Last night I finally got into the tea from my slackchat Secret Santea package from Hokdor. This one was labeled “Jani Dhahabu Kenya Dark Oolong” from Phoenix Tea (I’m assuming this refers to the teahouse in Seattle). This was a really interesting tea – it looked more like a dianhong than an oolong, with black and gold fuzzy leaves. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, as highly oxidized, unroasted oolongs usually don’t appeal to me too greatly, since they’re so close to black teas. I’m glad to say this one was not at all what I expected. The dry leaf smelled a bit like cinnamon, and after a rinse I got a plummy hongcha aroma.
The first steep was lightly chocolatey with a bit of plum – these flavors were not accompanied by the malty taste that often joins them in black teas. Subsequent steeps were really interesting – I got a dark and clean earthy bitterness, like reaally dark chocolate. This flavor filled my mouth completely – I didn’t really get any of the plummy notes anymore either. To my surprise, this flavor didn’t go away for the rest of the session, around 12 steeps. It certainly dropped down in intensity, but it was never replaced by a boring malty sweetness like what I normally get with chocolatey hong. This was a really interesting and fun to drink tea – if Phoenix Tea’s online store ever comes back, I would probably consider picking some of this up when I have a craving for a chocolatey tea.
Hells yeah that sounds good. My Kenya White also tastes a crap ton like a Yunnan Hong Cha.