Tag: Oolong Tea

Maliba High Mountain Oolong by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 25g

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

First Impressions

Oollo Tea’s Maliba High Mountain Oolong is a 2015 spring harvest, and from the Maliba area of Nantou, Taiwan. I quite like the fact that they provide information of various teas. I ripped open the package of Maliba High Mountain Oolong and it kind of slipped out onto the table – graceful, I was not. Maliba High Mountain Oolong has this very light floral fragrance, mixed with something that reminds me of the ocean – just the salt water smell that you can experience when you’re by the ocean.

Maliba High Mountain Oolong is dark, tightly rolled, and I’m very curious about how it will unfurl when steeped. This is a straight oolong tea from Taiwan that was grown at an elevation of 2000m.

Preparation

Oollo Tea recommends steeping Maliba High Mountain Oolong at 90-95°C (194-203°F) for 1.5-5 minutes. I steeped 2.5g of Maliba High Mountain Oolong in 195°F water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Maliba High Mountain Oolong steeps incredibly pale in the first steep, a very pale yellow. There aroma of the tea has strong floral notes. When I sipped the oolong for the first time, Maliba High Mountain Oolong has a nice sweet floral note, with just a touch of saltiness. The salty notes of the tea adds a bit of umami quality to the tea, the savoury notes mingles well with the sweet floral notes. The complexity of the flavour profile in Maliba High Mountain Oolong is a delight on the tongue.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Maliba High Mountain Oolong a grand total of seven times, adding an additional 30 seconds per steep. The floral becomes a bit more subdued throughout the steepings, and the savoury notes become more prominent. I found that the flavour was most intense for the first resteep, and it remained fairly strong until the very end.

Maliba High Mountain Oolong unfurls and opens up an amazing amount. The unsteeped tea is 2.5g and the steeped side is also 2.5g – look at how much it opens up! I’m always amazed at how much the tea leaves will open up when it’s steeped.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oollo Tea’s Maliba High Mountain Oolong. I love the sweet-savoury aspect of the initial steep of this oolong, and also how the tea gets more savoury with each additional steep. The oolong has a great flavour, and I love the fact that it can be resteeped so much. The umami flavour is great, and I love that it’s affordably priced, especially considering how well it resteeps.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

My Overall Impression

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.