Fig Formosa Oolong

I ordered a fig formosa tea with brunch at the inimitable Sonsie in Downtown Boston. They are now out of stock, and since Tealuxe, a fellow local business, is also out of stock of this rare tea, I imagine that they are where Sonsie found it. I instantly wanted to order some myself, it is uniquely delicious! Rich and lightly caffeinated, it would make a lovely afternoon tea.

Overboard TTB

There must have been a lot of this in the Overboard TTB. It seems there a bunch of notes so everybody must be sampling it. :D

I’ve heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different out come. Well, call me insane be cause I keep trying formosa oolongs and I keep getting the same result. Why do I keep trying them? Well, I thought that with fig added it would be better but I couldn’t taste the fig. :( The tea isn’t bad it just isn’t for me.
The taste is just a bit too floral and perfume-y.

And again… Where’s the fig!

Overboard TTB

I find this tea tasty. What I don’t find is much fig flavor to it. I added sugar to this tea. I did try it without but decided it needed sugar to bring out the sweetness. It is definitely better with a little sugar. I just wish the fig flavor was stronger. It is still good, just not spectacular. It is the first tea I have tried from Tealux so I don’t know how it compares.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

Many thanks to The Cookie Lady for sending me this tea!

This is a very nice floral oolong. It’s smooth and has an underlying buttery oolong note along with high floral notes of honeysuckle and jasmine. There isn’t even a hint of fig. That’s disappointing because I adore a good fig tea. Still, this is a nice tea even if it isn’t what’s advertised on the label.

Overboard Traveling tea box

So this one is a bit odd. Without sweetener, it barely tastes like anything; maybe a little oolong, but it’s minimal. With sweetener, it tastes like sweetener, but there’s no specific fruit that I can detect, definitely not fig. And of course, it doesn’t have the buttery appeal of greener oolongs either so I’m quite meh with this one. Back in the box it goes.

Um….what? Excuse me, but….when you put “fig” in the name of the tea, I fully expect to taste figginess….and then, when I don’t, I get grumpy.

Let me clarify—this tea is not a BAD tea. But, well, it is very distinctly NOT fig. In fact, it both smells and tastes like liquid sweetarts to me. It has this weird, fake, tart, sweet thing going on. Not at all what I wanted.

However, this could be good to drink sometimes. Just not when you want fig or a mellow oolong.

Overboard TTB.

This smells and tastes very floral, not fruity at all. I’m puzzled about why someone would associate it with figs. I actually associate these scents with soap. It doesn’t taste soapy or anything, but my mind doesn’t really associate the flavor with food, which is kind of throwing me off. The mouthfeel is interesting, it makes my tongue a bit tingly, like mint or celery, or black pepper. I wonder where that comes from? Overall, an interesting tea, but probably not one I’ll keep.