Organic GABA Oolong Tea, Lot # 201

Aother tea I managed to nab tonight. I’m not sure if its Ottawa water so I’m glad ill have more to try when I get back to Toronto, but this did not taste like any other oolong I’ve had. Neither green nor roasted. It was intriguing to say the least so I’m looking forward to trying this again when I get home. It’s like earthy and yet not…there isn’t that toasty taste I get from most roasted oolongs…yep. Interesting :)

Following the same steeping parameters as for the other TTC teas today.
This medium roast oolong is interesting. The dry leaf is curled up, like a floral tieguantin might be, but instead of the beautiful jade green, it is more of a tan/brown color palette. There is a taste here that I immediately recognized, but could not place. Then all of a sudden there it was: Strawberry! The roasty taste is mild, & brought to mind toasted walnuts, which made me long for a walnut pastry with a creamy filling & strawberries on top! Wouldn’t that be lovely!

Ironically when I grabbed this tea I thought it was someting else so I wasn’t really influenced by the product description when tasting this tea.

The dry leaf ranges in colour from dark brown, to a reddish orange medium brown with some olive green and is tightly rolled. The dry tea smells bright and fruity with some green notes.

I steeped the tea 10 times after a rinse ( 35, 25, 30, 40, 45, 50, 60, 75, 90, 120s)

Antiqued green gold colour brew.

35s first brew after a rinse. Mineral note, sour plum note, vegetal note,
Flavour, very sweet honey note with sour plum, slight woody note, really faint note of charcoal,, hint of sweet cooked greens, cinnamon, mineral note. creamy and slightly syrupy, tingling in the front and top of mouth, warmth at back of throat.

25s amber coloured sweet,sour scent, with a touch of honey, spice, and cocoa.
Flavour honey ranging into caramel, with cinnamon and a cardamon hint, faint of cocoa in the base with stone fruit, cherry and plum on top. faint herbaceous floral orchid note. Reminds me a little of the flavour of dammann’s Noel in Prague. Still thick creamy body.

30s caramel, cocoa,cinnamon, stone fruit and orchid.
Flavour stone fruit, orchid, cocoa, caramel,cinnamon.

40s scent more cocoa and caramel with sharp fruit fading.
Flavour caramel, fruit, cinnamon, cocoa/orchid. still thick textured and creamy.

45s. Cocoa dominant over other scents
Flavour cocoa, fruit opening to caramel then chocolate orchid.

50 s fruit, cocoa,vegetal note.
Flavour sweet stone fruit compote ,Some cocoa,almost flaxseed note, still thick bodied.

60s. Scent is mineral
Flavour is flax and cocoa, with a hint of fruit and mineral tones.still full bodied as it cools fruit moves into prominence and caramel makes a reappearance with a touch of spice.
Leaves burgundy chocolate brown colour.

75s. Minerals scent with hits of fruit, flax and cocoa
Flavour sweet fruit, cocoa, a peppery note, caramel, flax, very sweet aftertaste, slight hint of orchid.

90s. Fruit,cocoa,mineral note,flax
Flavour slightly thinner an impression of sweetness followed by cocoa, fruit and mineral notes, with a sweetness developing after that with peppery notes and tart fruit. Thinner body, but not thin.

120s mineral vegetal
Flavour fruit cocoa flax, mineral, pepper, sweet undertone. Still significant body to the tea. Flavour is weakening. Aftertaste is sweet and pepper.

The spent leaves range from solid chocolate brown to 50% Olive green tipped browny red. The majority of the leaves were chocolate. The leaves were quite large with @55% attached to stems.

The tea itself was very enjoyable. I found it to be a very sweet tea, with good tart fruity notes with a caramel sweetness and cocoa toasted notes with a thick creamy body. Quite enjoyable.

Yes, GABA Oolong! Finally! I’ve been looking for awhile for this stuff, and with my TTC order awhile back I snagged this tea along with many others.

I couldn’t find steeping instructions on TTC, so I did it gaiwan style and cold steeped. Cold steep of GABA oolong is quite good – tarty green strawberry flavor! However, I’m slowly adapting to the California “cold” weather so I felt too chilly drinking it – until summer!

Gaiwan steeping, GABA oolong was quite nice. Thick texture, lots of raisin and green strawberry notes. A little medicinal aftertaste, but it isn’t that strong. Overall, a pretty neat tea and very different from green and roasted oolongs.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/organic-gaba-oolong-taiwan-tea-crafts-oolong-owl-tea-review/