Tasting note #1,700! Whoa. I’m sure not many of you are reading these at this point, but after around 1,700 teas, the tasting notes are definitely a little for my memory.
Thank you for the samples, BirdPick.com! I’m beginning to figure out flavor profiles for oolong at the most part, and to my mind, Ali Shan is usually the most savory. These tight jade green bundles don’t have much of a fragrance to them as a dry leaf. This is slightly savory, it’s buttery and a little salty. Cooled, the flavor is turning into the peaches and cream type flavor that I had with the green tea yesterday. I’m much more accustomed to a peach flavor in oolong than green tea. The second and third steeps are tougher to decipher. They seem like a mixture of those oolong characteristics. It’s a good oolong but I always wish each oolong I drink to be ONE of the oolong characteristics like fruity/peachy, floral, milky or savory. This one seems to be bits and pieces of these and other flavors. I don’t think I ruined this one by my steeping parameters though – the leaves seemed to work this way, but it’s a bit of a mystery.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping tsp // 10 minutes after boiling // rinse // mug filled 2/3 full // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 6 min a.b. // 2 min steep
Steep #3 // 4 min a.b. // 2 min steep
