Jasmine Oolong

My favorite oolong; I haven’t had it in awhile because I don’t trust the automatic tea makers to do it and I’ve been lazy.

This tea doesn’t have much oolong flavor, the dominant flavor is definitely jasmine. It’s a very strong and fragrant jasmine. The oolong is there in the back a little. I used to take this sweetened, but I’m getting out of the phase where I sweetened everything out of habit; today I have no sweeteners.

So one problem in our house is that on the weekends we spend a lot of time in the office playing computer games and all of the tea prep tools are downstairs. I decided to buy a largish tea pot and a cozy so we could just keep a pot warm while we play.

I went with the Le Crueset 32 oz pot and the Thistledown HOB. I also found a ring with terrycloth stuffed in it to keep the drips off of the desk. So far it’s doing an EXCELLENT job of keeping the tea warm – I had to wait a few minutes before I could take the first sip! The pouring ability of this pot isn’t terribly good, though. It’s very pretty.

This being my first oolong I am enjoying it. I think however I would like it better without the Jasmine aspect. I’m not sure. I think I need to sample other oolongs to really understand the profile of this tea.

(1st infusion)
Time) 3:00 min 1 Tsp Per 8 Oz
Smells Floral.. Smooth Tasting, Jasmine Fragrance, Very Refreshing!

(2nd Infusion)
Time;) 4:00 Min
Jasmine flavor toned down alot! Smokey Oolong Flavor Prevalent

(3rd Infusion)
Time;) 5:00 Min
Still quite tasty! Very faint/subtle jasmine/floral fragrance in the finish! Green tea-smokey taste is prevalent!

This is my FIRST review ;-) I would highly appreciate any pointers/suggestions on how to taste teas and write reviews! It is hard to describe something as ephemeral as tea fragrance/taste etc ;-)

Finishing off what I have left. I’ve had a lot more Oolongs and jasmines since I first had this, and I’m interested to see if I still like it so much.
AND…
I don’t. Its still tasty, but now I’m getting the bitter aftertaste others have mentioned with this tea. Combine that with the fact that the jasmine doesn’t have much staying power, and I’m going to have to drop the rating.
I’m still happy I tried this tea. Teavana introduced me to jasmine tea, and loose leaf in general. It does have a nice sweetness on the front of my tongue.

I have brewed this hot, but am reserving judgement on that as I don’t recall exactly what I thought about it. I can tell you that when I bought it and opened the bag on the way home to sniff it, I was immediately overcome with an urge to eat some, and so I did. That vegetal oolong flavor is yummy!

Brewing it cold as I’m drinking it right now (overnight in the fridge, loose in the jar) for about 22 hours yields a golden liquid with a tinge of green. It smells wonderful, flowery, but then that’s jasmine—this is a tea that has plenty of jasmine flavor for my taste, which is saying something. I’m also getting that vegetal flavor I like so much. Unfortunately I’m also getting some bitterness. I wonder whether adding some ice would help, but something tells me not. The tannic bitterness keeps this from being a truly drinkable iced tea. I’ll finish the brew (it was a small jar, just two servings) but I don’t know if I’ll try this again iced, unless I can’t think of anything else I want.

After I strained out the tea leaves, which had expanded by many times overnight, I ate a couple. Same nice spinach-y taste. I have this wild yen to add them to a dish of sauteed greens…! It is nice to find a Teavana scented tea where the base is high-quality, I just wish the bitterness weren’t there. Maybe I’ll try with less tea next time.

TEA BAD.

1/31/14 Cuppa after WW meeting. Tea brewed by Teavana. Just a nice cup of a jasmine oolong. Nothing extraordinary, nothing hideous.

A delicious Jasmine Tea! This is one of my favorite oolongs of all time. I get it pretty infrequently though so I tend to brew it infrequently. Still, yesterday seemed like an Oolong type of Saturday.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get quite as strong as I usually like it to get, but that’s ok. The great thing about Oolongs is how the flavor changes based on the steep time and which infusion you’re on. I am going to make a judgement call though: This is not going to be my average morning, out the door tea and instead be reserved for sitting and enjoying the different flavors tea. It didn’t do well for a good ‘all purpose’ tea yesterday and I really think that was because I rushed through the brewing process.

Still, its got fantastic flavor and when done properly, really makes my toes curl in happiness!

I don’t personally like Teavana as a company. They’ve had some very good teas over the years and have discontinued all of my favorites except for this one. No matter how poor their customer service is, or how over-priced some of their teas can be, this Jasmine Oolong is still my desert island tea. This is it. Out of all of the fancy, rare, small batch stuff. This is my favorite tea.

Sorry, the heart wants what it wants.

Jasmine Oolong + Casablanca Twist= not so good idea. goodnight steepster