7 Tasting Notes
The wet leaves in the teapot smelled very strong. Like a heavy mineral scent. In my cup, the tea tasted more mellow and light. Almost a tiny bit floral with hints of cream. The taste of the tea is close to a Ali Shan or Dong Ding with notes of cinnamon bark giving it a woody flavor. Tastes pretty smooth!
Flavors: Bark, Cream, Floral, Mineral, Smooth, Woody
Preparation
Love this tea! It’s deeply roasted with flavors of warm, brown sugar which dances across your whole tongue. Super smooth, deep, and pleasant flavor. A slight earthy scent complements the rich, roasted aroma. My favorite Tieguanyin tea! I’ve also had this with a dash of milk, controversial, I know, but it was good too! A nice roasted milk tea. Usually, I have it plain though to appreciate its original, complex flavors.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Campfire, Earthy, Mineral, Molasses, Roasted, Smooth
Preparation
Sadly this tea was a disappointment. It didn’t taste anything like Ali Shan… it tasted like a very weak, faint, low-grade green tea with barely any flavor. The wet tea leaves had a strange scent almost like a musty smell as if the tea was old and stored away for too long. This was supposedly harvested in winter 2021 but it tasted really old and something was off with it. Even the dry tea leaves didn’t smell overly strong and rich like they are supposed to. I only brewed it once and it tasted like it would on its last brewing. Absolutely no flavor. Not sure if I received a dud or I did something wrong but I brewed it how I usually do an oolong. 185F for 3 mins in my 3-cup clay teapot.
Flavors: Green, Musty
Preparation
Amazing quality Ali Shan tea. I have tried another brand which I will review here too but this is 100% better. Full-bodied, rich, complex flavors of sweet grass and custard cream biscuits/cookies. Very smooth texture and very little astringency. The aroma is very potent too and smells slightly roasted. Overall, it is an amazing cup of tea!
Flavors: Butter, Cookie, Creamy, Nutty, Sweet, Warm Grass
Preparation
This tea was provided to me as a sampler by a friend. I personally rarely ever drink blends and usually prefer single-origin tea but I am always open to trying new things! This tea is called Ripe Mango Oolong and had some dried mango pieces in the oolong tea. After researching it, I found out that they used pouchong/baozhong oolong as the base.
Baozhong has a very mild flavor, similar to a green, light oolong. This is probably why I could barely taste the oolong in it! This tea smells like bubblegum and mango and once brewed, it has a light flavor with hints of mango, berries, and sweet apples. It is pretty pleasant and soothing.
Flavors: Apple, Berries, Bubblegum, Citrusy, Floral, Fruity, Mango, Sweet