Medium Roast Dong Ding Oolong

These days buying Taiwanese Oolongs, especially the green variety, feels like a crapshoot. The flavor and quality vary tremendously from season to season and between vendors. Some are highly perishable and turn up stale on arrival. However the one tea that manages to maintain consistency and seldom disappoints is Dong Ding. And this particular Dong Ding was no exception despite the number of duds from my Green Terrace Teas order.

This one tastes like a yummy apple pie in your teacup. It’s characterized by warm notes of baked apple pie and roasted stone fruit, brown butter nuttiness, and an underlying brown sugar sweetness. Very sweet and smooth throughout. The roast on this is gentle and serves to highlight the fruitiness without any heavy char or dark flavors. It tastes even better cold brewed. Super refreshing and the fruitiness really intensifies.

This was from an older teabox but it was a vacuum-packed single serving sample, so I’m sure it is relatively fresh. Though the description calls it medium roasted, it doesn’t seem too roasted to me. The bundles look pretty green and not darker, like a roasted oolong should be. The flavor is buttery, mildly roasted and sweet — it reminds me of kettle corn. The second and third steeps had slightly more roasted flavor but reminded me less of kettle corn.
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug// 17 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // few minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 1 minute steep

Floral, just a bit of a roasty, char note, and some very vegtal, tangy flavours on the finish. I think I quite like a medium roasted oolong, even though I tend to go for more green ones.

I’m having a tea party tomorrow! Super excited, and the apartment is almost clean. :) Tomorrow morning, baking, making sandwiches, and getting the teas I’m going to serve organized.

I’ve never had a Roasted Dong Ding Oolong before. I always see them on websites but I figure I have enough roasted oolongs as it is.
Since this was a sample option I figured now would be a good time to try.
Even though it was expected I still felt glad to see/taste that this one wasn’t floral or vegetable at all! XD Definitely roasty!
Since I haven’t had many other Dong Ding Oolongs to compare it to I can’t really rate it. It’s not bad. Definitely roast-y. Definitely my favorite out of the three samples.
Thanks so much for the free samples, Green Terrace Teas! ^^

Thank you so much for sending me a generous sample of this, Green Terrace Teas.

Method: Gongfu session with gaiwan. 2 second rinse. Steeping times: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60.

The dry leaf aroma naturally smells roasted, and I also caught candied caramel. After the rinse, the aroma drastically changed – toasted rice, kale, grilled zucchini, and – after the leaves aired in the bowl a bit – banana chips. The wet leaf aroma was different following the fifth infusion: a mixed juice, or maybe fruit salad, with strawberry, banana, and blueberry.

The liquor throughout the session was light gold and full-bodied, and had a wonderfully silky smooth texture. This is one of those teas you just have to let sit in your mouth. There are mostly notes of cooked dark green vegetables, notably collard greens and kale. Underneath these notes was a fruity sweetness – specifically banana at some point. Towards the end of session, when the leaves were beginning to give, the fruit disappeared and a floral quality took over.

This is my first Dong Ding oolong ever. I’ve had very good experience with it. I tend to be most affected by an oolong between the second and fourth infusions, during which, for this one, I felt like one of Dali’s melted clocks (I originally thought melted chocolate but that brings up a totally different taste when one thinks of roasted vegetables). My rating is based not on my experience – rather, lack of experience – with Dong Ding but instead on my overall impression with this individual one.

Brew style: Gongfu in gaiwan
Temperature: 205 degrees F

Dry aroma: Fragrant orchids, sweet cream, sugarcane, caramel, beautiful roasted aroma
Throat: Caramel right before it’s done, candy-like sweetness, roasting wood, hint of fruit
Wet leaf aroma: Woods, vegetal, fresh apples, nuts, faint hint of caramel
Brew aroma: Butter, cream, sweet caramel, orchids, extremely complex
Brew color: ’Very, very light gold
Taste: Notes evolve on the tongue quickly but noticeably, very complex. Immediately hit with the quintessential moderately roasted Dong Ding flavor. Notes of caramel right before it begins to burn, woods, roasted nuts, flowers. Smooth, bright, and bold. Medium length. In second infusion, notes of toast and more roasted nuts begin to emerge. A hint of sweetness lingers throughout.

Last of my GTT to try, and it’s been fun!

The leaf of this is so tightly rolled, which I love. I almost wish I did this in my glass french press instead of my yixing tea pot so that I could watch how much these expand. The first steep of this was roasty, but pretty weak. I think this is one of those teas that needs a rinse to wake it up.

The second steep was stronger, roasty, nutty and slightly fruity. I want to say apricot maybe?

The third steep, I started to notice that there;s a slight dryness in the after taste. Sort of thrown off because the description specifically mentions no astringency, gut there’s definitely some here. Much like the last cup, plus some toasted rice notes

This steep and the fifth were both more astringent, and tasted a lot like genmai.

If it weren’t for the dryness, I’d be a huge fan of this. As it stands, its still pretty good. There’s a nice comforting roasted flavor, supported by the nutty, and accented by the fruity. Definitely a relaxing tea, just not a fan of the slight dryness.

Today was a good mail day! Days when I get things in the mail are the best, especially when something I was not expecting till later in the week arrives significantly early, it was such a pleasant surprise! Not surprising it was tea, along with a new double walled glass travel tea tumbler thing. This will be very useful since my previous tea tumbler fell apart and I have not been able to have tea on the go. After I experiment with it I will have to give an official review of it. Hopefully it will be worth the money!

Presenting today’s tea: Medium Roast Dong Ding Oolong by Green Terrace Teas. From Nantou, Taiwan, this Oolong was given a longer oxidation period and a slow roasting, sounds like my kinda tea. What can I say, roasted teas rock my socks off, something about them are very comforting to me, if I am having a bad day or feel icky, I almost always reach for a roasted tea. The aroma of this particular roasted oolong is toasted and nutty, with notes of roasted nuts, sesame seeds, and fresh bread. There is also a tiny bit of fresh vegetation at the end. I find this amusing, like a little bit of the pre-roasted aroma hanging on.

Steeping this tea, the aroma of the now wet leaves is smoky and toasty! There are strong notes of coal and smoke, along with equally strong notes of sweet yeasty toast and roasted sesame seeds, it is nicely blended. The liquid, having been removed from its leafy companion, has the aroma of yeasty bread, sesame seeds, and honey.

The taste is exactly what one expects from a medium roasted Dong Ding Oolong, the taste starts out lightly toasted and honey sweet. This builds to a more toasted, actual toasted bread taste, which fades to a creamy, honey sweetness at the finish. The mouthfeel starts out smooth and fades to a slight dryness at the finish.

On the second steep, there is a much stronger toasted aroma, with notes of freshly toasted bread, sesame seeds, and a bit of popcorn. The mouthfeel takes its cues from the end of the previous steep and has a nice dryness that encompasses the entire sipping experience. The taste is intensely toasty with notes of freshly toasted bread, sesame seeds and a rich honey sweetness at the middle. Right around the finish and staying until the aftertaste there is a strong popcorn (specifically it reminds me of kettle corn because it is sweet) taste.

Third steeping time! The aroma is mostly roasted sesame seeds and a touch of popcorn, it has a tiny touch of floral of the finish. The taste has a bit of a smoky tone this time around, it no longer has a dry mouthfeel. The initial smokiness fades to popcorn and then finally a finish of sweet. I really liked this tea, not just because I have never met a roasted tea that I did not like, this one had a great comforting feeling. I found myself sipping it before sleep.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/07/green-terrace-teas-medium-roast-dong.html