Tag: Oolong Tea

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Oollo Tea’s Classic Oolong

Classic Oolong by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight

First Impressions

I bought Classic Oolong as part of a mystery bag from Oollo Tea’s booth at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival – unfortunately I’m unable to find the product page on their website so I can’t tell you how much it costs at this time (I’ll update this review if I get a hold of the information). This sampler contains 15g and the tea itself came in a vaccuum-sealed foil pouch (not resealable) inside of a floral patterned paper envelope.

The leaves are bright green, tightly bunched together. The aroma of the dry leaf reminds me of floral and pine tree. Classic Oolong comes from Maliba, Nantou, Taiwan and is single origin. Single origin describes the fact that it comes from one location – usually one tea farm/farmer and can be directly traced to the original location where the tea was harvested and processed. This is a huge difference from the majority of tea available via grocery stores, as you often don’t know where the tea came from aside from a general area or country of origin.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions with Classic Oolong, so I went back to my own steeping guide. I steeped Classic Oolong using my Breville IQ Kettle‘s oolong setting (90°C/195°F) and my initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Classic Oolong steeps to a light yellow. There’s a beautiful light floral aroma from the tea. On first sip, I can taste the floral, with a touch of pine in the background. It adds a bit of a ‘woodsy’ flavour to it, which is pleasant as it’s well-balanced against the floral notes. There’s some creamy notes that I can taste as well, which are delicious.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Classic Oolong a total of six times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colour of the tea got deeper for the first three resteeps – becoming more of a golden yellow colour. The flavour became more floral and creamy and less pine. I found that by the third resteep, Classic Oolong had a very buttery flavour to it with a thick mouthfeel compared to the initial steep. I found it to be very pleasant.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oollo Tea’s Classic Oolong. I felt that it made for a lovely cup (pot…) of tea, and loved how the flavour profile shifted a little bit with each steep. I do wish that I could tell you more about the tea, so hopefully that information becomes available to me in the near future. The pine notes were a bit of a surprise, but I love how it gave way to a more buttery flavour profile. The leaves are a good quality though, as they resteep beautifully and allow for a good amount of flavour with each steep.

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Field to Cup’s March Adventurer Box

March Adventurer Box by Field to Cup
$34.97USD for 1 Adventurer Box (per month)
$356.69USD for 12 Months ($29.72/mo)

Field to Cup has provided me with the March Adventurer Box for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Use coupon code Onemoresteep20 for 20% off your first order of teas or first month of subscription boxes from Field to Cup!

First Impressions

I wrote a bit about how the Field to Cup subscription boxes work (multi-month options, different tea options) in my review of their February Adventurer Box. I’m so pleased to be sharing my review of the March Adventurer Box with you all. Again, the Adventurer Box is geared towards fans of primarily traditional tea types, and have at least four teas per box. The March box contains five teas – four of which are labelled as premium teas and one is the ‘extra’ bonus tea for the month. Each tea comes in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a black and white label on the front that includes steeping instructions, resteeping instructions, ingredients, and flavour notes.

The first three are: Bergamot Bliss (green tea), Plus Belle (pouchong tea), and Organic Nilgiri Silk (black tea). I found Bergamot Bliss to be very rich in bergamot aroma, it’s very bright and inviting and reminds me a lot of an Earl Grey. Because of the strength of the bergamot, I can’t really make out the aroma of the green tea base. This green tea blend consists of green tea and bergamot oil. For Plus Belle, a pouchong tea (which – an internet search told me – is fairly close to an oolong tea), this is a Taiwanese tea from Nantou County. The leaves are bright and green with a mild grassy aroma to it. Organic Nilgiri Silk has some light malty notes, coupled with the dark wiry leaves. The tea itself is an organic black tea from the Nilgiris District in India.

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

The next two teas in the box are: Organic Green Jewel (green tea) and Formosa Bai Hao (oolong tea). Organic Green Jewel consists of a fine green leaves – they were quite small and coated my teaspoon due to the static electricity. There’s a light salty aroma to it. The tasting notes mentioned a lime zest, but I don’t really get that from the dry leaf. Formosa Bai Hao has a mix of dark brown, reddish brown, and pale brown wiry leaves. The aroma of the dry leaf is mostly that of a honeyed floral aroma.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

Preparation

Bergamot Bliss is recommended to steep in 180°F (82°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 3 minutes.

Plus Belle is recommended to steep in 180°F (82°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 3 minutes.

Organic Nilgiri Silk is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 4 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 minutes.

Organic Green Jewel is recommended to steep in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 2 minutes.

Formosa Bai Hao is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 3 minutes.

First Taste

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

Bergamot Bliss steeps to a light green-yellow with a surprisingly not overpowering aroma of bergamot from the steeped tea. There’s something inviting about the citrus notes that make me think that this may be nice as an ice tea. I found that the bergamot flavour is nice and citrusy and balances well with the light grassy notes from the green tea.

Plus Belle steeps to a pale yellow. There is mix of floral and grassy flavours in the aroma of this tea. I found the taste to be sweet, with hints of floral and grassy flavour, as well as a light buttery cream in the background. Overall, I found this tea to be very smooth and easy to drink.

Organic Nilgiri Silk has a golden reddish orange colour, with a sweet aroma to it. The flavour is primarily sweet honeyed notes, with a malty flavour that almost has a bit of a yeasty quality to it – if you’re a baker, you may know what I mean. There’s a nice robustness to the flavour.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

Organic Green Jewel has a bright yellow colour. I found that the aroma is salty and grassy, while the flavour of this green tea has hints of salt, grassy/vegetal flavours, as well as a bit of lime in the steeped tea. The lime surprised me a bit since I didn’t really get that from the dry tea or even from the steeped tea, until I tasted it! It adds a burst of freshness to the flavour profile.

Formosa Bai Hao steeps to an orange brown. The darkness in the colour reflects the deep honeyed notes well, along with the floral sweetness and some dried apricot flavours. It’s quite pleasant, and I feel like it would pair well with a savoury dish.

A Second Cup?

Bergamot Bliss resteeped well, I did it twice and found that the bergamot was still very much present with each steep. Plus Belle was resteeped three times and I found it to be still light and almost delicate tasting throughout. It remained nicely sweet and floral with each steep. Organic Nilgiri Silk was resteeped twice, I found that the first resteep was much closer to the initial steep than the second steep – the deep malty notes weren’t as strong for the second resteep.

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

Organic Green Jewel was resteeped twice and I found the flavour weakened a little bit with each steep, but that little burst of lime freshness was still in the tea throughout each steep. Formosa Bai Hao was the real resteeping winner in this box – I did four resteeps and found that the flavour stayed pretty consistent throughout and was tasty through each steep of the same leaves.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

My Overall Impression

I loved Field to Cup’s March Adventurer Box. I really enjoyed the variety of teas, and learned a little something about pouchong tea. My favourites in this month’s box would have to be the Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, and Formosa Bai Hao. I really enjoyed trying each tea and tasting the flavours mentioned in the tasting notes.

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DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence

Honey Ginseng Defence by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$12.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Honey Ginseng Defence is actually a tea that I picked up in January of this year when it first came out. I got to try a little bit in store and decided it was interesting enough to buy a little bit to steep at home. As always, DavidsTea’s loose leaf tea comes in silver foil bags that are resealable. If you buy the tea online, they come in heat-sealed, resealable bags but if you buy it in store, the bags aren’t heat sealed. Makes for easier opening, in my opinion.

The aroma of Honey Ginseng Defence is primarily that of a berry fragrance, with some floral and honey notes. Honey Ginseng Defence consists of oolong tea, goji berries, ginger, marigold blossoms, ginseng, natural honey and goji berry flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Honey Ginseng Defence in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and my initial steep of Honey Ginseng Defence was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Honey Ginseng Defence steeps to a light yellow (honey yellow…?). There’s some sweet floral fragrance notes, and a hint of fruitiness. The flavour is primarily floral and honey sweetness, although I can taste a bit of the ginseng, a hint of ginger, and the creamy oolong base. While I do know what goji berries smell and taste like, I don’t really get a goji berry flavour from the tea – the fruitiness that I do find reminds me more of mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, etc.).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Honey Ginseng Defence twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found by the second resteep, the flavour of the tea was primarily that of the oolong base – which has some great buttery and creamy qualities to it. If you love oolong, you’ll probably enjoy resteeping this blend. If you were more of a fan of the tea as a blend, you may find it to be a bit more ‘meh’ to your liking.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence. I thought that the blend was really pleasant and was quite tasty. I’m a bit disappointed that the tea as a blend didn’t resteep that well, but I’m glad that the oolong had some nice quality to it and it allowed for a tasty steep. I wish that the tea had more of a goji berry flavour to it, despite having both goji berries and the flavouring of goji berries, I found it to be on the lacking side. That said, the ginseng was noticeable, as was the honey, so it still made for a nice cup of tea.

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