Throwback Thursday! I’m surprised I still have some of this left; it’s getting quite old now (I ordered it in July of 2017, meep) so I’ve put a priority on trying to sip it down. I’ve had this one western brewed and gong fu style, but have yet to make iced tea with it, which is always a solid way for me to work through sipdowns, so I figured I should try this tea iced now, just for another take on it if for nothing else.
I always use the OCTea online app to help me calculate my leaf-to-water ratios and it is typically spot-on for my personal preferences, but I think for oolong it may have been a bit overleafed on what it suggested, as this tastes a bit overleafed to me. It has a slightly sour/astringent vegetal note on the back of the tongue that I rarely ever get with a cold steep; next time I’ll try lowering the leaf and see if that subsides. It certainly doesn’t make it undrinkable, and I’ve already nearly finished the quart I brewed up. The tea has a very refreshing green flavor, and the predominant buttered brocolli flavor that I usually get from this tea when I steep it western style is still the strongest note. The vegetal flavor has notes of brocolli, spinach, asparagus, artichoke, and grass, and the smooth butteriness comes in near the end of the sip and lingers on the tongue. This has never been a particularly floral Jin Xuan for me, but occassionally I’ll catch a very subtle orchid/lilac note toward the end of the sip. Mostly the tea is very green, vegetal, and buttery, even when prepared steeped in cold water overnight. I’m surprised how much I like the taste iced, actually… aside from the fact I’m still trying to find the sweet spot with leaf-to-water amount. I love the warm, buttery flavor of Jin Xuan, but it’s quite refreshing as an iced tea, too.
Flavors: Artichoke, Asparagus, Astringent, Broccoli, Butter, Floral, Grass, Orchid, Smooth, Spinach, Sweet, Vegetal
I’d actually say that’s pretty accurate to what I usually taste with this tea, which is buttered brocolli!