Eastern Beauty

This tea was a surprising experience. It was an honest to goodness explosion of flavor that provided an adventure for your taste buds. The oolong leaves gave a rich flavor that was full-bodied with a light astringency. It was sweet, it was sultry, it was an oolong that is hard to find elsewhere.

I didn’t want the first steep to end. So enjoyable. I think CameronB nailed it with golden raisin, and to that I’d add cooked golden raisin, maybe simmered in a very light rum then baked into one of those slightly custardy raisin croissants, only not that sweet. A bit of malt and very faint dried apricot. But not that sweet. Almost umami. Smooth with just the faintest passing astringency.

2nd steep (Western) is quite a bit weaker and picks up a bit of fresh apple.

Short review, but so worth it.

Oh, this is honey sweet and so good. Bug bitten oolong goodness, rendering liquified pastries.

Cookie dough.

Floral mouthfeel, with a touch of spice, clove mostly.

I’m using a GIGANTIC 320ml yixing clay pot, so I went all in with the large sample I got from Green Terrace.

Zero astringency, so smooth and delicious.

I am impressed, thank you Green Terrace!

This was a very interesting, tasty cup. It was malty and sweet, and once I read other reviews that described a raisin-y flavor, that made total sense. I steeped it a few times and it was great each time.

Method: 1 tbsp, 8 oz, 190 degrees, 3 minutes, French Press

Dry Leaf Aroma: This smells like sweetened malt, with a very pleasant hint of whiskey.

Flavor: This is a very good tea. I may try a bit more leaf next time, because I like a stronger flavor, but I was quite happy with this one. It has a very pronounced sweetness, with no bitterness. Astringency is very light. I often find that many teas are either not malty, or very strongly malty. This tea tasted malty to me, but it was a very quiet flavor that blended nicely with the natural sweetness of the tea. I picked up on some floral notes, but I couldn’t specify which ones. There was a little fruitiness on the end of the sip also. This tea has something for everyone!

Again I’d like to thank Green Terrace for sharing samples of their teas.
I drank this earlier in the day, using the western steep parameters, & it is a classic Oriental Beauty, with notes of Honey, courtesy of the Leaf Hoppers. It’s a pleasing gentle cup, also with elements of floral, fruit, & wood, along with a lingering sweetness.
I have enough left to go with a gongfu session next time :)

I’m more used to the green end of the oolong spectrum, so it’s fun to try some on the black end of the spectrum. This one has a lot of honey notes, as well as a fruitiness. I agree with CameronB its like a raisin. There’s also a natural sweetness, which just solidifies the honey and raisin notes.

I’m also getting a bread-like note in this. And by the 4th steep the oolong takes on some green tea characteristics. It gets lighter and slightly vegetal. This is a great oolong to have if you want to get to experience some of both ends of the oolong spectrum with on tea.

Another gong fu adventure today! I loved this tea when I tried it western style, and I figured oolongs are generally good candidates for gong fu brewing, right? I was in the mood for raisiny autumn loveliness. I used the same vessels as last time, two 10 ounce mugs, the first one with a lid for brewing, and the second for drinking out of. I used TeaVivre’s parameters for a similar tea, but altered the amount of tea based on TheTeaFairy’s suggestion of 1 gram of tea per 1 ounce water.

The method: 4g tea in 4oz water, 185 degrees F, 10s rinse/30/45/60/70/80/90/100s

Rinse (10s): very light flavor with pastry, honey, golden raisin. A promise of things to come! :D

Steep 1 (30s): light pastry with honey, hint of autumn leaves, raisin (not golden)

Steep 2 (45s): stronger pastry with toasted nuts and honeyed raisins, underlying roasty leaves

Steep 3 (60s): very raisiny with fig, honey becomes molasses, autumn leaves, roasted grain

Steep 4 (70s): very similar to steep 3

Steep 5 (80s): roasted grain changes back to pastry, golden raisin, honey (my favorite steep)

Steep 6 (90s): flavor becoming much lighter, pastry with lightly toasted almonds

Steep 7 (100s): too light, somewhat similar to rinse, reminds me of white tea with its hay notes

I had a lot of fun and I loved seeing the flavor of this change, and then change back to almost the same as the early steeps. Very interesting. And I enjoyed all the permutations in between! I really want to try more oxidized oolongs now, especially if they’re similar to this one.

One question, I noticed a few of the steeps had a little bit of underlying bitterness. Not enough to make them less enjoyable, but I just wondered why it was there. Any ideas or suggestions would be good! :D

I am either a very lazy tea drinker or very busy one, because I very rarely do gongfu style. Most often I make a big mug full and take it to my desk. But I felt to review this tea appropriately I should set aside some time for gongfu.

I need to get a bamboo tray but haven’t found one yet that speaks to me. I improvised with a large Fiestaware tray (how’s that for mixing cultures) with a cloth on it.

I enjoyed this tea very much, and the 90 minute gongfu session I had with it was both relaxing and rejuvenating. The leaves were dark, darker than in the picture. I prefer oxidized teas and Green Terrace had suggested this one. They were spot on. The first two infusions were caramel colored and fully flavored, almost like a very light black tea. The third through fifth were more golden amber, and with more delicate flavors. It probably could have gone through another infusion but I was pretty full of tea at that point and stopped. A very lovely tea, and a great oolong to try if you normally drink black teas, as I do.