Baked Ali Shan

So, I was planning on having a black tea, but had just finished a (delicious) bowl of homemade apple crumble and custard, and thought this would be a good tea to follow it up with. Admittedly, I was confusing it with the Fu Shou Shan at first, and picturing those lovely natural apple and cinnamon notes which it has, but this was still a good choice, although accidental!

I also made an error in steeping judgement though, and used water that was not nearly hot enough for the first steep, which basically became a rinse. The tea didn’t open up at all, despite being steeped for 4 minutes, which was when I realised my error. I quickly heated the liquor and put the tea back in to steep for another couple of minutes, which did help, though it didn’t bring out the best in the tea. This cup was mildly nutty, with a scent of roasted almonds and asparagus and hints of creamy macadamia, vegetal notes and a toasted quality in the sip. Due to the steeping disaster I couldn’t really pinpoint too many of the complex notes I typically get from this one.

In I went again for a third steep of the leaf, hotter this time. This cup is more reminiscent of buttered sweetcorn…. I got sidetracked and stopped half way through my note, and drank the rest of the tea while doing other stuff, so I guess that’s all you’re getting for that particular steep! Oh well. On the plus side, I do now have my trip to London in January all booked up! There are some train strikes and engineering works going on, so we’ve had trouble getting the travel booked, but it’s all sorted now and for a very good price so I’m happy, even if it will take 2 hours longer than usual and involve a replacement bus service!

I am slowly making it through my rose infected Butiki teas to see which ones are drinkable and which ones just need to be pitched :(. This one has been slightly infected, but however it was affected still tastes nice. I have no idea of the tea I am drinking tastes anything like it use to, but it is decent. SIlky, floral, green oolongy. It is a very smooth tea. I enjoyed this tea all day long. I just kept steeping and steeping the leaves.

So… sometimes I am make pretty silly choices when it comes to tea. Today, I made another one :/

After the dentist, with 5 shots bottom and top, with a headache I decided to brew something I reserved (a Butiki from Ost).

All I know is that this is a warm liquid…
:/

Another from the mystery box! I’m trying to steep all three oolongs from the mystery box the same. Even though this should be a baked oolong, the leaf color doesn’t look much different than the Fu Shou Shan.

Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsp // 25 minutes after boiling // rinse // 3 min steep
The flavor doesn’t seem overly roasty, maybe just a little bit more savory. Very buttery, again not much different from the Fu Shou Shan. The flavor might be a little more stronger, a little more salty, briny, brothy but that is probably due to the baked quality. It’s very tasty. Now that I think about it, both oolongs are almost like those buttery creamed corn green teas.

Steep #2 // 7 min after boiling // 2 min
This cup is actually very tough to describe because it’s entirely different. I’ve never tasted an oolong like this before… it’s so unique! There is no chance that there was any flavor contamination from anything else. There definitely isn’t any oversteeped leaves/bitter flavor. The closest thing I can describe the flavor to is marzipan or those chocolates that are filled with roman nougat, but the tea doesn’t have the chocolate flavor. So there are hints of cherry and nuttiness. Either way I was noticing almond. Maybe even a desserty coconut, which just shocked me when I realized it. Note to self: This oolong is perfect steeped like this. A third steep happened… forgot to write about it!

Got this in my Butiki order. Was not really expecting to like it since I’m not so much into roasty oolongs.
But this one turned out to be okay. Not horrible.
Still pretty roasty, but it had floral notes, with a buttery undertone.
Wasn’t bad. But not my favorite. Might have to give it to someone else or something :S

This is a fairly nice, vegetal, floral oolong. The Steepster writeup also says it has notes of butter. I don’t disagree with that, however they are not real strong. I only brewed this western style so I am probably not getting the full gamut of flavor notes.

I steeped this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 4 min.

So, since joining Steepster (and expanding my tea drinking habits), I’ve really started to dig Green(er) Oolongs. Verdant’s Tieguanyin was a revelation to me, when I first tried it, and all of the Butiki green oolongs I’ve tried have been delicious too – this one is no exception!

I know that it’s a little “darker” than the extremely green TGY that Verdant sell, for example, but it still has all of the wonderful qualities of greener oolongs that I’ve really grown to love. I brewed it in my little ~120 ml Gaiwan over the course of today – I must have gotten… Maybe ten steeps from it?

The first steep was pretty mild (and I confess – I did give it a flash rinse beforehand, too), but had those lovely, mild vegetal notes mixed with the floral, orchid flavour that I’ve really come to associate these teas with. The next handful of steeps were just perfect – floral and refreshing, with just a touch of buttery vegetables.

As the day wore on, my infusions grew longer – by the final steep or two, it was actually more akin to drinking a vegetal and orchid like White Tea. It was smooth, still kinda buttery and sweet.

This tea was just lovely. I’m deffo glad I took a gamble, with my first Butiki order, and went for a little bag of this – it’s well worth it! :D

This is nice. It’s still a pretty green oolong, but with a touch of roasty feel to it. Creamy. Tasty.

The leaves are beautiful as they unfurl.

http://instagram.com/p/xZkLCIgyf7/
http://instagram.com/p/xZmSLaAyUD/

Well, I was intending to have any more tea tonight, but then my mom demanded requested some, so of course I was willing to oblige. I brought out this green oolong from my Butiki order because it has been a while since I have had a greener oolong. I was absolutely in love with them for a while, but then something about my tastebuds suddenly changed and there was this new flavor in there that I didn’t enjoy so much.

Anyway, on to this oolong. As it was steeping, the leaves were unfurling so beautifully. They were seriously perhaps the most whole leaves I’ve seen for an oolong after they unfurled. The tea was sweet and smooth with a bit of vegetal notes as well. I still taste that weird dampness that I can taste in other green oolongs with my messed up tastebuds, but it wasn’t too strong in this cup. There didn’t seem to be anything earth shatteringly different about this green oolong, but I do appreciate it and loved just watching those full leaves unfurl in my clear teapot (aka one of the best teaware purchases I’ve ever made).

Stacy sent along a sample of this one for me to try :)

this is an oolong, which is not usually my faouvite, so bear that in mind. This particular oolong is halfway between a green oolong and what i call a roasty oolong. :) there’s a efeling of “green” to this one but it’s not over powering, while on the other hand there is also a more bread/nut like taste? it’s also got a bit of a juicy feel to it, though not like say a dragonwell :) Ont the whole, this was quite nice, though i’d rather see it in a blend than drink it all by itself :) Worth checking out for those of you that like oolongs!