Tag: Oollo Tea

Posted on

Oollo Tea’s Oriental Beauty

Oriental Beauty by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 25g

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty1

First Impressions

I bought Oriental Beauty at Oollo Tea’s booth at the 2016 Vancouver Tea Festival, back in November. This was one of the teas that they were sampling at their booth and I pretty much fell in love with it. The packaging that Oollo Tea uses is simple and effective – a textured card stock box with information on either end about the company is printed in metallic silver.

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty2

The front has basic information about the tea, along with a circular sticker that lets me know that it is a dark oolong, direct trade and single origin from Pinglin, New Taipei, Taiwan. The back of the box has a sticker that tells me the name of the grower (the Zhen family), as well as when it was harvested (May 2016) and steeping instructions. The tea itself is contained in a resealable white, foil lined bag. The packaging overall from Oollo Tea is nothing short of beautiful – I quite like it as it is simple, pretty and (most importantly) functional.

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty4

Oriental Beauty has dark wiry leaves, I love that I can see the soft downy feathers on the leaves. This is always a sign to me that there’s a lovely cup of tea waiting for me. There’s very subtle fruity fragrances in the dry leaf. It reminds me a lot of stone fruit – plums, apricots, with just a smidgen that reminds me of peaches.

Preparation

Oollo Tea recommends steeping Oriental Beauty for 2-4 minutes in 95°C (203°F) water, and suggests that it can be steeped five times. My initial steep of Oriental Beauty was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

After the two minute steep, Oriental Beauty is a nice light yellow. It has a fruity smell to it, which was expected based on the dry leaf smell. My first taste of this tea and I note the stone fruit flavours in it – plums, apricots, peaches. There’s a sweet vanilla taste to the tea that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s quite welcome. The vanilla flavour adds a nice creaminess to the tea. The tea itself is quite smooth and easy to drink, with zero bitterness when steeped for two minutes. I found that the leaves opened up a little bit, but not quite all the way.

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty3

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty6

A Second Cup?

The second steep (2 mins, 30 secs) had the addition of floral notes, the same stone fruits, and apple. The packaging suggests that there are grape flavours, but I don’t taste them in the second steep. Overall, I did a total of 7 steeps (6 resteeps) of Oriental Beauty. I found the third steep had the richest, deepest flavours with the apple and stone fruits, the sweetness of the vanilla flavours mingles well with the floral. After the third steep, I lost the apple flavours first (in the fifth steep), and by the seventh steep I was left with primarily flavours of vanilla and plum in my mouth.

20170220-oolloteaorientalbeauty5

My Overall Impression

rating4

I loved Oollo Tea’s Oriental Beauty. I really enjoyed steeping the leaves again and again to discover changes in the flavour profile. From the unexpected creaminess of vanilla to the addition of apple and floral notes, I think this tea does incredibly well with being resteeped and it is definitely a tea to sit down and savour each sip because of the complexity and ever-changing flavours with each steep.

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

Posted on

Oollo Tea’s Alishan Gongfu Black Tea

Alishan Gongfu Black Tea by Oollo Tea
Black Tea / Straight
$15.00 for 25g

20170213-oolloteasummerblacktea

Oollo Tea has provided me with Alishan Gongfu Black Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

This is the second of the two new teas that I recently received from Oollo Tea (the first tea was reviewed last week, the Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter). This one is a black tea with these lovely long but wiry tea leaves. It’s not often that I see black teas with long, big leaves, so it’s a bit of a treat to see this one like that! There’s a slightly sweet scent to these leaves, they have a soft fruity aroma that reminds me a lot of plums. It’s not overly fruity though, there’s a slight woody smell to it that plays nicely with the plums. Alishan Gongfu Black Tea is a straight black tea from Alishan in Taiwan, and it was harvested in the summer of 2016.

20170213-oolloteasummerblacktea3

Preparation

I steeped Alishan Gongfu Black Tea in 100°C (212°F) water for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Alishan Gongfu Black Tea steeps to a beautiful autumn orange liquor, the smell of these tea after the initial 2 minute steep has a fruity aroma which still reminds me of plums. On first sip, I can tell that this tea has a smooth texture. The tea kind of coats my mouth a little as I taste it. The plum notes are stronger in flavour, with a slight woody taste to it. At the end of each sip, I’ve noticed that there’s just a touch of astringency. Not enough to make the tea off-putting, but enough to know that it’s there. Alishan Gongfu Black Tea has a nice natural sweetness in the tea that helps to cut the astringency down just a bit.

20170213-oolloteasummerblacktea4

A Second Cup?

For my first resteep of Alishan Gongfu Black Tea, I found it had a more robust woody flavour with the plum notes more toned down. The tea itself was lighter in liquor, the level of sweetness had increased, and there was no astringency noted at the end of each sip. I definitely preferred the second steep over the first. I steeped Alishan Gongfu Black Tea a total of five times, adding an additional 30 seconds to each steep. By the fifth steep, Alishan Gongfu Black Tea was beginning to lose it’s flavour and be less enjoyable.

20170213-oolloteasummerblacktea5

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Oollo Tea’s Alishan Gongfu Black Tea. I think that it definitely does better on the second steep than the first, so if you’re finding it to be not quite so enjoyable do hold out! It does get better! The woody plum notes are enjoyable, and I think it’d be a good tea to pair with a savoury meal, or to have with dim sum. It’s a fairly solid black tea, with a nice complex flavour profile. Alishan Gongfu Black Tea is delicious and does very well with being steeped repeatedly, which just shows the quality in these tea leaves. Despite all the good notes I have on this tea, I just don’t see myself wanting to keep a stash of it, which is why it’s getting a lower rating.

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

Posted on

Oollo Tea’s Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter

Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$15.00 for 25g

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter1

Oollo Tea has provided me with Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

I was super excited when Jenny of Oollo Tea asked me if I wanted to try their new High Mountain tea. Of course, I said yes, she gave me samples of two of their new teas. This one is Oollo Tea’s Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter. It came in sample packaging, which is not representative of their retail packaging.

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter2

The tea is a beautiful green colour, there’s this light fruity smell that also has some creamy notes to the fragrance of the tea. In the dry leaf, I also noted there’s a subtle nutty aroma to it, which may have resulted from the production process of the oolong. There isn’t a lot of information up yet about this tea on Oollo Tea’s website, I do know it’s a straight oolong tea and it was harvested from Alishan (which is a mountain range) at higher elevations.

Preparation

I steeped Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter in 91°C (195°F) water for 90 seconds for the first steep.

First Taste

Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter steeps to a beautiful pale yellow colour after just 90 seconds of steeping time. There’s a very subtle fruity smell that isn’t as obvious as the dry leaf. The first thing that I notice with the tea is that there’s a nice creamy texture to it, it’s smooth and has a light natural sweetness to it. The nutty flavour comes through near the end of each sip, it reminds me almost a little bit of cashews. The short steep time was a good choice, I feel, the tea is smooth and doesn’t have any signs of being over steeped or burnt.

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter3

A Second Cup?

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter4

Like I always do with oolongs, I resteeped Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter a few times. The first resteep, the tea got quite a bit darker in colour to a golden yellow. There’s a creamier taste with a buttery texture. The flavours became much richer for first resteep. I resteeped it a total of 7 times (so 8 steeps in total with the same set of tea leaves). I found that the flavour got richer up to the 4th resteep. After that, the flavours started to be less pronounced. I add 30 seconds for each steep, so steep 2 was 2 minutes, steep 3 was 2.5 minutes, and so on.

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter5

20170206-oolloteaalishanwildharvestwinter6

My Overall Impression

rating4

I loved Oollo Tea’s Alishan Wild Harvest High Mountain Oolong 2016 Winter. I thought the flavours were great, and found that it resteeped very well. The sample that I received was 6g and I had used half of that (3g) for my tea pot that I subsequently steeped eight times over. I think it’s great value for the price, due to it’s ability to be resteeped repeatedly. I love the nutty flavour with the creamy texture, it’s delicious. The light natural sweetness to it is a nice touch without being overpowering, I think it would be a great tea to have with either sweet or savoury snacks. It also makes for a great tea to have throughout the day to fully maximize the steeping potential.

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