Oriental Beauty Cake

WOW! This really is quite different!
Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 14th but here are the snippits:

I will confess, I am getting a bit of a tea high while sipping on it. Either that or I just need a nap but I am feeling quite laid back and cozy in this sipping moment.

The aroma is a sensory explosion! Sweetly floral, and fruity, peppery notes, and the aroma of a wooded place. The aftertaste is so very familiar – what IS that flavor? Savory, vegetal, something buttered perhaps, GAH what is it? … Squash, Zucchini perhaps. I will come back to that another time it may drive me batty. It is delicious regardless!

Ah the second infusion really brings forth the fruit notes! Now I get that raisin note that another reviewer had mentioned on Steepster!

I am also pretty sure this is the type of oolong served at a couple of the local Asian buffets here local to me. Now granted I do not think they are near this level of quality of an Oriental Beauty Oolong but hey at least its not Liptons!

Oh and if you order from The Mountain Tea Company be sure to look for the button on their item pages that says “Tweet for Discount” if you have a twitter account you can get a code for 5% off your purchase.

I don’t love this tea. The flavor strikes me as thin and not particularly interesting. Perhaps I will try with a larger chunk of the cake, but for now I am not that impressed.

Liquified dates, or perhaps prunes or sticky raisins. Wonderfully sweet and succulent.

First infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz water, 90 deg., 2:30 min.

Second infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 3:00 min.

Third infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg., 4:00 min.

Fourth infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg. 7:00 min.

Fifth infusion – 3 g. per 6 oz. water, 90 deg. 10+ min.

The dry leaf is dark green with what looks like whitish buds. It has a peachy aroma, maybe a touch of candy-like sweetness. The infused aroma is like honey with a slight astringency.

On the taste, the flavor is very restrained, with absolutely no astringency here, mixing honey and lychee and an afterthought of lemon; and as is the case with most Oriental Beauty, it’s very subdued; by adding more tea than usual, the flavor is very appealing. This version has been pressed into a tea cake, an inventive way to make its appearance unique and enjoyable.

I have to admit, I’ve had this tea about three times now, and for the first two I wasn’t impressed. It was somewhat bland, and got bitter when pushed.

This time, however, it’s turning out much better! Brews an attractive amber color. Honey, apricot, date, mint, and mulling spice notes with a slight floral background. The mouthfeel is thick and syrupy, matching it’s sweet taste.

A decent bargain (though i bought it during their 2 for 1.) I wasn’t sure what to expect with this tea as there’s no date on it (and it’s a cake) but it tastes really fresh. Somewhat earthy like sweet potatoes but mostly lower floral and stonefruits. It’s not overly floral like getting hit in the face with an orchid but there’s enough there to keep you going back for more. Light enough that it’s easy to drink many cups at a time but you still feel like you’re drinking tea. Very, very little astringency, just a bit in the back of the throat. Perfect darkness in my opinion. Very glad i bought as much of it as i did.

It’s a chilly, rainy day today and this tea is perfect.

Finally cracked this bad boy open today

My hopes were mixed as I know MT tea co has amazing dongfang meiren, award winning in fact, as well as other grades. That being said I am aware of the aging potential but have yet to see another cake of this nature so I was thinking is maybe more of a gimmick/way of turning lemons into lemonade (stale tea into a collector’s item). I purchased about a year ago and stored the cake in a big tin that is fairly airtight with approximately a LB of other various Dongfang meiren teas (the whiff once I opened it was intoxicating) in my cabinet of my kitchen which I am sure the temperature and humidity varies wildly.

All that being said not sure if I stored it with the best care but the tea was a bit of disappointment. The dry leaf still wasn’t sweet or much a smell at all. The first steeping was not like any other bai hao i’ve had before. It was the hallmark liquor color and the playful muscatel light tannic quality but no sweetness up front like usual and actually a rather strange menthol quality on the back end. I realize later that the cultivar might be red jade tai cha #18 due to the camphor flavors.

While not a bad tea, as I stated it reminded of red jade cultivar also from taiwan, I was hoping and expecting something completely different. I did end up prying a rather lot of fanning and dust rather than whole leaves so Im sure that was a factor. I will surely tinker with the brewing parameters/prying technique fairly soon so at the moment holding off on numerical rating.

Bottom line if you expecting something sweet look else where it reminded me of a cross between a darjeeling and tai cha #18 both of which I happen to like from time to time.

not bad…not great…120ml gaiwan,8g…