Living in what sometimes seems like the middle of nowhere can be so frustrating. I couldn’t find anything to descale my electric tea kettle or coffee maker at my local grocery store and had to make the 30 minute drive to Pikeville, KY first thing this morning to find something. Well, I was able to find some descaler, but I also came home with new tea that I most certainly did not need. I knew there was a reason I avoided the large Food City there. I ended up coming home with 2 boxes of Wissotzky Tea (Imperial Earl Grey and English Breakfast), a box of PG Tips (I just couldn’t resist), and 4 bottles of various Ito En iced teas. This Golden Oolong was one of them.
According to the back of the bottle, this tea is a blend of Huang Jin Gui and Tieguanyin. I’m a huge fan of the latter, but don’t care so much for the former. On the nose, I got a mild blend of banana, cinnamon, osmanthus, honey, and peach. In the mouth, I detected notes of butter, banana, osmanthus, apricot, nectarine, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, and peach. There were also subtle undercurrents of wood and grain.
Truthfully, this tea was kind of surprising. I have avoided bottled pre-brewed oolongs for years because the few that I have had have been uniformly horrible. I am not even really a fan of making iced oolong. Saying that I approached this tea with low expectations would be a huge understatement. This wasn’t bad though. It was very smooth and nothing about it seemed artificial. It would not be something I would choose to reach for with regularity, but for a cheap, quick oolong on the go, it is quite nice. I’m impressed.
Flavors: Apricot, banana, Butter, Cinnamon, Fruity, Grain, Honey, Nutmeg, Osmanthus, Peach, Wood
