Not very with it this morning, after one of those nights where I tried sleeping for a couple of hours then woke up to cat feeding time, but in any case, I’m in the mood for a nice refreshing oolong. Time to try my new (to me) peach oolong! Let me admit right away that my tea-making technique is not sharp this morning … I boiled the water and then let it sit for a randomish couple of minutes to cool, so the temperature estimate with this tasting note is approximate. First cup was a mostly flat tsp of leaves in ~7 oz of water (which I’ve entered as 1 tsp/6 oz because I didn’t want to put 1.15 tsp or something ;) ), steeped for 2ish minutes.
The dry scent of the leaves is promisingly peachy, supported by a layer of cool dark oolong fragrance. While steeping, the peach scent mostly disappears, leaving behind a light and rather unrevealing fragrance of the tea. Peach comes back in the taste, though, which is a nice balance of subtly sweet fruit and an oolong with clarity and an occasional mildly buttery aftertaste that becomes faintly astringent as I finish the cup. A relaxing and meditative tea that I can see myself craving again later.
Tried a second steep at 2 minutes 30 seconds and got somewhat interesting results: at first an unremarkable, weak flavor, not quite to the “this is almost water” level, then when I took a sip a couple of minutes later I was surprised by a burst of sweetness. Also, the mostly-cool end of the second cup tasted more like peach green than oolong (which makes some sense, as there IS green in the blend). Maybe I’ll try a second steep at 3 minutes next time and see what happens.
Flavors: Peach
