According to Teavivre this tea was picked in August 1, 2013 so the tea has been sleeping for a long time. So first I breathed on the dry tea to wake it up and was promptly greeted with a milky, interesting smell.
With the tea now awoken I steeped half the 7g free sample pack I received in hot water. Upon sipping my cup I loved the sweet taste, like honey, and how creamy it was. It was perhaps less creamy than the Superfine Taiwan Ali Shan that I also sampled prior, the Qing Xiang Dong Ding I thought had a very subtle “harshness” to it, that i associate more with green tea. Overall, the taste is very kind and forgiving.
After two hot steepings like this I put the wet leaves in a sport shaker with cold water and put it in the fridge. At this point I took the time to appreciate how pretty and large the green leaves had become.
After a few hours cold steeping, I got a luscious ice tea out of the already-used leaves. I’m impressed by how much flavor there is within this oolong tea! The round, sweet and mild taste really lends itself to making ice tea in my opinion, and there is a mild hazelnut taste as an added bonus. Because the leaves are so large, it was really convenient for me to sip on the tea straight out of my shaker without the need to strain the tea. I also got a second similarly heavenly cold brew out of the leaves.
Overall I’m really pleased with this tea, it is now my favorite oolong tea so far. Thank you Teavivre for the free sample!
Flavors: Fruity, Grass, Honey
