Dong Ding Oolong

I apologize Derek and Peony Tea S for not getting a review up on this one yet. I have been beyond stressed. I went over my notes and can’t make heads or tails of them. Luckily I have more tea to sample and will have another go at it hopfully this week.

What I do know is this was lightly charcoal flavored in a good way with darker floral notes in the first cup that get brighter and sweeter as it is re-steeped. This makes for an abundant amount of leaf in the press. Do not attempt to use a tea ball with this one. Way too much leaf expansion for brewing in that manner. It is one of only a couple I have steeped in my French press that I did not push the plunger all the way down before pouring so as not to stress the leaf.

Ok, so I had more to work with from my notes than I thought. Not giving this a number until further study but I did love it.

This is easily one of the best Dong Ding Oolong teas I’ve tasted. Sweet – caramel-y sweet! The fruity tones are almost like dried fruit, like sugary sweet dried plums and raisins that have been reconstituted and then cooked down into a caramelized syrup. YUM.

The floral tones are not quite as pronounced throughout the sip, but, I notice them in the aftertaste, which is gently floral and sweet.

Very, very good. I think this may be my favorite from Peony Tea S thus far!

Thank you LiberTeas for this sample. I hate to admit that I was busy choosing Beatles songs, wow what a list they have, and I oversteeped…twice. This note is then suspect by default.

The color-a nice pale golden green, lead me to believe I was OK since it hadn’t darkened. There was a little bitterness that may or may not have been there under normal circumstances. The wet leaves were crowded in my little infuser pot and had I read K S’ note first I woulda used my press as well. The smell was more grassy than nutty/woody.

The first sip threw me when I tasted that same grassy flavor. There was less wood and more vegetive flavor-like dry grass I think. This gave way to nuttiness that then gained a malty coppery edge. All of this happened within the first two steeps, I lost track of which steep I was on in the descriptive notes I was jotting down. Don’t let me forget the overall but slightly muted honey sweetness. The second steep (I believe) added a tiny bit of charcoal too.

Did a third steep and saved a little face with myself,though I know I missed out on some stuff in first two go arounds. Sweeter note more pronounced. More floral notes to the smell. And finally, it’s now less like dry grass and getting up into lighter wood flavor. You win some you lose some, right? I hold nothing against this tea and rather fault myself. We shall meet again I may have to force myself to listen to top 40 pop during tasting so that I have absolutely no fear of getting distracted.

tunes-as I said The Beatles(said in Ed Sullivan voice with the gesturing of hand)=Norwegian Wood/Ob La Di,Ob La DA/I Saw Her Standing There(where I started to get got)/I Want You-She’s So Heavy(where I finished getting got)/Rocky Racoon

Enjoying this tea thanks to LiberTEAS what an awesome oolong!
This is up there with my favorite Dong Ding from House of Cha’
I enjoyed this cup with a frozen Asian meal – made the frozen dinner A LOT more palatable lol.
Go DONG DING!

Dry leaf: Dark, toasty. Slight greenness like a tgy. Slight burnt smell. Very tightly rolled.

Wet Leaf: A lot of the toasty smells disappear and the aroma turns into a darker tgy smell

Taste: This tea is much like a tgy. It may be slightly darker and the flavor is stronger. There are also less floral notes. Overall a nice oolong, with stronger flavor than some other low fired greens.

Thanks to Peony Tea S for the free samples from their shipping tests. Much appreciated and enjoyed!
This is my first Dong Ding (if any of you find this review familiar, I got my dong ding’s mixed up and accidentally reviewed this one first under Fong Mong tea and then realized it was actually Peony Tea’s dong ding that I had tried and reviewed…)
Dry notes: Smell is like dry grass or straw… Not my favourite dry smell but intriguing all the same. The picture is exactly what the dry leaves looked like, and I used half the sample package and a cup and a half or so of 90 degree water for 45-60 seconds (didn’t time exactly).

Steep 1: Smells like straw, pale green colour. The taste is very earthy, slightly bitter (like fresh grass) with a delicious mineral aftertaste, almost salty, like soy nuts or something I can’t quite put my finger on.I finished the cup and then immediately put water on for more!

Steep 2: Cloying sweet smell. Taste- there’s the sweetness I missed in the first cup. This tastes like the first steep, only a good deal sweeter, and therefore (in my opinion) better.

Steep 3: So smooth, like a third steep oolong should be

Steep 4: smooth, but the bitterness from the first steep is creeping back in

My work day ended before I had an opportunity to do the last two steeps that its probably more than capable of standing up to…

Another sipdown, this one from KS.
This is the 3rd dong ding I’ve drank in 2 days. They have all tended to be more savory & less floral than the TGY I had awhile ago. They also all look very much the same, & for the most part, they have tasted about the same, with a lightly roasted veggie & sourdough bread kind of taste. This one is the sweetest of the 3, or at least it seems that way right now.
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