Orchid Oolong

I wanted something a bit lighter today, so I diceided to make this tea again. The first infusion used ~170 degree water, and steeped for 30 seconds. It was surprisingly sweet, but not quite as much as the orchid Oolong that Verdant offered last year. That’s the real problem with this tea: I’ve had a different version of the tea which tasted better, and I’m alway comparing the two and this tea just falls a bit short. Anyway, it’s still a lovely tea, with pleasant flowery notes an a nice lingering aftertaste, and it matches well iwth the beautiful warm weather today.

Ok, I had this at a tea bar yesterday and I think they may have made this wrong…it was very light in color, as if it was a white tea I was drinking and the flavor was very watered down. I could barely taste any oolong at all and no floral notes, just a vague sweet note. So I have come to the conclusion that they used too much water or not enough tea, either way I am pretty sure this was watered down and not how this should taste, so I wont rate it until I try it again.

I have teabags of this that I really enjoy traveling with because the tin was full of individually wrapped bags. The flavor is super mild, sweet, and floral. I steeped this for 2 minutes for the first 3 infusions, and 3 minutes for the next 2, 4 minutes for the third. Definitely a soft flavor, but very tasty.

Very light color, looks like a white tea.

Nose is sweet, honeysuckle.

Flavor is very light — would brew it 5 min next time. Small bite aftertaste.

This brews up to be a much lighter color than you would expect. The first time I brewed it, it was for 5 minutes and I double checked the tea timer after I saw the color. It’s a delicate, floral cup, and like the other reviewer said, it’s more like a white tea. I’ve debated brewing it for longer, but I do like the lightness of it.

I got this as a single teabag sample from a cupboard sale from Ost in August 2018, so thank you, Ost! I figured this would go well with my dinner of instant potstickers, so I brewed up the teabag in 205F water.

The tea is a lovely marigold color and smells like the Forever Spring oolong from Thunder Mountain Teas that I sipped down not all that long ago… a sort of floral purfumey aroma, but not overwhelming. It smells a bit like orchid, lilac, honeysuckle, and sweet cream. It tastes sweet and floral, smooth and a bit creamy, with a strong and lasting floral aftertaste. I like floral teas so I find it quite pleasant. It really does taste a lot like the Forever Spring oolong (was that also a Tung Ting?) but I do think that one was just a touch fuller in flavor.

Another single sample from Ost! Thanks again! (Hope you are well!) I LOVE the idea of an orchid oolong, it’s my favorite type of oolong — floral. However, I’m not sure what the age of this sealed teabag might be. The packaging is quite nice. I may have oversteeped the first steep.. the color of the brew was bright GREEN. uh oh. I guess the teabag might have contained more than a teaspoon and shouldn’t have went in my smaller mug. The flavor isn’t as floral as I’d expect. Buttery,sweet, a bit vegetal. I guess oolongs as they get older, tend to be harder to describe. It’s decent enough. I guess I just didn’t want to sip this down without writing SOMETHING. Poor tea. I see the site has a 20% off spring sale, if anyone is interested… though I’m not sure when that ends.
Steep #1 // 1 teabag for smaller mug // 10 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 7 minutes after boiling // 2 min
2019 sipdowns: 27
edited to add: Whoops. just got an e-mail from Art of Tea saying there is hours left in the sale….

The leaves have a grassy green smell in the tin, with a sweet floral note and just a hint of a sharp spicy note.

Gaiwan, 195F. Rinse, 15 seconds +5 for each subsequent steep.

The tea has a very pale yellow liquor. It smells fresh, with a single floral note. The description says lilac, and while I ‘m not sure I have a mental map of lilac’s aroma, I have no reason to think this isn’t that. In the first steep, there’s a light, milk note.

Later steeps continue to have the lilac note, but starting with the second steep through several more, the milky note becomes buttery. By the third steep, the leaves have greatly expanded and leave a sugary, nectar/floral scent in the cup when the tea is gone.

Something about this tea made me want to keep steeping it beyond my typical four steeps for note-writing purposes. I took this through an additional three steeps with breakfast.

That’s a really good sign, and my rating reflects it.

Oh my goodness, this has to be one of the strongest floral teas I’ve ever had-at least smell wise. The dry leaf smell was super strong. When I steeped it the strong aroma went away a bit.And when I began to drink the tea, the strong floral notes came back.
The buttery flavor actually threw me off in this one. It smelled so strong that I didn’t think it would be buttery at all, because usually I can smell it before.
But the buttery flavor wasn’t overwhelming. It gave it more depth.
I really love this tea! Definitely one I’d buy again, but only in a really good sale because it’s kinda a lot of money. And the smallest oz you can get of this one, other than the sample tin is a 4oz bag. So that’s kinda annoying.
Well, definitely a good tea to remember for next year’s Black Friday sale! :P

Very delicate tea. Mild coloring. Not like a typical oolong at all. Color is mild, but feels very full and thick on the tongue. Smell is sweet yet slightly vegetal.