Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong

And here is the third selection from the April TOMC.
To me, this is like a delicious dessert! Not too sweet, but rich & tasty. Warming the leaf up in my yixing, the aroma is of cream, hazelnuts, & berries. The tea itself is caramelized brown sugar, hazelnut, & a creamy mouth, with a sweet hint of berry, like a luscious, but not too sweet dessert. There is a vaporous after-aroma on incense, but it is only faint compared to that of the Dancong. As this one steeps out, rocky qualities rise while the creamy sensation subsides.

Normally, I’d only drink one of these oolongs on any given day. But it was fun & interesting to followed the suggestions sent along with the April TOMC, to see how these oolongs differed from one another, due to differences in growing location, & processing methods. It amazes me how teas can be so varied! I guess that’s why I love tea so much!

Sad sipdown! I probably should have bought more of this with my last order. This definitely is the never-ending gobstopper of tea. It’s always changing. A different aspect is highlighted every time I drink it.

(Two days after the mini Verdant Teas rant)

(creeps out, looks around furtively, and makes some more of this even though she complained about the barley flavor)

(looks around furtively as she drinks it at night because she didn’t feel like white or green tea)

(eats crow)

(seriously considers buying a gaiwan)

(eats more crow)

Dammit.

I sipped away at this oolong while I worked on some christmas knitting. Ugg, I’m watching a kdrama, City Hunter, and I get so zoned into it that I stop knitting! The pair of fingerless mittens I’m making are quick, but I only seem to get a couple rows an episode! Grr!

Anyways, this is a very nice oolong. I’m thinking me and roasty dark oolongs are best friends. They also pair very well with cookies!

Finally having this in my gaiwan (I don’t appreciate it enough…it’s so beautiful!). Wow, so much better (and it was tasty already). Dang. Always overwhelmed by the thick creamy, almost pudding-ish quality of the mouthfeel in the first couple steeps, and the caramel-y sweetness which I don’t expect given the barley grain aroma. Mmm. The rock and clean sweet melon come much later. I do really love this one!

Ugh, do you ever look through your entire tea stash and just nothing is right for what you are wanting at that moment? I mean, out of all the teas, you’d think there’d be one..I think I know what one I want, some kind of yunnan black tea, like Golden Fleece or Yu Lu Yan Cha (ETA doesn’t look like Yu Lu is from Yunnan, but those sweet potato notes are what I’m after), but I don’t have much left of Golden Fleece and none of the other, so I am hoarding those until I decide to order more. Sigh. Then I wanted pu’erh, but I only have enough for Western in the open pack, and I wanted a fast little gaiwan brew..gah.

Anyways, enough of my complaining, I think I am just lonely because the bf was home for a day after being away 2 weeks, and TODAY is gone for another 11. Gotta love field jobs lol. Anyways, enough of me being boring and whiny and irritating. This oolong is the tea I decided on, because it has caramel notes but isn’t as dark and strong as a black tea, and I don’t really want a strong tea right now. Hopefully it will satisfy my tea need. Oh, and MINI SIPDOWN, as I have a big 1 oz bag of this from TOMC haha but I did finish my little sample at least :D see previous notes on this tea. I will possibly make some notes on this if the gaiwan adds a different element than my gongfu pot did :)

Full review will post on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 1st of March but here are my snippits:

The first word that comes to mind while I sniff the dry leaf is sweet honey sugar succulent dripping with lust omgoodness! Okay that was more than one word, but seriously, I do love oolong, but some oolong are far superior to others and this is like the king of dessert-y oolong!

The caramel is perfection, the elderberry brightens the cup and makes it just a tiny bit “zippy” the honey note gives the tea its depth of character adding to the caramel aspect its like something sinful. There is even a spicy note within this tea. Then there is a wondrous floral note that just gracefully lingers all over the tongue, roof of mouth, back of mouth, its dancing around everywhere with sugar berries, caramelized honey, earthy elderberry, and the nuttiness of almond that also adds a slightly, but never bitter astringency, yet this tea remains so smooth all at the same time.

Phew! Finished a crazy work day! Time to relax! I tried the rest of my little sample of this tea gong fu style, since brewing it western style was an epic fail. This was the first time I’ve tried gong fu style, so keep that in mind! I steeped the leaves in 6 oz. for each infusion.

10-second steep: it tastes really burnt and woody.
20-second steep: the same, except it’s a little sweeter, and a bit fruity.
30-second steep: I identified the fruitiness as citrus.
45-second steep: woody citrus.
1-minute steep: more citrus, less woody, and more smooth.
1 1/2-minute steep: same as previous infusion with a little spice in the aftertaste.

I’m bummed that I didn’t taste the same notes as everyone else. Where’s the caramel and hazelnut? Made me think that they gave me the wrong tea, or my palate is too unrefined. :( Overall, this tea didn’t meet my expectations, and since it also isn’t good western style, it won’t be on my shopping list.

Not much to say really…

Is there a proper way to describe such tea? What if there isn’t? I think you must experience it to feel whatever it is suppose to make you feel.

It’s sweet gold and glitters for the soul. Every steep evolves and brings a new level of enjoyment.

I first tried it a while ago… I was at a different place in my life then, but it still brought me joy, just not in the same manner.

Today, this tea reminds me that I must be grateful for what I have now, and not regretful for what I’ve lost.

This is how powerful it is in all its purity. Tea can be fun and silly, and tea can be wisdom and clarity. You get to choose as you feel and as you please, that’s the beauty of it.

I love birds. I feed them and in return, they let me observe their beauty at very close range. I have over 40 different species coming and going. Sitting outside as I’m drinking this special tea, I see this strong and magnificent male woodpecker, pecking on the grain I provide for him. It’s the only sound I hear, along with the breeze caressing the trees.

It is so easy to forget how beautiful life is… These moments are free, and yet, they make you feel as rich as you could ever be…

Today, this tea is just perfection.

i am a great admirer of verdant teas… my reviews reflect that clearly. it isn’t just the quality of their teas, or their credit given to the He family of tea farmers and traditions, it’s also admiration for their customer service and their understanding of their clientele. this tea, however, expanded my horizon in a manner i wasn’t anticipating.

i joined steepster when i began to take loose leaf tea seriously. i had had a strange series of unfortunate tea events at david’s teas… i’d been back and forth several days in a row with problems ranging from allergies to just not liking what had been recommended to me! my patience was running thin and i was tired of spending my meager budget on gas. i decided to research my teas online before i bought. there through steepster i found verdant teas, butiki, teavana, andrews and dunham… and yes david’s teas (i just improved my margin of error). my eyes were opened and i found myself in love with leaves and flowers across the globe!

i had no idea that the simple act of opening the sample package of this tea would be the start the next stage of my education. the tea was brown as opposed to black, curled, with some leaves as long 2 centimeters. alright, so maybe not a hugely intellectual description, but not too bad either. my real problems arose when i tried to describe the taste.

it was… it reminded me of…. words hadn’t just failed me, they had made mass exodus out of my beleaguered brain. that is a rare occurrence for me! once upon a time i was an english major, i have been an english tutor and editor, always a writer and poet (don’t even get me started on art school). i was very much out of my comfort zone as a digital wordless and stammering goof. time to study.

the taste that was so familiar was a refined echo of a pecco orange black tea…. however, that particular genre can be quite harsh and acrid, whereas this tea was not. why not? because verdant uses (i think my terminology is accurate here) flowery grades… as opposed to many bagged tea blends that use fannings of minute size referred to as dust which are the lowest quality, and quite brutal to drink. i am beyond unqualified to estimate the grade of whole leaf used in this blend, LOL.

back to words i know: i taste earth and ceylon, i taste autumn and not spring, minute traces of citrus. i wonder what crops were planted nearby that vicariously influenced the tea bushes and their progeny. there is also an understated acidity that could have evolved into a harshness but did not and instead added freshness.

i have always been curious, but i can honestly say that A tea has never on its own pressed me into multiple feverish searches through wikipedia.