268 Tasting Notes
The leaves of this tea are thin and twisty, colored light and dark brown. The smell is fruity, maybe even a little earthy. The brew is a beautiful amber color. The taste overall is just very fresh. It’s a little mineral, floral, with a slight grape note (that could be the power of suggestion since it’s called champagne oolong). It actually tastes a lot like a black tea for an oolong and even has a slight astringency to it. I’d say it’s a black tea cross dressing as an oolong.
Flavors: Astringent, Floral, Mineral
Preparation
This was the only Indian oolong in the Educational TTB 2, so I was very interested to try it. However, it’s left me very confused. It smelled and taste like nothing. Seriously, it just tasted like I was drinking hot water. I could have severely underleafed it. I did the same thing I’ve been doing for the other oolongs: 1tsp for 8oz. Anyway, I hope the next person has better luck with it :)
Preparation
Omg I think that’s even worst than saying something tastes awful lol. Flavour profile: none.
I know, right? I guess it’s a tea for the flavor-averse :-P
How weird! Oddly enough this makes me really want to try it.
I hope you get more out of it than I did. Maybe try more leaf?
It could just be really old.
Maybe more leaf, lower temp longer steep? Just a thought
I did add a bit more leaf to the basket and steeped longer, but to no avail. I didn’t want to use any more of it experimenting though
That’s how whites usually taste to me unless it’s Shang Tea
I actually really like whites though and they are not tasteless at all to me! But this one….it’s just not there lol
For this tea you should use 2 teaspoons at 170F for a 4 minute steep. I’m thinking it was just a bit under-leafed.
This was the first tea I had gongfu style! I picked it based on Brenden’s recommendation, which was spot on as always. I didn’t write a review that time because I just decided to concentrate on the experience rather than worrying about taking notes or anything. And then I’d just have to repeat the experience to write a decent review, oh darn ;).
First, this tea is gorgeous! The leaves are fluffy and curly, while their color reminds me of golden lion tamarin fur. I think it’s cute :). I brewed 3g at 205F 15/15/30/40/60 sec
Steep 1: This steep was malty and bready, melting into sweet honey and cocoa. There was an earthy aroma that didn’t really come through in the flavor with this steep. Overall, it was honey butter on a biscuit! Yes please. More of this.
Steep 2: This steep was still malty and bready, but almost aggressively earthy tasting. It was not as sweet, but cocoa is stronger.
Steep 3: Now all the tastes are still very present, but mellowed as a whole. They’re not any weaker, they’re just not as sharp as they were, as if they’ve melted into each other. The cocoa was the strongest flavor in this steep.
Steep 4: This steep was all buttery bread with a hint of earth but the cocoa seemed to be hiding. Where did you go, cocoa?
Steep 5: Cocoa’s back! This steep was surprised me given the fourth steep. It was buttery, bready, and cocoa-y. It reminded me of a chocolate croissant. Nommy to the max! I can’t decide if I like the first steep or the last steep better; maybe I’ll have to do this again soon I’m definitely doing this again soon. This tea makes my teeth buzz and got me hella tea drunk to boot!
I had an excellent tea-receiving day and a terrible tea-drinking day. I got a most excellent package from Virginia and my mom sent me this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0789209888/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
She sent it just because (what we refer to in my family as a “happy”), but it got stuck in loading dock jail at the university :(
I had a super busy day with like 3 experiments happening simultaneously, so I got in one darjeeling before work and then nothing else the whole day. I didn’t get home til after 8pm, so too late for caffeinated teas. Boo.
I finally decided that my mint had grown enough to harvest and try a cup of tea. It’s in my front window and I have to lean over a chair to water it, plus it’s been growing like a weed- so I haven’t been inspecting it at all closely. When I did look closely as I started harvesting, IT WAS COMPLETELY COVERED IN APHIDS. PANIC!!!! First step, isolation. I have twelve other plants, so I chucked it on the back porch of my apartment building. Sorry, neighbors. (I’m not sorry). When I examined the window where it was, the wood was also covered in freaking aphids and I doused it with furniture polish. Sorry, aphids. My neem oil is at work, so I plan to start treating with neem oil tomorrow. Experienced gardeners, do you have any other tips? I’m super nervous for my other plants now and I feel like there are bugs crawling all over my scalp. Gross.
Oh no – that sucks! My usual cure for aphids is lady bugs but that probably won’t work inside your house. I would spray everything down with some insecticidal soap (it is an approved organic method) and then besure you rinse anything you will eat really really well. :(
My freaking rose bush is getting eaten too. Some sort of white fuzzy bug. I am not a gardener so I don’t even know what bug this is. I shall have to google. But we sprayed with insecticidal something and it was free of one bug and now it’s another. I’m kinda giving up on it. Gardening is HARD!
I’m surprised aphids went after mint. Mint is normally pretty pest-free. I use organic dish soap in a spray bottle of water. I use it for my dishes, so I feel safe using it on my plants. :)
I forget the exact ratio, but it’s not much. A few tbsps in the bottle. Works great and it’s cheap. First I “flick” off as many aphids as I can, outside of course. Then I shake the bottle and give it a good dousing of soapy water spray twice per day.
Mint usually benefits from a good cut-back once in awhile, so I’d probably give it a little “haircut” first in this case, then do the soap. That way you aren’t eating aphid leaves later. I don’t think they’re as highly sought as leafhopper leaves. Good luck!!!
My grandfather was a farmer and at least for the last thirty years of his life (not sure about the start) he used a solution of water and dish soap to keep pests off his plants. Works great, doesn’t harm the plant and doesn’t hurt people and animals either.
Insecticidal soap is pretty much the same thing and I’ve also used the dish soap. And I’m also surprised by aphids on mint – they usually like sweeter things
I was also extremely surprised. Where did they come from?? I got those plants from Amazon and opened the package inside. I certainly didn’t notice any bugs then. Maybe they’re not actually aphids? I did some googling and I couldn’t figure out what else they could be. They look a lot like aphids and don’t look like common mint pests (spider mites, loopers, flea beetles), but I’m certainly no expert. Thanks everyone, I will try the dish soap!
LOL @Sars and the “leafhopper” mint leaves
:p
Let us know how it goes. The one great thing is that mint is damn near impossible to kill and should make a full recovery for you. :)
Could they be mealy? White cottony? Google the image. I use solution of 1/2 water 1/2 alcohol and few drops of neem oil. Water should be warm. Shake well and spray everywhere. Replace the soil. It should be fast draining. Don’t put in sunny location, neem will cook it. Google gardenweb Tapla pest mix solution. He is guru of soil mixes and solutions. You can even email him and he always responds. Good luck
Jealous of the book! ;P. I am so sorry about the mint. Hopefully some of the ideas stated will work for you! Let us know.
I managed to make it through the all the Taiwanese oolongs today! It was fun trying all of them and I was surprised by the amount of variation between them. This was one of the most unique of the bunch and I’m glad I ended the day with it. The leaves were small, brown, and somewhat flat; really quite unassuming. The smell though was richly fruity and quite the opposite of unassuming. It brewed up a dark amber color and also tasted extremely fruity, almost like a prune. It was a very sweet oolong and was one of my favorites of the bunch.
Flavors: Fruity, Sweet
That’s one of the teas that we sell. Glad you like it! :)
Haha, I’m not surprised! As far as I know I’ve liked every tea I’ve tried from Butiki :)
Thanks, that’s sweet of you to say. :)
mj- I am really enjoying your notes. I think you have been trying a lot of the ones I will hopefully get to.
Thanks TeaTiff :)
The leaves of this tea are long, twisty, and dark brown and they smell extremely roasty! The liquor came out a light, orangey-brown. The taste was exactly as the smell would have you believe, very roasted even bordering on burnt. Despite the heaviness of the roasted taste, there is a surprising clean sweetness at the finish. Overall, this one was too roasted for me.
Flavors: Roasted, Sweet
The leaves of this tea are dark green, long and twisty and they smelled very vegetal. The color of the brew was extremely pale yellow green. Despite the smell, this oolong didn’t taste vegetal to me. It was very creamy with full mouthfeel, finishing with a clean sweetness. Very good!
Flavors: Creamy, Sweet
The leaves of this oolong are rolled and very dark brown. The smell is extremely roasty with an almost coffee-like quality to it. It brews up a sienna brown color. The sip starts our fairly innocuously, but finishes with a burnt taste. Not even a burnt sugar taste, just burnt. It leaves an aftertaste that reminds me of coffee. I’ll be honest, I dumped most of this. Definitely not for me.
Flavors: Burnt, Coffee
This oolong has dark green rolled leaves. The smell is pretty vegetal and brews up a light yellow color. The main note I get from this tea is very full mouthfeel. The background players are delicate grassiness and a light vegetable taste, but they really play second fiddle to the mouthfeel of this tea..
The leaves of this tea are dark brown and green nugget. The smell is a very delicate oolong smell and the liquor is a light delicate yellow. I drank this right after the Li Shan and it was almost indistinguishable from that tea, but maybe a shade less vegetal. Definitely a pleasant tea!
Flavors: Cream, Vegetal
Is it like Oriental beauty?
The only oriental beauty I’ve had was aged (or all they all aged?), so that might make a difference. But this was no where near as fruity as the OB and have a much different “character” if you know what I mean.