Pineapple Oolong

Steepster keeps eating my tasting note… not in a good way.

This one I ‘ll have to try again. I brewed 3 steeps to take to work with me (in separate thermoses) and for some reason was convinced that I was drinking mango oolong all day. Not even like Lupicia’s Ripe Mango oolong, but it tasted like the mango hichew candies. Yeah… I don’t know. I had more notes but I’m too tired to think of and retype them at the moment.

This tea is awesome. I love pineapple and coconut mixed together. The aroma when you open the bag is just heavenly. Pineapple tidbits waft to your nose accompanied with a gentle oolong. And the taste… yea. Perfect amount of pineapple and coconut so as not to over power the oolong. I’m loving the oolong base they used. Grassy with a vegetal hint.

Since when do I wake up craving pineapple? Never, really.

Alas, today I did and this was so satisfying to drink. It’s a rather old pack of tea in my cupboard and the pineapple flavouring has since diminished a little since its opening.
But because the oolong base is pretty solid, and it’s very pineapple-y to begin with, it still made for a delicious cup. It also got rid of that strong buttery note that I wasn’t so fond of when I first tried this tea.

Reminds me of those sweet pineapple Chinese buns with the crusty sugar topping that you buy in Guangzhou for twenty-five cents. Ah, good times.

Another one from my order!
So this one is not what I expected. I expected it to be more like Ripe Mango Oolong which is juicy, sweet, and perfume-y. But…This one is so different.
It smells strongly of Pineapple and butter.
It tastes strongly of butter and cream. Hints of floral and pineapple there too, but not too apparent, sadly.
I mean, it’s not horrible. And I’m like 98% sure that this one is totally gonna grow on me. But I’m not a huge fan of butter flavors in tea, and since I wasn’t expecting it, it kinda disappoints me. But It’s not horrible.
It’s a good tea. And I’m sure it’s gonna grow on me. Just wait…in a few weeks I will write another review saying, “THIS IS AMAZING. BEST PINEAPPLE TEA OF ALL TIMEEEE!!!”. Yeah..just you wait. :P

This is a sample from Cameron B! Thank you!

I had this as my afternoon tea today. Holy yum! This is was good. The flavor blended so well with the flavor of the tea. It really surprised me. Everything that I have had that has claimed pineapple, the pineapple has screamed “HEY ITS ME PINEAPPLE”. This was vegetal, sweet, coconut, with hints that made you realize you were drinking pineapple. The bad thing about drinking a lot of samples, it makes you want to buy EVERYTHING.

On a somewhat related note: Is it possible to still buy the Lupicia Honeydew Melon online?

Well since I loved the Melon Oolong so much, I had to try the pineapple version next. This sample came from boychik. Visually, the leaves are very similar. They’re tightly rolled into somewhat small pellets, and the other is a medium brownish green. Dry scent is… very light. It mostly smells like a milk oolong to me, sweet and creamy with the tiniest hint of pineapple. I used the same brewing parameters as I did for the melon version – 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Brewed aroma is a bit stronger in the pineapple, but it’s still quite mild. I can still smell the sweet and creamy milk oolong-esque notes. Honestly, I’m somewhat disappointed by this tea after trying the Melon Oolong and having such high expectations. The pineapple flavor is too subtle, I feel it needs to be stronger and juicier. This mostly tastes like a mild sweet and creamy oolong with just a little bit of pineapple. Good, but nowhere near the melon version in flavor.

Tried in the store because it smelled so good. The scent was sweet, and tropical. It smelled nicely the pineapple, with hints of coconut, and some floral from the oolong. There was a light and fruity flavour. I have liked their flavoured oolongs a lot, but it seems I always try them in the wrong season. This one would be better earlier in the year.

The pineapple tastes just as it smells, well, slightly more subtle. There is a buttery hint that’s borderline butterscotch. Quite fascinating. The pineapple isn’t artificial at all, which is lovely.

It’s taken me quite some time to get over my first disastrous pineapple oolong experience, and I’m happy to say this one went over much better.

This tea is a lighter oolong that verges on green tea, but has a nice creamy flavor and pairs well with pineapple. I tried this iced as well and it was very refreshing.

Thanks to Dexter for the sample!

This was a hot cup (but I’ve since finished it off as a cold brew, note to be posted later tonight) and I thought it was pretty good. The oolong was really present and very green/floral but that worked well with the ripe, juicy taste of the pineapple. There was a distracting element that took me a while to place but I finally nailed it: butter.

Yup, that’s right. There was a very, very strong butter flavour (like the kind you put on your popcorn) that kept creeping up into my sips, and that detracted from the overall taste for me. While I enjoyed this, I have to say I do think I like Butiki’s Flowery Pineapple Oolong better; the pineapple is juicier and there’s no weird butter thing going on.