Tag: Oolong Tea

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Oollo Tea’s Alishan Milky Oolong Tea

Alishan Milky Oolong Tea by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight

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First Impressions

I got this Alishan Milky Oolong Tea from Oollo Tea from the Vancouver Tea Festival in 2016. I can’t remember how much I paid for it, but I can’t imagine that it was greater than $15.00 for the 30g package. It was a limited release, which is why I bought it (and also why I can’t find it on the Oollo Tea website at this time). It got tucked away in my tea stash and I recently came across it again, which is why I haven’t tried it before now (whoops).

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That said… The tea came in a vacuum sealed gold foil packet that came in a simple manila envelope. The tea itself consists of tightly compressed/rolled tea leaves. The colours are primarily a gradient from an olive to a dark green. The floral aroma from this tea is light and there’s a subtle sweetness behind it.

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Preparation

I steeped Alishan Milky Oolong Tea at 85C (185F) for 2 minutes for the initial steep.

First Taste

Alishan Milky Oolong Tea steeps to a light yellow after an initial steep of two minutes. I found that the aroma that came up from the tea was floral, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly perfumed – it’s a subtle floral aroma. I found the tea to be smooth – no bitterness, no astringency. I found it to have a creamy texture, with a very light buttery flavour that lingers at the end of each sip.

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I set aside some of this tea and had it cold and found it to taste a bit sweeter, which was a nice treat.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Alishan Milky Oolong Tea a total of six resteeps (seven steeps total), and I found the colour deepened as I did more steeps, and began to lighten by resteep #4. The buttery flavours got stronger as the tea became more of a golden yellow, and I found that the floral sweetness stayed pretty much the same throughout all of the steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Oollo Tea’s Alishan Milky Oolong Tea. I wish I had remembered it in my tea stash a bit earlier so I could still find more information about it! That said, this oolong meets all my expectations for a milky oolong. I found it to be tasty, and the flavours got better with each steep as the colour became darker. I really enjoyed drinking this, and I think it would be great to have over a lazy rainy weekend afternoon.

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Tea Ave’s Wenshan Baochong Oolong

Wenshan Baochong Oolong by Tea Ave
Oolong Tea / Straight
$13.75 for 25g

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First Impressions

I have to say, I’m a fan of Tea Ave’s packaging. Simple, clean, sleek. Wenshan Baochong Oolong came to me in a resealable foil bag. The label consists of plenty of information about the tea: where it is from (Ping Ling District, New Taipei City, Taiwan), the altitude at which the tea is harvested (400-800metres), roasting level, cultivar, oxidation levels, and (my favourite part) different brewing methods.

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The tea leaves themselves are long and wiry with slight twists in the leaves. There’s obvious variation in the colour of the tea leaves, ranging from a dark green to an almost spring green. The aroma from this oolong is brightly floral, it’s the first thing that I noticed when I opened the bag because it’s quite strong. This straight oolong tea smells inviting. Tea Ave states on the product page for Wenshan Baochong Oolong that this tea is one of the most fragrant oolongs in the world – I might be inclined to agree.

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Preparation

Tea Ave has steeping instructions for steeping in a gaiwan, tea cup, tea pot, and cold brew. I opted for the steeping instructions for a tea pot because that’s what I used for steeping this oolong. You can find more steeping instructions on the product page.

For the tea pot, Tea Ave suggests using 90°C (194°F) water and to steep for 3-5 minutes. Wenshan Baochong Oolong can be resteeped up for 4 times, with an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute for each additional steep. I steeped Wenshan Baochong Oolong in 85°C (185°F) water for an initial steep of 3 minutes.

First Taste

Wenshan Baochong Oolong steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. The aroma from this tea is quite representative of the dry leaf – very floral with a nice sweetness that reminds me a lot of honey. The tea itself is smooth, with a nice mouthfeel to it. I found this tea enjoyable to sip while having breakfast, it just has a nice fragrance to it that wafts up from my cup. The floral notes are quite inviting.

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A Second Cup?

Because Tea Ave suggested that I could resteep this up to 4 times, I had to push my luck and go over that. I found as I resteeped it, Wenshan Baochong Oolong steeped to a darker, more golden yellow colour. The tea had more a honeyed sweetness, and there was a more creamy consistency with the tea by the second resteep. The tea started to wane in colour and flavour by the fourth resteep, but stayed palatable for up to six resteeps (seven steeps total). I imagine that I could have gotten more if I kept the steeping times shorter or had done an initial steep for less than 3 minutes – I added an additional 30 seconds for each additional steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Tea Ave’s Wenshan Baochong Oolong. This tea is so fragrant and inviting that it was a joy to drink. I really enjoyed the increased honeyed sweetness with each steep, and how the tea had a fantastic mouthfeel – it just added to the tasting experience so well. This is definitely a tea that I would recommend being able to dedicate the time to having a long steeping session, since it holds up so well to being resteeped.

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Golden Tea Leaf’s Ali Mountain Oolong

Ali Mountain Oolong by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$13.50 for 50g

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

First Impressions

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Ali Mountain Oolong came to me from Golden Tea Leaf in sample packaging. For those curious, ‘shan’ is Chinese word for mountain (hence – Alishan or Ali Shan is Ali Mountain). This oolong tea was the first place winner at the 2015 North American Tea Championship, so I’m quite excited about trying it!  The sample packet is not resealable, I would say it contained enough oolong for perhaps three steeping sessions.

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Ali Mountain Oolong came to me from Golden Tea Leaf in sample packaging. For those curious, ‘shan’ is Chinese word for mountain (hence – Alishan or Ali Shan is Ali Mountain). This oolong tea was the first place winner at the 2015 North American Tea Championship, so I’m quite excited about trying it!  The sample packet is not resealable, I would say it contained enough oolong for perhaps three steeping sessions.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions noted on the sample packet, but Golden Tea Leaf does have an instructional page on their website. They recommend steeping in 95°C (203°F) water for 2 minutes (initial steep), followed by 2-5 minutes for each subsequent steep. My initial steep of Ali Mountain Oolong was at 90°C (195°F) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Ali Mountain Oolong steeps to a very pale yellow for the initial steep. I found that the aroma of this oolong was quite floral. The flavour of the tea itself is sweet, floral, with a bit of a sweet nutty finish at the end of each sip. I found that the tea was smooth, with no bitterness to note. The oolong has a great mouthfeel to it, that’s almost creamy in texture. I eagerly finished off the first infusion of this tea to try it again (and again, and again).

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A Second Cup?

I added an extra 30 seconds per subsequent steep as I resteeped the same leaves. In total, I did seven resteeps of Ali Mountain Oolong (a total of eight steeps with the same leaves). I found that the tea got darker and darker, more of a golden yellow – which hit its peak in colour by steep four of the same leaves. The flavour got stronger as the colour became darker. After the fourth steep, I found that the flavour (and colour) began to get weaker, but it was still quite flavourful and enjoyable, even by the eighth steep.

I poured off some of the tea into a mason jar, which got tucked into my fridge after it cooled to room temperature. I’m happy to also say that this oolong does quite well as an iced tea.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Golden Tea Leaf’s Ali Mountain Oolong. This oolong was a delight to try and to steep repeatedly. The price is quite reasonable for the quality of tea that you get with this Ali Mountain Oolong – the flavour is delicious and the tea leaves can be resteeped over and over again until you completely exhaust the leaves out of flavour. You get a lot of value out of these leaves with the multiple steeps that you can have, which means it is ideal to have over the course of a day.

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