Backlog from the beginning of last week! Whew am I behind. Luckily I found these notes! This was my first aged oolong – and it was a WIN!
I put this one in my gaiwan and shared with my Dad, my twin sister (who was home last week) and my little sister. We had a nice, relaxing ceremony. It was a lot of fun.
Wash – I did about a 10sec wash on this one, and of course I tasted it. It was buttery and slightly roasty. I poured the rest of the wash into the cups to warm them, then onto my tea pet.
Now for the real deal!
15 sec 1st Steep – The smell of this cup kind of reminds me of hazelnut coffee…interesting. It’s roasty and sweet. Taste wise, the cup is nice and creamy/smooth, roasty, with a slight green bean flavor. Interesting.
25 sec 2nd Steep – This brew smelled like straight up roasted coffee beans to me and my twin. My little sister thought it still smelled like hazelnut, and my dad thought it smelled “nutty” in general. Taste wise we all picked up the green bean taste again, though it was a bit morphed this time around in that it also resembled snap peas. The roasty flavor was still present, and there was a nutty flavor this time around, too. The creaminess I got in the first steep was very subtle in this one, but the brew itself was still very smooth.
35 sec 3rd Steep – This one tasted more like straight up snap pea. The roasty/nutty flavor is still present, but not as strong. This one also sees a reemergence of the thick cream taste/mouthfeel, and has some nice buttery notes at the end of the sip. Yum! This one is my favorite steep so far.
50 sec 4th Steep – This one has a nice, strong cream/butter scent mixed in with the vegetal and roasted aspects. Cool. This translates in the taste as well – very creamy/buttery taste with roasted green bean notes. Very smooth and velvety. There is also a nutty and slightly coffee-like taste at the end of the sip. Yummy.
1 min 5th Steep – Butter and green beans in both taste and smell. What all four of us got was the taste of buttered roasted green beans… seriously. I didn’t even know a tea could naturally taste so much like food. Everyone enjoyed this smooth, creamy steep, but I still think the 3rd steep was my favorite.
We stopped there, but I suspect I could’ve gotten a few more steeps from this one. It was sure an interesting tea. I’m glad I have more to mess around with and enjoy. I can’t wait to compare this one to the 1991 Aged Oolong from Butiki.
I love this one :)