Tung Ting Blue Tea

I’m going to be brave and give this a try today. The first time I tried it, which was a good few years ago now, I could hardly finish the cup. This kind of oolong still isn’t really my thing, but it came with a gift pack (the ultimate, no less) so I feel I really ought to give it a second chance.

The dry leaves in the packet give off that typical oolong scent — kind of earthy and slightly mineral. It’s a scent that used to turn my stomach, but I understand it a bit more now. I gave it three minutes in water I’d let cool a little, and the liquor is now a pale yellow. It smells the same as it does dry, which isn’t hugely encouraging considering I’m very picky about oolongs. It’s this exact scent that I dislike, yet it’s hard to accurately describe. Adagio Wuyi Oolong was the same, and I had to ditch the rest of my sample of that as I just couldn’t face it.

I shouldn’t judge before I’ve tried, though. The first sip isn’t too bad. Maybe because I’ve gone lightly with the brew time and temparature, or maybe just because it’s a more delicate tasting tea than I was expecting. It has a faint mineral taste, and a more prominent grassiness, rather like a mild green tea. I can’t exactly claim to like it, but it’s okay. I’ll be able to finish this cup, and the rest of the box, anyway.

I think my relationship with oolong is going to be a bit hit and miss. I loved the milk oolong I tried, and I’ve got a couple more of those in my stash to try now. The idea of flavoured oolong appeals, too, and the same goes for those. I would like to determine what my preferences are when it comes to oolong, so I’m going to keep trying. While drinkable, though, this clearly isn’t it.

Sweet, Mouthwatering, Thirst-Quenching Goodness…in a bag…YUM

Is it just me or is Tung Ting Oolong Tea super fun to say? :)

Colour: Pale golden yellow
Smell: Subtly floral

I have to be in the right frame of mind to drink Oolong as it’s very subtle in flavour and I am usually a strong tasting tea kinda gal. A nice Oolong tea has enough flavour to be magical and this is one of those times. It tastes light, buttery, floral and gentle yet bitterly earthy (in the same way as a green tea). Each sip changes flavours as it goes down whilst leaving your thirst quenched and your mouth asking for more.

If you have not tried many/any Oolongs before then sometimes the extremely gentleness in flavour and body may be off putting at first but overtime you want a tea that will not be too heavy in your stomach and is as refreshing as drinking a cup of water. That’s where this little beauty comes in handy as that ‘something different’ that you have been craving. I would also say that this is a nice brand to start off trying so you can get a good idea of what a nice Oolong tastes like.

Overall: Refreshing, gentle, light, floral and oh so Tung Ting yummy.

Pleasant and mellow but a tad tasteless to me, but then I am new to Oolong and only began drinking it last week.

MY background and disclaimer: Brand new real tea drinker here, having just switched off coffee so I know very little about tea. I grew up drinking Tetley tea bags with milk and sugar so tea is indeed a comfort for me. I have gotten educated on how to make a proper cup of tea. I got a sample pack from Tea Pigs and this is the first one that I am reviewing.

tung ting oolong tea completed underwhelmed me. I’m going to give it another try but it seemed almost flavorless to me. It’s very subtle and perhaps that’s something I just haven’t learned to appreciate yet. It seems to have little of the earthiness of green tea and none of the flavour of black tea. It just didn’t do it for me. Many of the teapigs teas really DID and I’ll be posting more reviews.

As this box is quite old, I thought I’d start to get through it more quickly, particularly whilst I’m appreciating oolongs so much.

Nothing has really changed about my opinion of this tea – it’s genuinely really good! The infusions (I got ~10 in my 100-120 ml Gaiwan) were all buttery, sweet and floral, with just a hint of a delicate, vegetal flavour.

I have noticed, though, that this tea lacks some of the complexities of the best oolongs I’ve tried so far – even when prepared with lots of leaf and with short infusions, I get little variation. Each infusion is lovely, don’t get me wrong, but it pretty much remains the same throughout the session.

Admittedly, this might be a consequence of this bag’s age – I’ve had this tea opened for around 12 months.

Perhaps, once I work my way through my cupboard, I’ll order another box and test it again, when it’s “fresher”. Goodness knows it’s worth it, for the price – it’s an absolute bargain, compared to other such teas. Perhaps, though, it’s cheapness is a sign that it isn’t necessarily the finest quality oolong…

Either way, I really enjoy this tea – there’s nothing wrong with it and it helped keep my mood really high, despite my on-going toothache :P

This tea, I believe, is another name for Dong Ding. Now that’s a tea I have tried, albeit, only once and really enjoyed it. It was in my favourite tea shop and was loose leaf, whereas this is in teabag form. I have already reviewed Whittards Tong Ting (a box of 15 tea bags) and found them pleasant enough. However, here I have only had one tea bag, and it was a couple of days ago now, so I only have a vague memory of the tea and no notes to aid this review.

Anyhow, I found the tea to be on the lighter side of flavour; it had a relatively short burst of fresh greenness, and was generally quite mild. I would say it’s not as good as the Whittards version, but who knows, my opinion of it may change if I ever decide to purchase a box of this.

Good flavour, balanced quite earthy but in a good way.