Tag: Oolong Tea

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Golden Tea Leaf’s Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional

Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$21.99 for 100g

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Golden Tea Leaf has provided me with Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I got a small sample packet of Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional roast from Golden Tea Leaf. There isn’t really anything remarkable about the packaging. I love a good oolong, so I was really looking forward to trying this one from Golden Tea Leaf! The dry leaf is mostly a dark brown with some golden parts to the leaf. There’s an overall nutty aroma with mild vegetal notes. Generally, I find that it reminds me of chestnuts.

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The leaves are rolled tightly. Like with most of my rolled teas, I don’t use a full spoonful because I know that the leaves will expand a lot when I’m steeping the tea.

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Preparation

Golden Tea Leaf recommends steeping Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional at 95°C (203°F) for 2 minutes (initial steep), 2-5 minutes (for all subsequent steeps). My initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Dung Ting Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden yellow in a short period of time. There’s a nutty aroma to this tea, with a slight sweetness in the background. When I sip this tea, I note sweet plum flavours as well as some earthy mushroom flavours. I really like the differing flavors, it adds a level of complexity to this tea that’s a pleasure to drink.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Dung Ting Oolong a total of four times, adding an extra 30 second per subsequent steep. I found that the oolong became a darker golden yellow with each steep. The plum flavours become stronger while the earthy flavours start to subside by the second resteep. There’s a mild astringency at the end of each sip that I didn’t find in the initial steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Golden Tea Leaf’s Dung Ting Oolong – Traditional. I found this oolong to be quite enjoyable in it’s initial steep. The plum flavour is delicious, and I really enjoyed the earthiness of the mushroom flavours. For me, the initial steep was more enjoyable than the other steeps of the same leaves because of that astringency I noted with the subsequent steeps.

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InNature Teas’ Alpine Oolong (Jie Guan Yin) Tea

Alpine Oolong (Jie Guan Yin) Tea by InNature Teas
Oolong Tea / Straight
£5.45 for 50g

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InNature Teas has provided me with Alpine Oolong Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Alpine Oolong Tea came to me in a sturdy cardboard box, much like Red Rose Tea did. The tea itself came in a gold foil package, which was not resealable. I remedied this issue by folding the foil package back up and putting it into a sealable plastic bag and into the box. I like keeping teas in original packaging if possible, especially when it’s packaging that’s labelled with information. Alpine Oolong Tea is also known as Jie Guan Yin – you may be more familiar with Iron Goodness or Tie Guan Yin or Tie Kwan Yin.

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Alpine Oolong Tea is a straight oolong tea. The dry leaf has a strong floral aroma to it. The leaves themselves vary from a bright to a dark green, all tightly bunched and rolled together. I’m really looking forward to steeping these tea leaves and seeing how much they expand.

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Preparation

InNature Teas suggests steeping Alpine Oolong Tea in 100°C (212°F) water for 1-2 minutes and suggests that this tea can be steeped up to three times. My initial steep of Alpine Oolong Tea was for 1 minute.

First Taste

The initial step of Alpine Oolong Tea steeps to a pale golden yellow. I found that the aroma to be fairly similar to the dry leaf – mostly floral sweetness. The taste of this tea is surprisingly not as sweet as I expected. There was a smooth floral flavour to this tea, with subtle grassy notes, and a light honeyed sweetness for a finish. There’s a certain level of complexity to this tea that is enjoyable to explore.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Alpine Oolong Tea a total of five times (six steeps total with the same leaves) and the tea did not disappoint. The oolong steeped to a darker golden yellow with each subsequent steep. The flavour gets a bit stronger – the floral becomes more pronounced, but the sweetness in this tea doesn’t get stronger (which is nice).

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Because I did so many steeps of this oolong, I did pour the excess Alpine Oolong Tea into a mason jar that wound up in my fridge. Bonus – this tea is excellent cold/iced as well!

My Overall Impression

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I loved InNature Tea’s Alpine Oolong Tea. I loved the complexity in the flavours and exploring the subtle changes with each steep. I would wholeheartedly recommend resteeping this tea, as the flavours get stronger. This tea would be excellent paired with a meal, I’d think, because it isn’t too sweet to detract from a savoury meal. It’s definitely a tea to resteep over a morning or afternoon, since it holds up so well to being resteeped.

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Golden Tea Leaf’s Iris Orchid Oolong

Iris Orchid Oolong by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$15.00 for 50g

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

First Impressions

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Iris Orchid Oolong came to me from Golden Tea Leaf in a black sample packet. The tea leaves are dark, almost a purple-black with a light twist. The aroma that wafts up from the tea leaves is primarily floral that reminds me a lot of orchids, although I don’t really smell anything that reminds me of irises.

According to Golden Tea Leaf, Iris Orchid Oolong is a oolong from the Guangdong Province in China. This is a straight oolong tea. There was some tiny tea leaf fragments in the sample packet.

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Preparation

There were no preparation recommends on the packet of Iris Orchid Oolong, or on the product page. However, Golden Tea Leaf has a page all about their teas (Everything About Oolong Tea).

Golden Tea Leaf recommends steeping oolongs at 95°C (203°F) water for a first steep for 2 minutes or less, a second and third  steep for 2 to 5 minutes, and for any steeps beyond that for 2 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Iris Orchid Oolong steeps to a beautiful pale yellow after a two minute steep. The aroma that comes up from the steeped oolong, and the fragrance is so deeply floral. This oolong is smooth, with a touch of floral creaminess. I found the tea to have a slight sweetness. Iris Orchid Oolong does taste a lot like the way it smells – very floral and enjoyable. I found that the flavour to be enticing because the floral notes are so inviting.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Iris Orchid Oolong according to Golden Tea Leaf’s recommended steeping instructions. I opted to add an additional 30 seconds per subsequent resteep. I found that Iris Orchid Oolong became a darker yellow with each steep until it became a bright golden yellow. The flavour became creamier, with a hint of butter, all the while retaining the bright floral flavours and fragrance. I resteeped Iris Orchid Oolong a total of eight times before it started to lose too much of the flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Golden Tea Leaf’s Iris Orchid Oolong. I found that the tea was perfectly floral, with a really nice creaminess to the steeped tea that got better with each steep. The floral notes were sweet, and not overwhelming to the senses while being inviting. I found that the tea was smooth and tasty. Iris Orchid Oolong resteeps so well, I would definitely recommend having this one over and over again. The floral sweetness is enough that this tea doesn’t need anything added to it at all. I quite appreciated Golden Tea Leaf’s recommended steeping times for each steep and enjoyed the tea that I got out of these oolong tea leaves.

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