2005 Songboling Aged Oolong Tea, Lot # 135

Gotta love getting paid to sit around and drink tea at home while taking care f house things :) this is another tea from Terri. I like this one a bit less than the other oolong from ttc today. This is more charcoal like and has that familiar roasty oolong taste.

Overall not a bad little tea but this one cup was enough!

Thanks Sil for sending me a sample of this one.

I’m not sure I’ve had an aged oolong before. I’m not sure what in the notes I’m getting would be typical of an aged oolong.
This is a nice, dark, heavily roasted – almost charcoal tasting oolong. I like oolongs in this style, and this is a pretty good example of that. It might be just a hint too smoky/charcoal for me, but all in all I’ve enjoying drinking three steeps of this.

I sampled the Songboling Shui Xian Oolong, from TTC, and afterwards I went with this one, to see what happens when you age it. I’d like to preface this by saying that Sil & I have sampled some of the aged black teas from TTC, & they had earthy & musty qualities, that were interesting, but not necessarily desireable. One in particular tasted like beets that have spent the winter in the root cellar, if you know what I mean.

This tea however is not so. I think the aging & occasional re-roasting has done this tea justice, intensifying & deepening the jammy flavors a bit, bringing out a nutty hazelnut quality, & the overall feeling was incredibly smooth. No mustiness, no root veggies, just a lovely Oolong.

I have difficulties with comparing teas. I drank these 2 teas separately, enjoying the first one with resteeps while teaching, and then switching to this one. The problem with this method is I’m terrible about taking any kind of notes. While I’m drinking the cup, I’m loving it & thinking nice things, making note in my head of it’s wonders. Then I switch to a different tea, & all is forgotten, as I am now thinking of THIS cup. I have enough to drink this one more time, & I think that final comparison will be side by side, steep for steep.

This is a really nice aged oolong. I only picked up a sample of it, and if it weren’t sold out (noooo) I probably would snag a bit more. I’ll have to try their 2008 and see if it compares. The dry leaves had a complex aroma, with fruity raisin/plum notes and a bit of a caramel, roasty sweetness. After a rinse, the roasty aroma came through, strong but pleasant. It smelled a little more dark and earthy, but there was still that dark fruity note, even sweeter this time.

The first few steeps possess a kind of musty sweetness, with a little bit of vanilla in the finish. The roast is noticeable, but I enjoy it – it doesn’t come across as charred or smoky to me. These first few steeps taste like how I would imagine some old books which long ago narrowly escaped a housefire might smell.

The sweetness dropped off to some degree, and the tea took on a more wuyi-ish characteristic, with some roasty sweetness accompanied by mineral notes. It provides a bit of a mouth-cooling feel most steeps and has a decently thick and creamy texture.

Towards the end, the roast starts to die down a little bit. The tea tastes bready and creamy sweet, though this doesn’t last long before the tea dies. It doesn’t have great longevity, but respectable enough for a roasted oolong. This tea was a real treat at a pretty darn affordable price. I’m going to have to hop on some of their 2008 to see if it compares and maybe pick up a larger amount if it does.

This tea has a dominant charcoal taste that reminds me of tobacco.
One session with this tea was definitely enough for me.
The smoky flavor wasn’t really my liking.

Wow is this Songboling good! I was expecting an aged taste which would be roasty and have little aftertaste but boy was I wrong. While the roasty taste was a bit strong, overall its superb. I know I’ve always had a bias against roasted oolong’s, oops!

Shipping took a while but since the teas are vacuumed sealed and shipped directly from Taiwan I had no problems with it. Its difficult to match the price/quality for this tea and I definitely recommend it to anyone!

Wow! This is a great one for coffee lovers!! It is a deep espresso flavor with accents of prunes and raisin, and essences of sweet pipe tobacco.
Thank u to Terri Harplady for this sample!!