Zealong Aromatic

Of all the delicate, champagne-y colored oolongs I’ve tried, this is by far the sweetest. Has a really nice, pale steeped color and feels smooth in your mouth. (And if I say it tastes like sweet satin sheets K S had better not laugh at me.)

Definitely too light for anything but a quiet afternoon, but perfect in a silent Sunday afternoon house. (Sort of. My head is still echoing from a morning full of 10-year-olds at church. Today’s deep philosophical question: What would happen if Lady Gaga came to our church and what would she wear?)

Apparently I’ve had this tea twice now, though I only remembered having it the first time. Both times I did short steeps, since that’s how everyone else had steeped this one. Last time I wanted to steep it longer but chickened out; this is the last of my sample, so I said heck with it and decided to steep it how I would steep most other green oolongs.

It smells incredibly sweet with floral and fruit tones, overlain by sweet-cream milky aroma. The flavor is nice and floral with a heavy helping of buttered cooked greens and the faintest hint of creaminess. Live and learn: 3 minutes is a little much for this tea, and the vegetal flavors are outweighing some of lighter notes. As I’ve experienced before, these notes, along with the natural sweetness, do grow as the tea cools. Even a little overcooked this is a tasty tea.

I received this as my prize in AmazonV’s tea art contest a while back! (Thanks AmazonV!) It’s been calling out to me to try it for a while now – and I finally listened!

This is delightful. Heavenly even! It has delicious fruit tones and a strong floral presence.

I think I shall go write about this tea for the Tea Review Blog!

Steep Information:
Amount: 25g
Water: 750ml filtered water at 195°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL (Oolong, custom)
Steep Time: 1 minute
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: tropical, fruity, sweet, milk oolong
Steeped Tea Smell: fruity, sweet, milk oolong
Flavor: sweet, smooth, milky, vegetal
Body: Light
Aftertaste: sweet
Liquor: translucent pale yellow green

Wow! look at how much those leaves expanded! I kept the leaves in the refrigerator when I ran off to work in order to try a resteep or two when I get home tonight. I was tempted to try a cold brew but needed to run for my train.

I think I need to tweak with the steeping parameters, it’s a bit weak, I may try a little longer or a little hotter.

Overall even weak it was fruity and smooth and enjoyable. With current steeping parameters I would not buy more of this flavor, but would enjoy what I have and gladly select it when out. I am hoping it improves with tweaking.

I think sweetener would overpower the tea.

The packaging was beautiful and very well done. There was a pamphlet, a booklet, and a box. The box was textured black with slashes of green on the inner box that you could see through the cut outs on the side. Inside the box was a miniature brochure and a tin that was also textured. Inside the tin was a resealable vacuumed packaged bag that was also textured! I’m grateful for all the information included as well by the Chicago Tea Garden.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/07/chicago-tea-garden-loose-leaf-oolong.html

I was debating which tea to have tonight when I saw teafreak post a review of this one…which sounded pretty good to me! I think I infused it a bit too long tonight, I’m getting a heavy vegetal experience that I’m not digging. I think I’m going to try another tea. I’ll keep the rating on this one though because it was definitely user error tonight.

This time, there was a distint milky taste. Not as present as a milky oolong, but definite. More so as the tea cooled.

I have already had a couple of Zealong teas and enjoyed them very much. I was going through a samples basket and saw this package still sealed, and it must be ancient! I think it came from Quiltguppy, and I really miss her! She introduced me to some amazing teas.

I had this as an “after Sunday-brekkie” tea. I was up at 5:30 cooking for the chickens and tending them, then took their eggs and made a nice breakfast to share with hubby, and afterward we sat on the sofa drinking this. It is cloudy, drizzly, and chilly, so it was an especially welcome cup today!

Even though this is an old sample, the tea tastes quite good. I think it must have been an eleven on a scale of one to ten when it was fresh. There is a lot of that rock or mineral flavor that oolongs often have, a wonderful floral/fruity aroma, and smooth smooth smooth! We did about five or six steeps.

Tea friend Sandy here on Steepster actually went to tea at the plantation where this was grown! Maybe she will chime in with that experience for us!

Absolutely delicious! I taste a bit of a roasted flavor to it. My favorite steep was the second. I wish I could explain it better but I just can’t. You have to try it to see what I mean.

The last of the Zealong oolongs for me to try, this one just might be my favorite. It’s got the toasty, honey-sweet notes of the Dark but also the lighter, lemon-tinged notes of the Pure. There’s a moment of thick creamy but it flashes by and the majority of the taste is light, refreshing (though without astringency) sweetness. There’s a lot of fruitiness (apples perhaps but without the tartness?) and a hint of refreshing lemon fruit-ness. As it cools, a slightly darker flavor comes back out – the toastiness from the Dark, but not as heavy. Perhaps somewhat floral? Like grilled flowers sprinkled with sugar and nuts or something.

Honestly, I thought Pure was good. (Okay, it is. Really good. As is Dark.) But Pure has some lighter flavors that I have to pay a bit more attention to. This one? Light enough that it’s not roasted tasting but with just enough roasting to make the flavors truly pop. I’m kind of in love and want to buy a massive tin of this.

ETA: Second steep (1:00) makes me think of a mildly flavored lemon pie.
8.2g/8oz