Original Wulong Revival

A 5 year old sample that I finally broke out last week. The slew of bad reviews had discouraged me from this tea and it ended up being banished to the back of my cupboard.

I was initially going to use it in oolong milk tea thinking it was a heavy roast. Turns out that wasn’t the case. In fact, it smelled lightly floral and had notes of pine and juniper berries. The taste was pleasantly woodsy with a hint of spice. Good but basic dark oolong flavor. I don’t know if the tea aged at all sitting in my cupboard for all these years, but it certainly didn’t go stale. An unremarkable yet serviceable tea.

Spring 2018 varietal.
I hesitate to give a numerical rating to this tea, because the overall flavor profile just isn’t for me. I’m getting a deep minerality, and strong tobacco note that just isn’t suited to my palate.

Here is yet another review that I have put off posting for a couple of months. I think I delayed posting this one so long because this tea bored me. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It just was. I mean I know I am more than a bit spoiled when it comes to roasted oolongs, but this one was just very basic, and I ended up not feeling particularly strongly about it.

I prepared this tea gongfu style. After a quick rinse, I steeped 7 grams of rolled tea leaves in 5 ounces of 208 F water for 8 seconds. This infusion was chased by 13 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 10 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, and 3 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry tea leaves emitted aromas of toasted rice, black raspberry, blueberry, and raisin. After the rinse, I noticed a stronger toasted rice aroma and a hint of roasted peanut. The first infusion brought out a slightly stronger nuttiness and hints of wood on the nose. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of toasted rice, black raspberry, blueberry, raisin, wood, and roasted peanut that were backed by touches of cream and butter. The subsequent infusions quickly introduced a nuttier, grainier nose and new impressions of minerals, roasted almond, lemon zest, pomelo, and honey in the mouth. The final few infusions offered lingering, often barely perceptible notes of minerals, cream, and toasted rice. In places, there were a few hints of roasted nuts and butter, but otherwise, I could not find anything else.

This was more or less a very mediocre roasted oolong. The only things this tea had going for it were a nice texture in the mouth and a pleasant combination of aromas and flavors during its brief peak. These factors alone separated this tea from some of the other mediocre roasted oolongs I have tried, but not enough that I would actually seek it out again. While I suppose this tea may be good for easing newcomers into the world of roasted oolongs, I cannot see it being good for much else.

Gongfu (2.5g/50ml/205 F) – 10 sec infusion to start, adding 5 seconds following, then pushing out much more after steep 5.
Strip-style oolong. Dry leaves have very light aroma, though pleasant – fruit, malt, cocoa. Wet leaves add a toasted note, as well as some earthiness.
Steep 1 (10 sec) starts off light; not much aroma, flavor is crisp & just a little fruity (very mild raisin?). Leaves smell almost syrupy on steep 2, and flavor is a little sweeter. Tannins start up strong. Steeps 3 & 4 increase dryness; tiny touch of bitterness. Steeps 5-8 grow thinner, more crisp, and the tannins are all over the place. By 8th infusion, the flavor is greatly decreased. Overall impression is not unpleasant, but not complex or particularly yummy, either – nondescript.

Tried grandpa style with remaining leaves (2.5g). Made a smooth brew that never grew bitter, but flavor also stayed light & kind of boring.

Sipdown!

I did terrible unspeakable things to this tea in order to drink it. Maybe I’ll revisit roasted oolong later in life… For now, the roasted flavour is too much for me, even with a thorough rinse and dumping the first handful of steeps. I’m sorry XD

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this oolong, it’s just relatively unexceptional considering the price. Fairly malty, slightly fruity, low floral, low sweetness, low acidity, not much else going on. Good but underwhelming.

This tea is a dark oolong with a baked orange aroma. I get a fruity citrus taste with flavors of orange and maybe a hint of floral on the back end. It is not a flavor profile that appeals to me, but it was not a bad tea with decent sweetness and no astringent aftertaste.

Using up my last of this; recommended is 7 g per 6 oz of water. However I only have 5.5 g left, so I’m cutting the water back to about 4 oz. If I recall, the first times I drank this I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. The dry leaves smell sweet, a touch of honey, while the wet leaves smell more earthy to me.

The first brew at ~30 sec (supposed to be 10 sec…. but I forgot it) is a golden color and smells of the same sweetness as the dry leaves. The taste is the same; the majority a light sweetness with a hint of fruit and nut to it, finishing off with a streak of cream.

I’m not having much luck today with my focus, or this tea. The second brew is the same color as the first, but with a noticeable tang of bitterness that I dislike.

Clearly I did something, or this tea just isn’t for me. By the end of the third cup, I’m tossing the leaves into the trash. I don’t remember it being so unappetizing the first few times, so I may have oversteeped or not had enough leaves or wrong water temperature. The third cup was nearly tasteless, but at least the bitterness was gone.