious. I can easily get 4 infusions out of it and they all are very consistent if flavor and color.
The recommended steeping temperature by TeaGschwendner is 160F but I experimented with it for quite a bit and found it to be too low.
Preparation
Brewed in a pot this time.
I’m definitely getting more promised fruitiness now, even light aroma is present. Better but still far from great.
Looks like this tea isn’t supposed to be brewed in a gaiwan, too much heat dissipation which affects the taste.
I’m upping the rating a bit.
Preparation
I’m very disappointed with this one.
The description sounds very enticing, the dry leaf looks absolutely beautiful and the price is high enough to expect good quality tea. I don’t know, it might still be of great quality but it tastes close to Snow Bud and has no aroma whatsoever. It’s flat, boring and totally forgettable.
I brewed it according to Upton’s recommendations and think they are about right because the tea didn’t seem to be over-steeped at all.
Preparation
No peaches or apricots here for me. The tea is sweet, creamy, almost buttery but not fruity regardless of what the description say. It reminds me of cookie dough actually which isn’t a bad thing but might be too overwhelming for a everyday green.
Great value too.
Preparation
This is very Silver-Needle-like tea. It’s mellow and sweet with a hint of Darjeeling flavor. I can definitely taste first flush here and catch spring flowers aroma.
The reason I didn’t give this tea 100 rating is that only the first 2 infusions really shined. I did 4 and upped the steeping time accordingly but still couldn’t get the intensity of flavor I appreciate. By all means it’s exquisite tea and really deserves attention but I just don’t feel it’s 100% worth the price, maybe next year harvest will live up to it.
I’m adding this to my rotation nevertheless, it’s too good to pass on.
Preparation
It’s a new batch of Poobong White from SpecialTeas and I’m struggling to brew it right. I absolutely loved the last year’s tea and this one seems to be noticeably different from it in the worst sense possible. Even dry leaf color looks somewhat dull and doesn’t invite you to take a whiff out of the bag.
First of all the flavor is very weak, I have to use twice the amount of leaf I usually use to brew White Peony. It doesn’t have the distinctive Darjeeling taste as it used to have, more of a woody-lemony pallet.
Secondly, the aroma is far from spectacular as well. Dry leaf has more distinguished smell to it than the brew which is pretty disappointing… actually I can hardly smell anything at all.
I will continue my experiments with this because I have 4 more ounces to go but it doesn’t look promising so far.
I THINK, although, I would have to take a loooooooong trip back through past journal entries to some time about four years ago, I think, to check, but I THINK that this was the first oolong ever tried. A friend sent it to me and I remember thinking at the time that it was an odd name for a tea. Just a number. It was definitely one of the Adagio oolongs though.
Right now Adagio has six numbered oolongs (including three jasmine flavored). I’ve no idea why they name them like that but I find it rather confusing… it’s kinda difficult for me to associate teas with numbers.
Yeah well from a company that tells us Pu Erh is a black tea, I’m not surprised. At least they say in the discription it’s a Jade oolong.
Adagio names a lot of their teas with a music theme (Keemun Concerto, Ceylon Sonata,etc) so I think the numbers are also following that theme. If you look at most classical composers, they name their works like “Symphony No. 21”
I do agree though if you don’t pick up on that, it makes it seem like these teas are an afterthought.