Osmanthe D'Or

An excellent oolong, the osmanthus scenting is light and tasty. There is no overpowering, heavy floral taste here. I couldn’t stop drinking this one at tea time today. Really, really good stuff.

My Internet dropped off today at work so I never got around to posting a note for this one. This will be short, but thankfully I have enough of this for a proper note later. Of course, thanks again to Shmiracles for this sample!

I love florals but I’ve never really been into osmanthus. But I’m also pretty sure I’ve never had a osmanthus green oolong, and this one is super delightful. It really seems floral only in the way that green oolongs are floral, not like added florals. It’s sweet and buttery and just lovely. A really treat.

thank you shmiracles! this was a tea i wasn’t expecting to like, as it’s a green oolong. So i’ve been putting it off until today. I had the tea earlier today that had osmanthe in it…so i figured today was a good enough day to try this.

Overall impression? Not too shabby. It’s not overly floral, which is a plus for me and it doesn’t have that weird oolong-y taste that i don’t like. But there’s also nothing here to really entice me to come back to it. I’ll drink the rest of my sample but nothing to be wowed over…but it IS another tea off my “ALL THE TEAS” list! :)

This doesn’t have an aroma while dry. As it infuses it slightly starts to open up a flavor-scent of a cross between a floral oolong and a milky oolong. The scents is very subtle, tho. Post-infusion liquor is quite clear and doesn’t have a color or tint to it. It looks like water.

Once I start sipping this – everything turns around! The flavor is gentle but mouthwatering-sweet. It’s floral but fresh. It has a semi-woodsy but a sweeter-woody type after taste that is pleasing as well!

This is delightful!

i was in Paris in the Dammann Freres tea shoppe with no sense on smell. i had been trying many different sinus remedies over the past few days and that morning i bought a nasal spray. i had used it a few times by the time i was tea shopping and it was SLIGHTLY working. i mean, i could finally slightly glean really strong scents. (whomp whomp)

so when i smelled this tea, i got a vague whiff of peaches and immediately started carrying my box to purchase around the store. now, i’m a gal who flocks to black dessert teas. but i think that is because of the weather. and as winter turns to spring all of my oolongs are suddenly more bright and brilliant and delicious than before! i knew i needed to buy an oolong. even if the dessert teas knew me by name.

this tea is beautiful. i KNOW i am bringing my shopping experience into my tasting, but i can’t help it.
also, idk why i smelled peaches. i blame the sinus goop. but now i know that osmanthe is a flower and this is basically a delicious take on a jasmine oolong.

i will post a picture of the store once my boyfriend uploads it.
until then i will fantasize about buying these 2 things someday… (not gonna happen)
http://www.dammann.fr/512-coffret-quadrille.html
http://www.dammann.fr/bols-tasses-mugs/984-impressions-de-printemps-tisaniere-verte-.html

Yet another from the teaboxB! I love tea leaves like these — the pretty green just lets me know the flavor will be delicious. I waited for the water to cool around 15 minutes and steeped for three minutes. I had no idea… I looked on the site and didn’t find any steep instructions. But the flavor is delicious! It’s floral, but I think there are plenty of oolongs that taste this floral that aren’t necessarily jasmine. I thought this was just usual oolong flavor. There was a hint of peach too. The second cup was very good, but different.. even less floral I think. A very nice silky lingering flavorful oolong! One of the best, I think!

The dry leaf aroma is floral oolong. Oh yeah! That’s what I’m talking about! I woke up craving a nice green oolong, and I think this tea will assuage my craving nicely. I wasn’t entirely sure what brewing parameters to use, so I opted to do what other Steepsterites here did.

The brewed tea aroma is more developed but otherwise the same as the dry aroma. The taste? Ohhhhh yeaaaahh! This was exactly what I wanted! It’s a lovely quintessential example of floral green oolongs. Buttery, silky smooth, and full of flavor!

I agree with Dinosara’s assessment that this is an unscented oolong with natural Osmanthus-like qualities. It tastes very naturally floral to me as well and not flavored with real Osmanthus flowers. I’ve only tried one other Osmanthus oolong and that one definitely had more of a flavored feel to it. It was from Lupicia, and it was a very long time ago that I had it. But I do remember it being lovely and quite enjoyable.

Second infusion for 4 minutes was equally as delicious as the first infusion! As the cup cools, it loses luster. This is definitely best enjoyed piping hot. Third infusion for 5.5 minutes was less floral yet still tasty. This is a great green oolong, and I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to try it. Thank you to Shmiracles for passing along this sample!

Sipdown!

Cries bc this is my absolute FAVOURITE oolong! Thank you tons to shmiracles for sending this to me my way in our first ever swap (nearly two years ago. Yes. I hoard my tea for that long). This tea has probably gone bad since it’s so old, but it still tastes just as good as it did the first time I had it!

I’m going through my tea collection and seeing which ones I should keep and take with me to Florida, and which ones I should pack up into cuter bags and give out to friends. My collection went from 171 to 135. PROGRESS!!!

Shmiracles sent me the never-ending box of samples. It’s like a bowl of spaghetti that doesn’t get smaller no matter how much I eat! haha.

There are many left in there that I haven’t been brave enough to try yet, but this one didn’t look too scary.

I don’t know what Osmanthe is supposed to taste like, but this tea doesn’t taste too far off from most of the other floral oolongs I’ve had. The floral isn’t too overwhelming, but i wish there was more vegetal flavor too. Nonetheless, this is a pretty good Oolong and worth the full-size mug that I brewed it in.

Update: as this tea cools, the texture gets creamier. Quite lovely.

Took this one from the Traveling Teabox B! It smells awesome. The dry leaf has a nice buttery but slightly floral aroma. Mmm I love buttery oolong aromas. Mm this oolong is awesome. It has rich buttery notes with a light floral aftertaste. It’s sweet and has a slight woody-ness to it. Mmm I will enjoy every sip of this one!