Tag: Oolong Tea

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DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$9.50 for 50g

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First Impressions

I decided to try Mulled Wine from DavidsTea’s 2015 winter collection because of the amazing smell that the little sample cup of dried tea had in store (yes, I’m lucky enough to live close enough to get to go in person – it’s pretty awesome!). The tea has a beautiful citrus smell, which I quite like. I’m a big fan of a lot of citrus fruits, so the bright aroma of orange is quite welcoming. Despite this being an oolong tea, I really cannot make out the fragrance of the tea. What I can make out is oranges, cinnamon, and ginger.

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Mulled Wine is made up of: oolong tea, apple, orange peel, cinnamon, clove buds, ginger, and natural flavouring. The ingredients are really quite visible, the oolong seems a little overwhelmed with all of the other ingredients around it though. Hopefully the oolong taste comes out when the tea is steeped!

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Mulled Wine in 85°C (185°F) water for 4 to 7 minutes. I went for the lower end of the spectrum of time because I find that most oolongs do pretty okay with being steeped again, so fingers crossed for Mulled Wine!

First Taste

Mulled Wine steeps to a lovely golden yellow, but the aroma isn’t that impressive compared to the dry leaf. I can barely make out the smell of any of the citrus, cinnamon or ginger. It actually smells a bit like oolong tea, which is quite nice considering that is the tea base. The taste of Mulled Wine is a bit confusing. There’s some notes of citrus, a little bit of the cloves comes out, but the tea itself doesn’t wow me. It’s hard to make out the oolong taste because it’s been muddled with all of the other ingredients. The citrus notes are nice, coupled with the cloves and a spicy note from the ginger. The actual oolong is underwhelming.

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A Second Cup?

While Mulled Wine can be resteeped and it tastes pretty much the same as the first cup, I was just not interested in it.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Mulled Wine. It’s not something I particularly enjoyed drinking. As an oolong, it doesn’t do anything for me. As a tea with notes of ginger and cloves, I think it would make a great tea for someone with a sore throat or wanting something to warm up with. For an oolong tea though, it is underwhelming and I think there are a lot more better oolong teas out there. I will probably keep the rest of my little bag around as a tea for when I’m sick because I do like the ginger taste, but it falls flat for me.

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Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong

Monkey Picked Oolong by Teavana
Oolong Tea / Straight
$24.98 for 2oz

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First Impressions

The only reason why I have Monkey Picked Oolong is because I had a Starbucks/Teavana reward to use (let’s not talk about my love for overly sweet but delicious Chai lattes, okay?), because at $25 for 2oz this is a fairly expensive tea. That said, the dry leaf smells interesting – there’s a very faint floral aroma that mingles with the smell of the tea. It smells a lot like a green tea, which shouldn’t be surprising as it is a green oolong. The only ingredient in this tea is the oolong itself.

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Teavana spins a nice little story about this tea, of trained monkeys that help with the harvest. From what I read on the internet, this is meant to be one of the highest grades of oolong available. Knowing this rather raises my expectation for the tea because that means it should be really good and it should resteep fairly well (and multiple times).

Preparation

For oolong teas, Teavana recommends steeping in 90°F (195°F) water for 3 minutes. I steeped for closer to 2 minutes.

First Taste

Monkey Picked Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden colour, it’s perfectly clear and it smells amazingly floral. It’s not an overwhelming fragrance though, it’s very light but it smells nice. Taking a sip of Monkey Picked Oolong, I can almost see why it costs so much. It has a taste that is almost sweet, it has some floral notes to the tea with quite a deep vegetal taste to the tea overall. I think it’s quite nice. There are no hints of bitterness, it’s a very pleasant cup of tea. I couldn’t resist steeping the leaves again to see how it would do for one more steep.

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A Second Cup?

Monkey Picked Oolong steeps very well for a second round. The colour is still a beautiful golden yellow and it tastes a little bit different. The floral taste is a bit stronger, and there’s a bit of a nutty flavour at the end of each sip that’s new and quite interesting. Monkey Picked Oolong did well for steeps 3 and 4, and was a watery afterthought for cup 5.

My Overall Impression

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I loved Teavana’s Monkey Picked Oolong. It’s a beautiful colour, beautiful taste, and does fairly well for a few steepings – which takes a bit of the sting out from the high price. While I love it and would love to keep a stock of it in my tea stash forever, I think it’s more of a ‘treating myself’ tea given the high price. I’ll definitely get it again with the free Starbucks/Teavana rewards because that definitely takes the sting out of the price tag! I almost wish I didn’t find it really good, because then I wouldn’t be tempted to get more. If you’re unsure of giving it a try, I would definitely recommend getting it for free if you can or seeing if they’re sampling it in store.

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Liquid Proust Teas’ Elixir #9

Elixir #9 by Liquid Proust Teas
Oolong Tea/ Flavoured
$6USD for 1 ounce

Liquid Proust Teas has provided me with Elixir #9 for the purposes of providing an honest review.
I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

“Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade.” – Marcel Proust

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First Impressions

There are some teas that just make me go ‘awe’ at how pretty they are, and Elixir #9 is one of those teas. It’s definitely the peach blossoms that do it for me, because I’ve never seen peach blossoms in a tea before so I’m curious about how it’ll look when steeped. All of the oolong is rolled up into tight little balls, so I’m curious about how big the leaves actually are, given that they’ll unfurl when steeping.

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Elixir #9 is made out of green oolong (Vietnamese tung-ting), peach blossoms, and flavouring. After opening the bag, the first thing I smell is the beautiful smell of the tea leaves. Along with the smell of tea, it smells a bit sweet in a floral way but it also reminds me of longan at the same time. Given that the tea looks amazing, I looking forward to giving it a try.

Preparation

Liquid Proust Teas recommends steeping Elixir #9 in 185°F (85°C) water for 3 minutes, I steeped for about 3 minutes.

First Taste

The oolong unfurls beautifully when steeping, the peach blossoms darken a bit in the hot water but otherwise don’t seem to change. The tea is gorgeous though, it smells amazing when it’s steeping. Elixir #9 has a delicate floral scent to it, which is enticing, and it steeps to a beautiful yellow colour.

The taste of Elixir #9 is, in short, amazing. The taste of the tea is smooth, not bitter at all, with a light floral flavour that matches the scent. It’s almost a little bit sweet, which makes Elixir #9 quite enjoyable. The smooth texture of the tea makes it an easy drink. The peach blossoms add the floral flavour that gives the tea an extra little something.

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A Second Cup?

I really wanted to try resteeping the tea, so I did! It tastes just the same for the second and third steeps without any noticeable change in the flavour.

My Overall Impression

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I loved Liquid Proust Teas’ Elixir #9. It has a beautiful aroma, delicate and delicious flavour, and is a pretty tea. Elixir #9 is an amazing tea, and great value in the fact that it can be steeped multiple times without any less flavour. The smooth taste and floral-mixed-with-tea flavour is amazing – plus that wonderful yellow colour is a delight in a cup!

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