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It feels like it has been a while since I have had a black tea, so I went for this one. I seem to always enjoy this one when I make it.

I thought I have reviewed this tea before. Apparently not. Unfortunately I did not approach this tea with the goal of reviewing it or sharing my thoughts.

If that is what you are reading this for, go ahead and skip this note. It is not going to hurt my feelings. There is nothing of some significant value here. Seriously. For real, I am not even going to give a rating! That will come later.

I had it with the goal of drinking some warm tea. I am feeling quite sick today, and had a higher than normal desire to drink something warm, and just warm water did not seem very appealing. The desire probably has something to do with the fact that my throat hurts. As a result I had 4 cups of tea (hint: it was this one) over the past hour or so.

I also tried to avoid/minimise caffeine so I could go to sleep earlier and hopefully recover from whatever I have faster. So, I did not drink the first infusion, since I have heard that most of the caffeine is in the first infusion, and any caffeine is seriously diminished after that. Obviously I have not done a study on this to confirm.

The second and third were both made with the recommended steep time and temperature (see preparation details). More so due to the fact that my TriniTEA goes up to 7 minutes…

Although my nose is running (so I cannot really smell), and my throat is sore (which will prevent me from tasting it normally), I can say that the second infusion was better than the third. The third one seemed stronger than the second. Or maybe I am just going insane too. We will see. We will see.

I originally purchased this tea because it comes from the same region of Japan that I stayed in when I went there a few years back.

This tea has the perfect amount of grassiness for my preference, at least compared to other green teas I’ve tried so far. Once this tea cooled down, it was very good. None of the flavors were very sharp, which I like. It all seems to mesh together quite well.

I do see one problem however. I only made two cups worth, and I am starting to think that was not enough! This might qualify for a re-steep.

Decided to under-steep this time around, see what happens.

Pretty good, not as good as the usual 3 minute steep time though. Seems a bit more of a bitter taste than the longer steep time, somehow… Must have used more leaves than usual.

I was quite amused with the wisps of steam arising from my cup though.

Quite good.

Seemed to hint at some flavors that are completely beyond my ability to identify.

I like how it is not quite a strong as a black tea, but seemed to be stronger than a green tea.

This is the first Oolong I’ve had (at least in loose leaf form). Will definitely keep drinking this, but I’m also now curious about other varieties to try.

I like this tea. It’s really smooth. The flavor is very mellow and not overpowering. It makes for a nice tea-drinking experience.

I prefered it best when cooled off a little, but not quite room temperature (I finished it before it got to that point _).

Pre-midterm tea.