Oolong Orange Blossom

I was thinking that the leaves looked a lot different from most oolongs I’ve had and then I read on the description here that this is a mix of oolong, black and green tea. Holy infusion temperature/steeping time confusion, Batman! Out of an abundance of caution I’m going to start with an infusion on the short side.

There’s a shortcakey smell to the dry leaves which must be the “hints of berry jam.” The other scent I’m getting is more spice than floral. Let’s see how it steeps up.

Tawny color, with hues of orange from the black tea and green from the green tea and yellow from the oolong. It smells like berries!

The taste is interesting. It’s got a thicker mouthfeel than I expected, with a moderate amount of astringency. The black tea is pretty prominent in the taste, but I can parse out the oolong as well. It adds a dab of butter, and is no doubt responsible for the softness. The green. Hmm. Yeah, I do think I can detect that too. It’s a fresh, higher note. The berry hops around a bit. It’s not a strong, uniform flavor, but it does pop up in the aftertaste like a little starburst of sweet fruit. The tea didn’t change much through three infusions and the berry flavor was present throughout.

It’s unusual and I appreciate its ambition. I enjoyed drinking it. It isn’t immediately grabbing me by the collar and shouting that I must order it, but it isn’t outside of the realm of possibility. I just want to shop around a bit first, maybe try that raspberry oolong Angrboda likes so much and some others before I commit.

My last sample from Herbal Infusions! While tasting this, I was mentally comparing it to Orange U Slim which is currently my go-to oolong. This one however was extremely small and broken up, which may have been from the shipping. There were no noticeable orange pieces in my sample and the dry leaf didn’t necessarily smell orange like at all either. 1st infusion, 3 minutes: The brewed tea has a harsh orange smell that reminds me of cleaner. You can taste a slight orange taste, but it is pretty harsh. I added milk and honey which made it a bit smoother and sweeter, but unfortunately this tea did not deliver the yummy biscuit notes that I love from Orange U Slim’s first and second infusion. 2nd infusion, 4 minutes: This infusion is very weak and watered down, it could be the size of my sample, but I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t get a decent 2nd infusion from this oolong. There was a bitterness that developed as the tea cooled and I didn’t finish the cup. Overall, this tea is unimpressive.