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Searching for the correct temp and time to brew this tea. 180 deg F for 5 minutes didn’t get much into the cup. Has a slight garlicly aftertaste today….not sure why.

This morning’s cuppa…was in a bit of a rush and grabbed this. I have it in tea bags direct from Harney & Sons (and not those foofoo silk pyramid excuses to charge more type of bags). My earlier post on this tea said that I thought it was a bit weak and that I could do better with the loose variety. I still think thats true, but I did let this tea bag steep a bit longer and it made all the difference! This tea has an excellent balance of tea and sweet spice. The convenience of the tea bags works well and I would recommend it as a good “tea bag tea”

Resteep. Again a long steep…flavor isn’t as intensely green as the first go around, but still veggy. This cup is a nice oolong, but its not being slapped in the face with an oolong like the first cup.

Have a new office hot water dispenser…it only hits 118 deg. F. Not hot enough for a good black tea (and the office microwave takes like 3 minutes to get the water any reasonbly hotter; I can’t be expected to wait another 3 minutes for tea, can I?). So, I tried going green with it. This is a green oolong that I purposefully oversteeped in deference to the cool water. Very good! Still brews pale and clear, but the flavor is intensely concentrated. Not so much of a floral overtone, but strong green vegetable, like asparagus or spinach. No it doesn’t taste like spinach…but the flavor is intense, concentrated like that.
I have some green tea that a friend brought back from mainland China…no idea what it is as the label is in Chinese…when it steeps, in unfurls to an actual twig with tips and one or two full leaves…this reminds me of that tea.

I’d have to put this tea amongst my favorites at the moment. I normally like a fine Ceylon, but don’t have any at work. This tea is a wonderful substitute. It is only lightly oxidized and is noticably light colored when dry; the leaves have a brown and green color when brewed. Its flavor is not as clean or crisp? as a good Ceylon…more in line with Indian teas, but lighter weight…a medium strength tea. It has excellent complexity. It brews a light color, don’t let it fool you into going to long.

And yet another resteep…that’s two for those counting. I suspect I could get a 4th cup (3 resteeps) from the pellets, but I’ve had enough…time to move on :-)

Got a good resteep out of the pellets. They started to unfurl a bit with this steeping, so you can actually tell they are green tea leaves.

I was somewhat worried by this tea…my only experience with “ginseng” and tea was a Stash’s Ginseng Tea disaster. I was pleasantly suprised by this tea. Its very light..in fact I’m not getting much, if any ginseng. Perhaps a slight, little tingle after the fact.
The visual appeal of this tea is lacking…rabbit pellet tea, that’s what one co-worked called it; but, the taste is a nice, mild oolong. A bit of vegetable in the flavor, but not grassy.