Tea from Taiwan

Lately I’ve learned that almost all milk oolongs are flavor enchanced which diminishes my appreciation of them a bit but this is still very fun to drink.

This one is light, brothy, flavors like popcorn. Has a very interesting thicker aftertaste that lingers for a while, reminded me of peaches a bit. Certainly it is delicious but I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of the milk oolong. What is it flavored with?

I just have a few dregs here and there from different teas my Tea from Taiwan sample packs. It’s tempting to throw the bits together in one giant teapot but that almost seems like a sacrilege, doesn’t it?

I always enjoy a nice green oolong from Taiwan, they seem to cheer me up somehow. this is very smooth and sweet- see previous tasting notes.

This is a new shipment direct from Taiwan of a bunch of oolong samples. I like Taiwanese oolongs but I don’t know if I know enough about them to rate them all differently or even tell them apart. I suppose only time will tell. I also got a cute little black xi ying teapot which I am eager to try out but not until I season it first and learn how I am supposed to brew with the thing. So this was brewed western style in an infuser mug with 180 degree water.

This tea is very charming. It’s a light yellow infusion with the usual buttery notes, has a very nice mouthfeel and smooth aftertaste. It is slightly grassy but not like eating grass. More like lying in a meadow of grass and watching the clouds go by. Some teas get me pretty wired but this is not one of them. It’s actually very relaxing and peaceful.

I am looking forward to getting more experiments going!

I’ve been having a bad week. Okay, it’s not bad. It’s just stressful. There are guests and holiday accommodations and arguments and late nights. I’m so tired and stressed out right now. Today I have to spend most of my day preparing food for Thanksgiving. I won’t have time to do much cooking tomorrow. I really need some time with a good oolong. Everything can just take care of itself for a while. Time to break out another sample from Tea from Taiwan.

The smell is amazing. Buttery and bakey. Like fresh biscuits. The first cup is refreshing and comforting. So smooth and rich. I took a deep whiff of the wet leaves. Smells like buttered peas (yum!) and bok choy. This is perfect and exactly what I needed.

Second cup is very sweet and fruity. There’s peas at the end of the sip. Delicious. I love peas. and fruit. (Speaking of fruit, I need to go to the Japanese store and pick up more persimmons…)

I don’t have time for a third cup right now, but I’ll be back. This tea is so good. I’m perked up for now and I’ll need to de-stress with this tea later. :)

Very sweet. I did a double take on my first sip. Did someone sneak sugar into this? Very floral and creamy. I’m really happy I ordered these sample packs. All their oolongs are so sweet and smooth. I especially enjoy this one because of that hit of sweetness. Later steepings bring out more creaminess and balances out the floral flavors. Then the peachy kicks in. And later the more typical oolong flavor reminds you that you’re drinking tea and not some heavenly nectar of the gods.

I had the tiniest bit from my sample pack so I can actually enjoy this again later. :)

I woke up this morning with a thirst for some oolong. This happens about once or twice a week. I grabbed one of those sample pouches that are patiently awaiting my attention. This one’s got a real caffeine kick to it. But I’m pretty sensitive to that stuff so most people probably won’t even notice it. hehe

This is a perfectly good oolong that I didn’t really like. I thought it tasted perfectly ordinary and a little roasty. There was some sweetness in the peachy tones, but other than that, it seemed pretty boring. The quality was good, don’t mistake me. It’s just not my thing. I didn’t make more than 2 steeps when I usually make at least four with oolongs. I’m glad it was only a sample.

PS Does anyone else find that oolongs lose flavor if stored for a while? There are ones that tasted so floral and nummy. But when I go back to it a few months later, it’s kinda ordinary. Is it oxidation? I know my tins and bags aren’t exactly air tight… Sometimes I just buy too much because the larger quantities are usually a better deal. Maybe it’s not worth it if it makes my tea taste less good later.

I had several more steeps. I lost count on how many. At least eight. They were all yummy. At some point there was a lemon rind flavor. Awesome! Honey all the way through. I’ll buy more of this when I get rid of all this tea I have around. :)

Strongly floral and honeyish. I don’t usually like darker oolongs, but this one doesn’t taste like the typical dark oolong. Honestly, it’s probably only medium dark, maybe less.

The fragrance and flavor are deeply floral. I’m not good at identifying the different kinds of floral flavors that are usually found in teas. Some expert will have to teach me. Volunteers?
There is also a pleasant honey flavor. Together with the floral flavor, it’s like a top notch floral honey. yum! And underlying the whole thing, there’s tea. Possibly lightly roasted. It keeps the whole thing from being too sweet and cloying. There’s also something a bit like plum about to be over ripe.

Man! This tea smells good!

By the third steep, the roasty tea flavor is stronger and the floral honey is starting to lose.

All my steeps are at a pretty low temperature so far. I find that higher temps bring out harsher flavors. I pretty much treat oolongs like white teas. I’m such a rebel. The leaves are starting to take up a lot of space already and it’s only just starting. I’m always amazed how a tiny amount of dry leaf takes over the whole pot. I can’t stop smelling the leaves. I want my laundry to smell like this. My puppies smell like laundry cause they roll around in the warm clothes from the dryer. Then my clean clothes smell like puppies. So does this mean I secretly want my puppies to smell like tea? My trains of thought take me to crazy places.

Steep four is still strong and delicious. All the previously mentioned flavors are still present but more mellow and blended. I will need to take a break from tea now.

How do you guys keep your tea leaves in between steepings? I just leave it in the pot if doing gong fu style or strainer if doing western style, at room temperature. If I leave it in the pot, should I keep the lid on or off?

Has anyone else ever had dried bok choi? It’s a chinese ingredient rarely seen outside a traditional Chinese kitchen. Even my mom doesn’t cook it much since she believes that fresh vegetables have more nutritional value.
Well, if you’ve had dried bok choi, you’ll know what the fourth steep of this tea tastes like.

Fifth steep is a little less vegetable with some creaminess making a come back. The flavor is still strong.

I just pulled out a stem with three leaves and a bud attached. It’s about 2 1/2 inches long. How did that get rolled into a tiny little ball? Magic.

Steep six was over-steeped. I walked away to do something else and totally forgot about it for a good 15 mins. Tastes very strong and a tad bitter, but that’s entirely my fault. There’s a strong coconut flavor now. Nice! What will this taste like next?

Yum! This really is milky! I’m impressed that the sample packet came with a little oxygen absorber to keep my tea fresh. Then I was worried that it was going to absorb all the oxygen in the world and we’d all die. How do these little things work?

First of all, this is supposed to be a flavored milk oolong, which is fine with me. I was really in the mood for something creamy but I don’t have any milk like products right now. Brewing this gong fu style. I rinsed the leaves, as I generally do for oolongs, but then I remembered that this was flavored. Did I wash the flavor away? As it turns out, no, I did not. The first steep is smooth and green and creamy. It evens clings to the tongue the way milk does. It’s slightly roasty and slightly mineraly. It tastes like I poured some cream on top of some quality green oolong.
In the second steep, the clinging to the tongue quality is gone, but still tastes milky and sweet. The oolong flavor is coming stronger now. How I love Taiwan green oolongs.
Steep three. I used a higher temperature. This resulted in a stronger cup. The milky flavor is faint now. It tastes more vegetal. Like cooked watercress. It’s funny…I think I was just dreaming about eating cooked watercress last night. The leaves have also expanded tremendously. Wow.

More steeps coming later. :) I can’t wait to try my other samples. I’m gonna miss this one though…

Wow, I’m really pleased with this and sad it stayed at the back of my cupboard for so long after I received it. I got six really solid infusions from it last night and it was only starting to go downhill. Lightly buttery, a bit darker-tasting than I expected but sweet and smooth.

Out of the three in my Tea from Taiwan sampler, this is my least favorite. I didn’t detect any buttery/milky tones. I tasted more floral, toasty & astringent notes. It wasn’t terrible, but compared to the other two I received, I wasn’t too impressed.

I’ve been finding this one really, really light. It’s still sweet and fresh and green, but I’m not getting much else in the flavour department. I’ll have to experiment with some longer steepings for this one as I need to free up space for more oolongs!

A really mellow, green, buttery oolong. I find this tasty and very solid but not mind-blowing. I again fell asleep before getting to use the leaves to their full potential, though! Ugh.

I only got two infusions out of this (spring 2011) before deciding I need something strong and black to encourage me to stay awake to study. It’s a shame. This is really nice, fresh-tasting, and refreshing. A little bit buttery, but lighter than the description makes me think it’ll be. Hopefully I will find time for the abandoned leaves in the morning.

After my first successful sample from Tea from Taiwan, I was a bit nervous to try this one. Like many others have said, it’s a bit light. Sipping, I kept waiting for a punch of butter or a smack of sweet milk. Even with not a drop to spare at the end of the mug, I never did find that milky quality. Despite there being no real milkiness, I did enjoy this light cup of tea. Flavor was a bit subtle, but it was very smooth and drinkable. The scent was quite nice.. A bit more of vegetables and grass than I would have liked, but with hot water, I got something ALMOST buttery. Yes, this was a fine cup of tea. It didn’t excite me, though, and really lacked anything to push it over the edge.

I started in on this oolong after 2 rinses for 10 seconds each with 190 degree f and let it sit for 2 minutes in my yixing. My first steep was at 190 for 50 seconds. Incredibly floral, very long tea echo, very slight earthy…the beauty of this tea is in the aftertaste…its not very strong tasting while in my mouth but after it goes down, theres this explosion of sweet, perfumey flowers with a hint of citrus that reminds me of the same citrusy note i get from a yutaka midori fukamushi sencha. All in all a very enjoyable oolong that doesnt let your mouth forget its flavor after its long gone.

My little Tea From Taiwan sampler arrived today and I was so excited to try this one first. I haven’t tried a flavored milk oolong before and to be honest, the idea of leaves being drenched with milk or flavoring sounds delicious to me. Yes, I still love natural milk oolongs, but this sounded like a real treat!
Once I poured the hot water over the leaves, I immediately smelled a rich buttery scent. It didn’t differ from previous buttery smelling oolongs, but made my mouth water. Interestingly, the first steep isn’t as strong as I thought it would be. It does have a buttery taste with a bit of the oolong in the background. What I love about this tea, though, is that it is so smooth. With each sip I’m expecting a drying, astringent effect, but I’m not finding it in this first steep. It’s not really thick in the mouth, more smooth and a light kind of silky without being creamy. I’ve read that many flavored milk oolongs do not last past the first or second steep. I can’t say I’m looking forward to the next steep because I’m enjoying the buttery, sweet tea I’m getting in this cup. That being said, I will steep this again and report back with how it goes.
EDITED: 2nd Steep and it isn’t anything like the first cup at all. There really isn’t any buttery flavor left.. just a bit lingering in the scent. It’s also a bit more astringent. I wouldn’t say that it’s terrible.. just significantly different than the first glorious cup. I still might buy this because the first cup was just lovely.

Meh. A greener style oolong. It is lighter in the mouthfeel, and has a lingering bitter finish. Not as flavorful as the aroma suggests. Really not my favorite so far from the samples.

This one has a zingy gingery lemon zest quality, especially on the finish. The straw colored liquor has a touch of green to it. Aroma of sweet nectar, floral qualities, but decidedly graham-crackery sweet smelling. On the palate it has some astringency, not as smooth as the other samples…the acidity is also coming through much more…the green grassy notes as well, almost like sorrel. Also an almondy nutty note. Not quite what I’m looking for with a green oolong, but the acidity is fascinating. The differences between the samples is amazing.

Beautiful fruity high mountain oolong. First steeping gave almost-soapy floral notes, I got hints of peach blossoms and just a touch of citrus leaves. Not as aromatically stunning as the Wu Ling Oolong from Tea from Taiwan, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. The unfurled leaves are very pretty and quite large. The brew is straw colored—darker than the Wu Ling. Three subsequent brewings reveal notes of granny smith apple, honey, and toasted marcona almond. The initial aroma of peach blossoms remains and manifests itself on the palate as well.

Just got my sample packs from Tea From Taiwan. This is the first of the samples I brewed and was very pleased. The dried pellets smell so floral, like a combination of lilac, rose, and jasmine with a hint of vanilla bean and butter. Brewed it western style in a glass tea pot with a glass strainer. Just below boiling water brewed for 2 minutes after an initial rinse. Color is straw-yellow with a hint of green. Aroma is intoxicatingly floral and rich with a hint of butterscotch. Nice sweetness on the palate, thick and heavier than expected. Hints of baked goods, almost bready, buttery-smooth and back end caramel action. The floral aroma really dominates here from beginning to end. A beautiful product.

I wanted to like this tea. I really did. But I didn’t. It was very sweet and very wierd. I can see the honey and soybean that people mentioned before. I kept sniffing and sipping and going “BLEA” and then thinking that it couldn’t be that bad, and trying again. Won’t be getting this one.