Tag: Aroma Tea House

Ginseng Oolong by Aroma Tea House
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$14.00 for 100g

First Impressions

Starting off the week with an oolong review – one of my favourite types of teas for the last little while now! Ginseng Oolong was a Vancouver Tea Festival purchase that I recently rediscovered in my tea stash as I was organizing it. Ginseng Oolong came in a cardboard tube with a bright green label telling me what it is.

The leaves of Ginseng Oolong are a dark greeny-brown, with an almost dusty appearance to the tea leaves. There’s a mild ginseng aroma to the leaves. It’s not a knock-you-over type of ginseng aroma that a lot of Chinese medicine shops have (if you’ve ever entered a shop that carries traditional medicinal ingredients, you’ll know what I’m referring to!). Ginseng Oolong consists of oolong tea and natural ginseng flavouring.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions to be found on the packaging or on the product page. I opted to steep Ginseng Oolong in 195°F (91°C) with my Breville IQ Kettle‘s oolong tea setting for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Ginseng Oolong steeps to a light golden yellow after just the 2 minute steep. The aroma from the cup of tea was primarily that of the oolong tea – with a light ginseng aroma. The flavour of the tea is a mix of earthiness, ginseng, and a mild astringency that wasn’t off-putting, it added a bit of mouth pucker to the tea itself.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Ginseng Oolong five times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each steep. The tea became a deeper golden yellow, peaking in colour for the third resteep. The ginseng flavour was strongest for the second resteep, while the earthiness from the oolong base peaked at the third resteep. The last resteep (sixth steep overall) still had the ginseng and earthy aromas, although it was weaker.

My Overall Impression

I loved Aroma Tea House’s Ginseng Oolong. This oolong tea has a lovely flavour to it, and resteeped so well. It’s definitely a tea that I would recommend resteeping multiple times in order to fully exhaust the leaves out of all that beautiful flavour. It’s a gorgeous colour, and makes for a good cup. I think this would pair really well with something savoury.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Golden Oolong by Aroma Tea House
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 100g

First Impressions

Another Vancouver Tea Festival purchase and the second oolong out of four from the sampler set that I purchased from Aroma Tea House’s booth. Like the Formosa Oolong that I reviewed earlier this month, Golden Oolong came to me in a sturdy little cardboard tube that holds the tea inside.

The tea leaves vary from light green to a darker forest green. The aroma from the leaves was both floral and nutty, which was an interesting flavour combination to smell. I found it to be more vibrant than expected from an oolong.

Preparation

As part of the sampler packaging, there were no steeping instructions on the cardboard tube. On the product page online, Aroma Tea House recommended steeping Golden Oolong in a small teapot for 15 to 30 seconds, with no suggestions for water temperature. I used my Breville IQ Kettle‘s green tea temperature setting of 175°F (79°C) and steeped it for 30 seconds.

I prepared Golden Oolong in my gaiwan, doing short steeps and pouring the tea out into a small tasting cup throughout the process to taste.

First Taste

The aroma of Golden Oolong is primarily that of the flowers – the product page on Aroma Tea House’s website suggests that it smells like osmanthus flowers. The floral smell is bright and inviting. I can definitely figure out where Golden Oolong got its name with the colour of the steeped tea. The taste of Golden Oolong is a bit nutty and floral, with a hint of sweetness. With the short steeps that I did, I found that the tea remained smooth with no bitterness or astringency noted. It had a light creamy mouthfeel to it that I found really enjoyable.

A Second Cup?

With the gongfu method of preparing the tea in my gaiwan, I resteeped the same leaves fifteen times. I kept the steeping time at 30 seconds for the first five resteeps before increasing gradually at 15 seconds for each subsequent resteep.

I found that the colour of the tea became more dark gold as I continued to steep the tea. The floral notes got stronger while the nuttiness became less and less pronounced.

My Overall Impression

I loved Aroma Tea House’s Golden Oolong. I found it to be a very pleasant tea to drink, and the flavour profile was complex enough to keep me interested throughout all the steeps. If you opt to steep in a teapot instead of a gaiwan, I would recommend keeping the steeps short since it doesn’t take long to make a good cup of tea – and definitely resteep those leaves! They did so well and it made for a great tea drinking session.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Formosa Oolong by Aroma Tea House
Oolong Tea / Straight
$12.00 for 100g   

First Impressions

I bought Formosa Oolong from Aroma Tea House’s booth at the Vancouver Tea Festival (I can’t remember which year, isn’t that terrible?!), and it came as part of a sampler of oolongs so I could try out four different types. Each cardboard tube had a snug-fitting lid, and the tea was poured into each one.

Formosa Oolong is one of their Taiwanese oolongs, and I was pretty happy to try it out. Formosa Oolong has these lovely green to brown leaves, the leaves all squished up together. The aroma from the dry leaf was that of a light fruity aroma with a mix of freshly cut grass, which I find quite inviting.

Preparation

As part of the sampler packaging, there were no steeping instructions on the cardboard tube. On the product page online, Aroma Tea House recommended steeping Formosa Oolong in a small teapot for 15 to 30 seconds, with no suggestions for water temperature. I used my Breville IQ Kettle‘s green tea temperature setting of 175°F (79°C) and steeped it for 30 seconds.

First Taste

Formosa Oolong steeps to what seems like an impossibly pale yellow when the leaves are only steeped for 30 seconds. The aroma from the tea is light sweetness, and fresh fruit – I get a mix of melon and plum. The tea is pleasantly smooth, no bitterness or astringency. I found the sweetness noted in the aroma of the tea carried over well into the flavour. It’s a smooth, creamy tea that certainly goes down easy.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa Oolong seven times (eight steeps total!) and found that the flavours changed quite a bit as I steeped it. The fruity flavours intensified at first, and when that started to wane, there was some sweet floral notes that started to come out. It made for a great tasting adventure because the same leaves just produced such a wide range of flavour.

My Overall Impression

I loved Aroma Tea House’s Formosa Oolong. I really enjoyed how this oolong tasted – from the first steep to the eighth. The flavours were so complimentary to each other and made for a beautifully balanced flavour profile regardless of which steep I was on. This is definitely a tea that I would recommend having many, many cups of because the flavour of the tea just changes so well throughout each steep.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.