I don’t typically make green oolongs with anything close to boiling water, but I thought I’d give it a shot since that was what was recommended (I also don’t typically rinse my oolongs because I’m lazy, but again, it was recommended so I gave it a shot). I’m thinking next time I’ll use cooler water since the leaf now smells a little cooked. None of that smell is in the tea, though, so it might be a-okay. The tea smells thick and rich, texture-y with a hint of sweet floral on the end.
The taste is really quite surprising. Well, part of it is. The initial taste is a lot like SeredipiTEA’s
Four Season’s Forever Spring which was a good tea but felt a little flat for me. The first half of the sip tastes like that – not the flatness but the same darker green taste. But then as it hits my tongue fully, there is a lighter flavor that gets laid on top of the darker, richer flavor. The light flavor is very faint but sweet. Based on previous oolong experiences, I’m thinking (hoping) that a lower water temp would pull the note out more.
Ultimately, I feel like I’m missing something with this tea. It’s decent but it has a tease to it of being so much more. I’m going to wait to rate it until I try it with cooler water. Because if I can find the parameters that make it sparkle, I think I might love this tea but right now it’s just sort of unexciting for me.