Ti Kuan Yin Tea

I received a few of these tea bags from a friend of mine a while back, and this is my first chance to try one of them. I have said before that I am normally not a fan of bagged tea, and that is especially true of Oolong teas, since Oolongs tend to expand quite a bit. Also, I feel it’s somewhat criminal to chop Oolong teas as finely as this one has been chopped.

That being said, this is not a bad tasting Ti Kuan Yin. It has a baked flavor – like freshly baked bread – along with a slight smoky note that sort of lingers on the palate. There is a buttery note as well that is quite decadent and nicely compliments the thick mouthfeel of this Oolong.

Despite my apprehension over a finely chopped, bagged Oolong tea, it is quite tasty. I will enjoy it while it lasts in my tea cupboard.

Tried a bag of this thanks to LiberTEAs!!! This was an ok bagged oolong…kind of white tasting and kinda of oolong as well…a little bakey but not overly. Semi sweet after taste.

This one also came as a free sample from a different order with Ten Tea (Ten Ren’s online sales site). This one really surprises me by how good it tastes as quite honestly it tastes almost too good to be coming out of a teabag, especially one that contains a lot of really finely chopped leaves. The brew produces a taste of a very nicely darker roasted style of Ti Kuan Yin with both some smoothness and sweetness to balance out the brew. This would make an excellent office or travel tea for a dark oolong lover to have on hand for the situations where one’s options are limited to no tea or teabag tea.

Musty with some roasted depth as the only pleasant complementary note. Second steep is cleaner.

Browned honeysuckle tea, good, with more lemon the more you steep it.