93
drank Four Seasons by Samovar
187 tasting notes

Backlogging the epicness of last night with this tea.

Because Four Seasons, lemme tell ya, it’s epic.

I wanted something yummy. Something delicious. Something that has high marks, and that I could get a lot of cups out of. Enter oolong, which is quickly rising to become one of my favorite go-to teas when I want a sustained tea drinking experience.

So Four Seasons. It smells at first pretty non-descript, which I think a lot of oolongs have trouble with. It smells slightly floral, maybe juicy-ish, but mainly vegetal and not very interesting. The leaves are rolled into tiny, irregular pellets.

So I steeped this one up at first with boiling water, at 2 minutes. The smell coming off the cup was amazing. It’s one of those things that you want to breathe in, inhale, surround yourself with, become ONE WITH THAT CUP, cause yeah, it’s delicious. Buttery and full and rich. And the taste was pretty awesome, I have to say. It mainly tasted like flowers with a buttery edge. There were cocoa notes at points, savory end notes, and the hint of some sort of milk protein at the end of every sip. There’s a pretty heavy mouthfeel, which I’m enjoying immensely.

But I have to give it up to the Second Steep (3:00, boiling) which pretty much stole the flavor cake. Man. It smells just as strong, has that rich buttery color, but the taste pretty much throws this one into the OMG WANT MORE AMAZING category. Especially as this one cools. This one tastes lighter, but fuller, if that even makes any sense. The flavors are sugary sweet and overwhelmingly creamy, with milky notes that are in full force. The cooling effect only thickens the mouthfeel and brings the sugared-milk notes into prominence. The floral notes are still there, but they’re not as strong.

Steep Three (3:30, boiling) I probably should have done for longer. This one had a slightly thicker mouthfeel than #2, and was fairly similar to two, but had more of the savory topnotes that were in the first steep. I want to say this one tasted a bit “greener” than the other two.

Steep Four (4:40, boiling) had a much higher savory component, but a lighter flavor overall. There was an almost green bean taste to this one, that crispness you get when they’ve been steamed. But the flavors are pretty much muted, and the smell is a bit disappointing.

Steep Five (6:00, boiling) is where I ended. This one was even more savory than the last, the sugary tastes fading away, and oddly enough, I was getting the taste of fresh baked bread at the end of some of the sips. But this one was definitely not as flavorful as the past ones, so I dumped the leaves.

I really, really want to try this one with less-than-boiling water, as I feel it might be able to sustain those rich milk-buttery notes for a bit longer.

Also, I need to give a shout-out to the leaves because man, are they BEAUTIFUL. This is actually the first time I took leaves out of the pot to inspect and hold. They expand at such an exponential rate and unfurl so beautifully, that your entire pot is just completely stuffed with evergreen goodness. The leaves are all pretty much intact and full, and you can clearly pick out the buds with the leaves still attached. One was so big it took up half my palm (please note: I have tiny hands). But still, really, really awesome. The quality is just written all over this oolong.

So YES, SAMOVAR, YES. You have stolen my heart. Please keep it safe. Because I was in oolong heaven last night!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Ricky

Wait boiling water… 2 minute steep…. WAIT! This isn’t downy sprouts. Wow I’m so out of it =]

Yay, a goood tastyyyy oolong =] AND you have a teenyyyy pot!

Shanti

This sounds sooo amazing! My package isn’t here yet, even though UPS says it was delivered! :O I’m freaking out…I just emailed Samovar, hopefully they can sort it out….but I wanna cry, because I was looking forward to this. :(

DAMN YOU UPS! >:[

Ricky

Now I don’t have problems with UPS, but USPS! ARGH! The delivery guy does not like me at all! I live on a busy street and tell me how he left a big package sitting on top of the mailbox . I even had a nice sign with PICTURES, telling him how/where the back entrance was. He just hates me.

fcmonroe

Mine’s arrived and I’ve opened the tin to smell the leaves, but I haven’t tried it yet. This review is inspiring me! Today’s the day. I’ll have it for an afternoon treat.

sophistre

With water at 175 it seems to me that this oolong can go for everrrrrr on repeat steeps. I have yet to get to a point where the leaves ran out of reserves before I was in the mood for something else, or had depleted the zojirushi so much that i had to reboil and wound up wanting something else for the sake of temperature.

teaplz

Thanks for the tip, sophistre! I definitely am going to try to bring the water down next time. I think the more buttery flavors might come to the forefront of multiple steeps as well if I do that.

Melissa

This tea is pretty expensive (compared to what I normally drink). This review though makes me really want to try it. I may just have to cave.

Shanti

USPS and UPS both suck. :) But I like USPS a little better…I mean, they don’t forge signatures and I’ve never had problems with them.

This post + comments are taunting me :‘( I’m so disappointed….I want my Samovar tea!! :’(

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Comments

Ricky

Wait boiling water… 2 minute steep…. WAIT! This isn’t downy sprouts. Wow I’m so out of it =]

Yay, a goood tastyyyy oolong =] AND you have a teenyyyy pot!

Shanti

This sounds sooo amazing! My package isn’t here yet, even though UPS says it was delivered! :O I’m freaking out…I just emailed Samovar, hopefully they can sort it out….but I wanna cry, because I was looking forward to this. :(

DAMN YOU UPS! >:[

Ricky

Now I don’t have problems with UPS, but USPS! ARGH! The delivery guy does not like me at all! I live on a busy street and tell me how he left a big package sitting on top of the mailbox . I even had a nice sign with PICTURES, telling him how/where the back entrance was. He just hates me.

fcmonroe

Mine’s arrived and I’ve opened the tin to smell the leaves, but I haven’t tried it yet. This review is inspiring me! Today’s the day. I’ll have it for an afternoon treat.

sophistre

With water at 175 it seems to me that this oolong can go for everrrrrr on repeat steeps. I have yet to get to a point where the leaves ran out of reserves before I was in the mood for something else, or had depleted the zojirushi so much that i had to reboil and wound up wanting something else for the sake of temperature.

teaplz

Thanks for the tip, sophistre! I definitely am going to try to bring the water down next time. I think the more buttery flavors might come to the forefront of multiple steeps as well if I do that.

Melissa

This tea is pretty expensive (compared to what I normally drink). This review though makes me really want to try it. I may just have to cave.

Shanti

USPS and UPS both suck. :) But I like USPS a little better…I mean, they don’t forge signatures and I’ve never had problems with them.

This post + comments are taunting me :‘( I’m so disappointed….I want my Samovar tea!! :’(

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Bio

28-year-old NYC girl just starting out on her tea adventures! I used to hate tea. If you asked me a few years ago what I thought of tea, I’d tell you it tasted like hot, dirty dishwater. Not anymore! I acquired a taste for tea when I started drinking peppermint tea for my upset stomach problems. From there I graduated to teas like chamomile and Lipton. But Lipton wasn’t strong enough!

I’m getting the hang of this loose leaf thing. Black’s my default, but I’ve found that I really love teas that fall into every category. I’m a purist – I always drink my tea neat. I prefer unflavored tea over flavored tea, and really dislike anything flavored with artificial-tasting substances. I’ve grown up a bit in my tea drinking, and I find that novelty appeals to me less and less.

I also am the happy wife of the boy that created the tea randomizer, which can be found here: http://www.jaydeee.net/pickatea.php

Location

New York City

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