Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong

Pine Oolong by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$8.99 for 50g

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Golden Tea Leaf has provided me with Pine Oolong for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

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Pine Oolong came to me in single serving packets, all neatly prepared in pyramid sachets. There are some beautiful, full-looking leaves inside of the pyramid. There’s a slightly salty aroma to the tea leaves that contrasts from the sweet floral fragrance that also come from the tea leaves. I ripped open the pyramid sachets to get a better look at the tea leaves. Pine Oolong is a straight oolong tea, described as a semi-fermented green tea by Golden Tea Leaf.

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Preparation

Golden Tea Leaf recommends steeping Pine Oolong in 95°C (203°F) water for 2-3 minutes for the first steep, and for 3-5 minutes for the second steep. My initial steep of Pine Oolong was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Pine Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden honey colour. There’s a sweet floral aroma that wafts up from the tea. I did notice that the leaves had fully expanded to fill out the entire pyramid sachet – I definitely think that this tea should be steeped in a basket infuser and not in the sachet itself because of the need for the leaves to expand. The flavour of this oolong primarily sweet and floral, with just a little bit of umami at the end of each sip.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Pine Oolong for 3 minutes, and found the flavours to be still true to the initial steep. I managed to resteep Pine Oolong a total of four times (five steeps total), and adding 30 seconds per subsequent resteep. I found the floral sweetness to stay pretty strong up to the third steep total, and got a bit weaker for the fourth and fifth steep. The umami part stayed pretty true to the initial steep all the way through all of the steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong. I really enjoyed the floral aromas and flavours that I found in the dry and steeped tea. The umami notes that I found in this tea made the flavour just a bit more complex and delicious to enjoy. The sweet floral notes hold strong throughout and it was a real treat to resteep over and over again. I think the tea would pair well with a meal because of the umami notes.

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