85
drank Da Yu Ling Oolong Tea by Yezi Tea
14 tasting notes

Oolongs are one of the most enjoyable teas to watch when brewing. With Da Yu Ling, the dark green leaves are curled tightly into tiny, crooked balls when dry. By tiny, I mean smaller than a button. As the tea brews, the leaves unfurl to reveal their full, beautiful almond shape about the size of your thumb. That’s huge, compared to other tea leaves! This visual surprise is one of the reasons why I love oolong tea.

Also, oolongs have a distinct orchid fragrance compared to other teas. It’s lightly floral, with more exotic and regal hints than a typical floral or green tea. From there, the oolong scent spectrum expands, ranging from vegetal to sweet to slightly fruity. When dry, Da Yu Ling lies on the vegetal end; but when brewed, it exudes an enchanting mix of orchid, grass, and butter. I don’t detect the tangerine notes described by Yezi, yet the richness of Da Yu Ling’s bouquet is exactly what I look for from a good oolong.

Apart from Teavana’s Monkey-Picked Oolong, Da Yu Ling Oolong is the first tea I’ve tried that the vendor recommends to steep multiple times. For the first cup, I brewed about 1½ teaspoons for 1 minute. The water turns a pretty pale gold, with a minty green tinge. Of course, there’s no mint whatsoever when you sip it. In fact, the first cup of Da Yu Ling tastes like green tea – fresh, grassy, natural. Maybe that shouldn’t surprise me, since the dry leaves gave off that scent. Yet it did.

What makes Da Yu Ling a star is its additional steeps. The leaves release more flavor as the brew time increases. The steep I savored the most is at 90 seconds. Here, the liquid takes on a beautiful gold hue, and the orchid current starts to weave itself through. The tea also develops a smooth, buttery texture and a delightfully sweet finish. Whenever the 90-second brew is gone, my heart flops with disappointment because I enjoyed it so much – but then my mood flips to excitement, because the empty mug means I can make a new cup! I’d advise against brewing Da Yu Ling past 4 minutes, however. Beyond that point, a mild bitterness replaces the sweetness and eventually overpowers the floral notes.

Read my full review here: http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2014/09/17/tea-time-at-reverie-yezi-teas-da-yu-ling-oolong-tea/

Flavors: Butter, Grass, Orchid, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Bio

Hello! I’m a tea reviewer and founder of A Bibliophile’s Reverie’s tea column, “Tea Time At Reverie.” As part of these reviews, I also recommend tea and book pairings to tie in the column with ABR’s primary purpose as a book review / literary discussion blog.

I drink most kinds of teas – black, green, oolong, white, herbal, rooibos, jasmine, blended teas… Picking favorites is almost too tough. I love just about anything with jasmine, Teavana’s ToLife and Song Zhen Needle, Tea Forte’s Orchid Vanilla, and Marianne’s Wild Abandon from Bingsley’s Teas. The only kinds of teas I don’t care for are chais, mates, and overpowering fruit flavors.

Apart from tea and tea reviews, I’m a freelance writer and published poet who’s working on a fantasy novel. Feel free to visit my website if you’d like to check out my other work!

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Massachusetts, USA

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http://saraletourneau.wordpre...

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