Superfine Taiwan Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding Oolong Tea

wow….am I really the first to rate this??

ok…. no pressure or anything…

Ok well hot….it’s pretty strong in flavor…little spinach…vegetal?…but def smooth. Sort of a thick mouthfeel if that makes sense. It smells slightly sweet and floral. The main taste is that strong spinach leafy taste…but then it develops into more of a floral….

Letting it cool a bit more…

hmm….it’s allright…nothing too special. Maybe I’m just expecting more for some reason. It IS brisk tho.

Second steep. Less spinach taste but now it seems almost bitter. It’s odd.

It’s not a bad tea…but nothing I think I HAVE to have.

I’ll have to give it a couple more tries before I can rate it

It is a very smooth oolong with an understated but pleasant taste. The dry leaf and wet leaf smell is nothing remarkable: faint notes of grass, hay and roast. The appearance is rater interesting with a variety of colors in not-particularly-tightly rolled balls.

The taste is very smooth and understated. Grass, hay, roasted nuts, grain. Not very complex but quite pleasing. It is good Western style, good as gongfu and VERY good cold-brewed. Actually, this is one of the few teas that if you forget your cup and want to finish it later when the tea goes completely cold the drink is still satisfying. It is hard to mess this tea up with even the most inattentive and lazy preparation.

There is nothing wrong with this tea but nothing special either. Personally, I prefer teas with a more pronounced and/or more unique taste.

I have a problem, THE problem, that most people on here have. I buy tea. I see more tea. I want more tea. I buy more than I can drink in a reasonable period of time. Then I get overwhelmed with tea and vow not to buy any more tea until my tea is under control.

Dong Ding oolong was the first tea that captivated me so completely that I finished 50 grams in less than two weeks. What is it about this tea that makes it so special?

First of all, hubby swears his only tea reviews would be, “this is hot and has tea-like qualities”, but could not stop saying, “This is good. This is so thirst quenching. This has to be really expensive. Is it expensive? This is so good.”

And it is. We resteeped it several times, and is reasonably priced to begin with, so there you go. Each steep was sweet, nondrying, and flavorful thanks to the light roasting. This is an excellent tea, and needs to be on the permanent shelf list.

The leaves have a roasty aroma, but are pretty green in color. Brews a yellow-gold color. The taste is honeydew, floral, and toasted grain with a creamy texture. Nice oolong, I would call it more of a light roast than a medium roast.

While I was steeping (and sniffing) this baby, I thought I was going to have to go over how Roasted Oolongs don’t seem to work for me again. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when that overdone roasted aroma turned into a creamy cup of nuts and barley, with fruity and floral accents.

At first, I feared that the cream and nut notes were residue flavours from the cup’s previous resident (Coconut Carrot Cashew- It’s Operation Sipdown and I’m running this ship like a dirty fastfood joint). It appears these flavours are this tea’s own, however!

I still vastly prefer green oolongs, but this makes me less hesitant to try the roasted fellows. Teavivre Dong Ding Oolongs appear to be a win for me too!

Steep Count: 2

This one falls a bit flat for me. Missing the roasted sweetness while also not offering much in the way of florals and green notes. Maybe this is old tea, as I don’t know when it was harvested. There are better Dong Dings out there.

From the purchased sample pack. Impressions leave an okay thought, an expensive price tag thought and not much steeps before the flavours just fades to an ordinary tea tree bush vegetal taste thought. To be honest I am not impressed and is no where near the taste and quality of the xing xiang oolong. Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay but not for $26 /100g

Roast is okay. Leaves are a bit tattered.

Tea is between light and creamy. A distinct smoke note though not very interesting. I ended up throwing the rest of the sample in the garden.

Honestly just a really solid Dong Ding. Tastes about like you expect, but it’s such a reliably good tea!

Update: Realised I hadn’t de-scaled my kettle after about a month of use, wondering if this might have contributed to the mineral / metallic taste. Will try again in the future with good water.

1st & 2nd infusions:
Maybe a bit too roasty for me. In the 2nd infusion I smelled notes of cream and burnt sugar, but no hint of sweetness in its austere taste at all. This tastes to me like that Ito En bottled chilled Golden Oolong.

4th infusion:
I’m getting a bit nauseous / headachey. My partner pointed out that this tea tastes a bit soapy. It’s probably not entirely the tea’s fault, but this is just not a good experience for me today. I might try the 2016 harvest at some point to give it another shot.

Brewed at 203˚F.

The dry leaf of this smells like roasted seaweed. Unfortunately, I got distracted and stopped taking notes soon after starting this sipdown gongfu session, so my impressions are pretty sparse. I have no idea how many steeps I ultimately got out of it or whether the flavor profile changed over time. I do know that this brews up a very pale yellow, to the point that it almost looks like water. The dominant flavor note is roasted seaweed, but it’s light enough to still be pleasant. The trick to this one is definitely short steep times, though. I distinctly remember making it Western-style a while ago and finding it too salty to drink.