#roasted oolong

Buenos días, amores! Wishing you leafy love and joy today.

Tasting the ember of the cinnamon hearth A couple weeks ago my uncle died. Many years of living with dementia, and it felt like the time was right. One hundred is a lot of years and he stayed kind, gruff, and funny till the end. My mother and step-father were more deeply connected to him than I. It was the two of them who were there in the final moments.  It is the two of them who are buried in…

Totealy contacted me about reviewing their tea and they sent some delectable samples!

I steeped this lightly roasted oolong at 195F starting with 15 sec infusions, working my way up.

Zushan Spring is a lightly roasted oolong from Taiwan, a spring harvest tea from a garden at 1700ft. This tea starts off with a strong bold flavor of toasted nut, bark and misted grass transitioning to a delicately sweet floral flavor reminiscent of honeysuckle. The combination of these flavors contrast but provide a beautiful story as you resteep and drink in all the angles this leaf has to offer.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tea and I just love how different oolongs can range depending on their processing. If you are looking for a roasted oolong but not something that is too smokey, I highly recommend this which you can find here.

If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to send me a PM! Want to decide which tea I review next? Don’t hesitate to ask!

xoxo

A Review of the Heavy Roasted Tu Quy Oolong Tea from Lam Dong Province in Vietnam is Available Here.

Today I will be reviewing a Heavy Roasted Tu Quy Oolong Tea from the Lam Dong Province of Vietnam. I had previously completed a review of the standard Tu Quy Oolong, which you may read here.

As I had mentioned in a post yesterday, I have been experimenting with roasting various teas at home. The Tu Quy oolong sample was one of the teas selected for roasting experimentation. Altogether, this tea…

A Review of the Medium Roast Dong Ding Oolong Tea from Mountain Tea Company is Available Here.

Here is a sample from Taiwan that has been put aside for too long. Today’s review will focus on the Medium Roast Dong Ding Oolong Tea from Mountain Tea Company, based in Nantou County, Taiwan. I have covered Mountain Tea Company in several previous posts, so I will spare you all the redundancy.

The sample packet has been opened, and the classic roasty, robust scent of Dong Ding oolong is…

Nemo, a rather sweet name for a blizzard, came down at 9 am just as forecast. It is potentially a for the records storm in the north east US.  We could fortunately be out of that deep purple band in – the most affected area in weather.com map.

Lucky enough to be indoors, I decided to take  advantage of the snowy show and bring out my deep roasted organic Se Chung oolong from China’s Anxi region. The fire in this oolong should balance out the ice, I thought. I brought out my gaiwan and went for the traditional gongfu style of making tea, which is basically brewing the tea repeatedly in short bursts of time. I began with a 30 second brew. It was strong. Smell of wood and charcoal, burnt brown sugar and pepper filled up the room. Last time I brewed this tea, my wife first thought I had opened my bottle of scotch.

Indeed the earthiness of this oolong in its early stages of brewing recalls the peaty smell of some single malts. It is a strong cup and it warms me right up.

It is only after the fifth infusion that the delicate smells begin to emerge. I discern an almond like nutiness and floral notes coming through.

It feels like an exquisite dawn break on an enchanting night. Every infusion builds upon the impressions of the previous one, a smooth natural progression. They read like a book, chapter after chapter revealing an riveting plot.

On the ninth infusion the plot dramatically changes. The color of the liquor is now sparkly amber. It has the buoyancy of spring. I see dark green emerge from the colors of what has been until now almost black tea leaves. The nose now has a fresh and sweet vegetal aroma. And aftertaste is now a lingering sweetness.

I keep turning the pages as it were. Tenth infusion. The heavy roasted smell is now a faint memory in the cup. I lower the water temperature and go for longer infusion. At eleventh infusion the cup is still strong. On the twelfth the floral character is now overtaking the rest. I feel warm, almost hot, and awake. The languor of the morning has fully dissipated and I feel awake, really awake. I see the snow fall and I see the flakes are coming down thick, each nearly an inch across.