Tag: Oolong Tea

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Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong

Pine Oolong by Golden Tea Leaf
Oolong Tea / Straight
$8.99 for 50g

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

First Impressions

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Pine Oolong came to me in single serving packets, all neatly prepared in pyramid sachets. There are some beautiful, full-looking leaves inside of the pyramid. There’s a slightly salty aroma to the tea leaves that contrasts from the sweet floral fragrance that also come from the tea leaves. I ripped open the pyramid sachets to get a better look at the tea leaves. Pine Oolong is a straight oolong tea, described as a semi-fermented green tea by Golden Tea Leaf.

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Preparation

Golden Tea Leaf recommends steeping Pine Oolong in 95°C (203°F) water for 2-3 minutes for the first steep, and for 3-5 minutes for the second steep. My initial steep of Pine Oolong was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Pine Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden honey colour. There’s a sweet floral aroma that wafts up from the tea. I did notice that the leaves had fully expanded to fill out the entire pyramid sachet – I definitely think that this tea should be steeped in a basket infuser and not in the sachet itself because of the need for the leaves to expand. The flavour of this oolong primarily sweet and floral, with just a little bit of umami at the end of each sip.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Pine Oolong for 3 minutes, and found the flavours to be still true to the initial steep. I managed to resteep Pine Oolong a total of four times (five steeps total), and adding 30 seconds per subsequent resteep. I found the floral sweetness to stay pretty strong up to the third steep total, and got a bit weaker for the fourth and fifth steep. The umami part stayed pretty true to the initial steep all the way through all of the steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Golden Tea Leaf’s Pine Oolong. I really enjoyed the floral aromas and flavours that I found in the dry and steeped tea. The umami notes that I found in this tea made the flavour just a bit more complex and delicious to enjoy. The sweet floral notes hold strong throughout and it was a real treat to resteep over and over again. I think the tea would pair well with a meal because of the umami notes.

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Oollo Tea’s Four Seasons Oolong

Four Seasons Oolong Tea by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$6.00 for 30g

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First Impressions

Four Seasons Oolong Tea was an oolong that I picked up at the 2017 Vancouver Tea Festival earlier this month from Oollo Tea’s table. The tea came in a silver foil packet in white card stock box, covered with patterned paper that’s stamped. The foil packet isn’t resealable (unfortunately!) and I didn’t have any empty tins, so I wound up putting the foil packet into a plastic resealable page to keep the air out.

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Four Seasons Oolong Tea has a bright, almost nutty aroma to it. It reminds me of chestnuts, which is almost seasonably appropriate. The dry leaf is beautiful with dark and bright greens, and the leaves are tightly compressed together.

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Preparation

There were no preparation recommendations on the packaging, and I couldn’t find the Four Seasons Oolong Tea on the Oollo Tea website, so I opted to steep at 185°F (85°C) for 1 minute for the initial steep.

First Taste

Four Seasons Oolong Tea steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. The aroma that comes up from this tea has a mix of nuttiness and grassy notes to it. There’s a smooth, mouth coating quality to this oolong. I found zero bitterness or astringency in this tea at the temperature that I steeped it for. The flavour of Four Seasons Oolong Tea had a hint of roasted chestnuts with grass/vegetal flavours, it’s quite tasty.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Four Seasons Oolong Tea a total of six times, adding an additional 30 seconds per resteep. I found that the flavours got more vegetal and less of the chestnuts with each subsequent steep, and it was still flavourful by the sixth resteep.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Oollo Tea’s Four Seasons Oolong Tea. The aroma from the dry leaf and the steeped tea is delightful, I really enjoyed the mix of chestnuts and vegetal notes. I had a great time steeping this tea repeatedly over the course of an afternoon, and watching the tea leaves open up. I would definitely recommend resteeping the leaves and taking the time to drink this oolong over a period of time. Four Seasons Oolong Tea is a great cup of tea, and the vegetal flavours are smooth and delicious.

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DavidsTea’s Sticky Rice Oolong

Sticky Rice Oolong by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea/ Flavoured
$14.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Having grown up eating copious amounts of rice (sticky and otherwise), the name of this tea definitely intrigued me. Plus, it’s also an oolong and I love oolongs so it was kind of a no brainer to use one of my Frequent Steeper rewards from DavidsTea on this one. This oolong smells amazingly like rice, a bit of rice pudding. There are some floral notes with the dry leaf, which are enticing. I’m quite eager to try this one out.

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Sticky Rice Oolong consists of oolong tea and sticky rice leaves (nuo mi xiang). From an aroma stand out, this oolong is really quite fragrant and aromatic. If you have a DavidsTea location near you, it’s definitely one that I would recommend sniffing because it just smells so good.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Sticky Rice Oolong in hot water (167-176°F or 75-80°C) for 4-7 minutes. I steeped mine at 175°F for an initial steep of 5 minute.

First Taste

Sticky Rice Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden yellow. The aroma of rice might be stronger in the steeped tea than in the dry leaf, if that’s even possible. The taste of this tea is an interesting blend of rice to rice pudding, and oolong. There’s just a tiny hint of astringency that I noted at the end of each sip, although I can’t tell for sure if it’s from the oolong or the sticky rice leaves. I found that there was a touch of sweetness in this tea, but overall it’s quite a savoury tea.

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I did try a cup of Sticky Rice Oolong with a touch of honey and it made it taste more like rice pudding.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Sticky Rice Oolong four times, adding an extra 30 seconds per subsequent steep. I found the aroma and flavours of this tea to become stronger, the rice pudding flavour is delicious and gets just a touch sweeter in the additional steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s Sticky Rice Oolong. I found that the tea smells just like the name implies for both the dry leaf and steeped tea. The slight astringency might be a touch off-putting for something, but I found that the tea does wonderfully with a tiny amount of honey. The sweetness makes it taste more like rice pudding. I find the tea resteeps well, so if you find that the price is putting you off from buying it, the quality of the tea is good enough to resteep repeatedly.

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