jLteaco (fongmongtea)

Free sample from Fong Mong Tea

This is the last of my samples from Fong Mong and I had high hopes of it based on my experience with their other teas. I am pleased to say that I was not disappointed.

The floral aroma that wafted off the tea both when I opened the packet and when I brewed the tea was lovely. The first steeping had a heady scent of tropical gardens that made me want to dive straight in. The tea itself was sweet and floral with a buttery feel. A slight vegetal hint lurked behind all that goodness and the buttered corn that others have commented on was definitely present. With all those heavy flavours and aromas the tea was still light and easy to drink.

The second steeping was like the first but with more vegetal flavours coming through while the third had largely lost the floral elements and had a stronger vegetal note still.

The leaves in the pot were whole and still joined to the stalks in pairs mostly with a couple of threes. They looked lovely and really spoke to the quality of this tea.

Overall, I really enjoyed this tea. It was like a floral assault on my tongue that left me grinning with delight at the end of each sip. I could certainly see my way to keeping a packet of this in the cupboard ready for use at all times. I would also love to try brewing it gongfu style to see what else I can get from it.

A fantastic Pouchong. Sweet and light and crisp. I am now on my third and final cup, which is the combination of infusions five and six.

The first cup (infusions 1 and 2) was very creamy and succulent, reminding me a bit of a milky Oolong but not quite as thick… this is what I enjoy so much about Pouchong, is that it has the lightness of a green tea, with some of the delicious creamy notes of an Oolong. It brings the best of both worlds into one cup.

The second cup (infusions 3 and 4) was a bit more vegetative, offering a flavor that is somewhere between sweet grass and mild steamed vegetables that are lightly seasoned with butter. Sweet and delicious. Not quite as creamy as the first cup, a little more on the savory side this time – a bit like broth. Somewhat sharp floral tones have emerged, but they are subtle. Subtle and yet sharp. Very nice contrast.

The third cup (this cup! Infusions five and six) is slightly more floral than the first two cups were, but the floral tones are not quite as sharp as they were in the second cup. The flavors in this cup seem to be melding together, uniting, becoming smoother. Not nearly as creamy as cup number 1, but, still very enjoyable. In fact, this one might be my favorite of the three cups.

An excellent Pou Chong!

Thank you, FONG MONG TEA, for the free sample

Fong Mong tea takes its tea packaging very seriously. Not only did all the tea samples come in vacuum-sealed foil pouches (Americans, think of the Food Saver infomercials), but there is also an oxygen absorbing packet in each pouch. Combine that with their very fast shipping time (less than 10 days from Taiwan to the USA) and you can expect very fresh tea.

The sample packs are 6 grams in size-enough for two brews of 3 grams each. With little margin for error, I used a digital scale to get a precise measurement of the tea.

The dry leaves are very dark green (bordering on Charleston Green)and are rolled into round cluster shapes with light brown tips protruding from the end, almost like a short fuse. The aroma to me smells like a general green oolong smell-maybe lightly floral and vegetal-and somewhat sweet.

As the brewed leaves unfurl, it turns out that there are two leaves in each cluster attached to a stem (the light brown fuse). Brewed aroma is pretty much the same although the roasting flavor comes out and enhances everything. Liquor is transparent and the color of straw or hay.

The flavor is more of the traditional floral/vegetal flavor I have experienced with green oolongs. However, it is smoother than others and has zero bitterness. I think it tastes a little better and is a little higher quality than say, Rishi’s Bao Zhong (although I am unsure if that tea is charcoal-roasted).

I’m not sure if I know green oolongs well enough to give this a number rating, but if you like quality green oolongs, you should enjoy this tea.

Thank you to Fong Mong Tea for this sample!

I did a quick rinse of my leaves in warm water, I am so accustomed to doing this now after hanging out in Chinese tea shops where they rinse everything and today I’m infuser mugging it since I’m not at home, but decided to use the entire 6g sample so I could have more of a gong fu experience.

Steep #1: around 45 seconds?? This is already very nice. I’m getting an aroma of buttered popcorn and the tea is quite creamy with some light floral notes. I know some milk oolongs are artifically flavored but I think this is natural.

Steep #2: also around 45 seconds. There are some more floral notes coming up now, I want to say gardenia? Still very buttery, a bit nutty, definitely seems creamy and a bit vegetal. Does remind me a bit of buttered peas or corn.

Steep #3: Slightly more vegetal and less flowery but still a very pleasant cuppa.

I have to admit that Jin Xuans are not my favorite type of oolong, I must have requested this without realizing what it was. Still, it was very enjoyable and a tasty tea. I think I will really appreciate the High Mountain oolong and the Dong Ding.

Nice Floral tea, sweet aroma. Got 7 infusions out of it. Check out my full review http://exm.nr/MnTWux

Thanks to Fong Mong for this sample. The dry leaf reminds me of a milk oolong…in fact everything about this tea reminds me of that…almost. It is very light and buttery with the something else and I think that would be the sweet (mentioned in the tea description) aftertaste I get on the finish. I really like it! This might be one to add to the mix once I cut down my rather large tea stash!

Another sample from Fong Mong today!

I also don’t get the fruity aspect of the title, but I get a very prominent floral taste out of this tea! I dnt know all my florals too well, but I recon this one is a bit of a jasmine floral. There is a buttery and vegetal taste with this, but definitely the most prominent aspect is the jasmine floral. Even after the sip, I can still sense it on my tongue.

I’ll see how further infusions go, as this is just my first.

So, I’m not sure I can properly rate or review this tea, because I had trouble with brewing it and I shared some with my coworker as it was her last day with us today. Initially, I brewed it, and when I added milk, the milk had soured in the cup, and curdled in it, so I decided to ditch it. The water I brought back wasn’t warm enough on the second steep, so it was really weak. Third attempt I used the bags from both of us and heated water from the kettle. this time seemed alright, but I lost track of time at work and may have steeped it too long.

So, I don’t think I had a proper cuppa to review, but here’s what I’ll say. It smelled sweet and like honey and chocolate. It was a slightly smoky, but mostly dark chocolate and some honey tones that the sugar and milk brought out.

Thanks to Fong Mong for providing me with this sample!

I have to say, and be honest, that it tasted a lot like a number of good quality black teas I drink, and in a blind taste test, I’m not sure I could identify each one solely on taste. But this was good, for what I was able to have, and my coworker enjoyed hers too.

Thanks again to Fong Mong Tea for this sample!

I tried brewing this one Western style. Didn’t feel like going online to check brewing instructions, so I used the whole six-gram sample, water somewhere around 180-190, steeped for 4ish minutes. Sort of my general oolong parameters.

It’s good! Online I see that Fong Mong recommends a 6-minute steep, and I might push it up there for a second steep. It’s a bit weak. But then again, I don’t mind pale teas.

The scent is creamy and almost like fresh-baked bread. It’s not butter so much as it is wheat. There’s a floral taste at the tip of the flavor, and a light vegetal aftertaste. I’ll probably update after a second or third steep, but for now – delicious!

Sweet and warm and soothing.

Oolongs are a very calming breed of tea.

Thanks to Fong Mong Tea for such a generous sample!

First steep (~5s): Very light, almost buttery. Liquor so pale it’s almost like water.

Second steep(~15s): Liquor’s a bit darker, a very pale gold. Light scent of toasted walnuts, maybe a bit of rice. Not like a genmaicha, but sort of as an afterthought. Almost a sort of potato-y sweetness.

Third steep (~25s): Still a very pale gold. Similar to the previous steep. Maybe the sweetness is sort of a lychee flavor?

Fourth steep: (~40s): Very pale, light flavor. Reminds me of a Dragonwell green – light, buttery, smooth. I’m thinking that I should have either used more leaf or started steeping longer. It’s good, but a bit tame.

Thank you Fong Mong Tea for this Generous Sample!

This fine Oolong is baked and required a 6 minute steeping time for the type of pot I was preparing. Even dry, the leaves were fragrantly floral and held the promise of delight inside.

When ready, the liquor was very clear and light gold with a tinge of green. The scent was lilac but not strong. Somewhere there was a vegital scent peaking out.

The taste was silky with a floral presence more like a warm breeze than a bouquet of flowers. Towards the end of the floral taste I caught the scent of apple and cinnamon. There was a vegital flavor so tiny that it reminded me of having had buttered green beans for dinner then drinking tea for dessert.

I stopped to consider this tea. I waited for the tea to comment.

I was now aware again with the juicy tea suddenly becoming active. Then the tingling began. My whole mouth and my lips began to tingle and burn lightly with a tannin that had no bitterness. It was as if a rope was pulling me back to the tea and I had to drink more. I wanted the creamy sweet goodness again.

I noticed later that using a glass cup, as the tea cooled when I took a sip the tea coated the glass in a way that wine does. I’ve never noticed a tea doing that before.

Another thing I noticed with this tea is the nose effect.

Jim Marks commented on how much we taste with our nose. That might sound funny to some people, but it’s true. I think that’s what has helped me charge ahead with learning about tea’s the most. Working in 2 Wineries, I had to learn to taste with my nose and talk about levels of flavor in wine. When you do it 8 hrs a day you learn! Tea is the same.
Example:
I put my nose into this cup of Oolong and inhaled/exhaled… in and out making lots of steam. I found the scent of a trunk in an attic with pressed flowers and a little bitty hint of moth ball.
It’s a good thing to really get in and experience as much as you can with tea. Drink, smell…consider.

Lately, I’ve been trying to reduce my current stash and visiting more with Brie, so I’ve even been drinking less tea. :-// I received my Fong Mong Tea samples Monday or Tuesday, but didn’t have a chance to sample this until last night. A huge Thank You to Fong Mong Tea for these samples! :))

Right away this tea looked greener. The few green oolong teas I’ve had never seem to infuse as well as a good Tie Guan Yin, but I do like them. My initial smell of the dry leaves reminded me of a milk oolong. When I put them in my warmed tea press, the aroma was more buttery than the two milk oolongs I’ve tried. The steeping leaves were sssoooo buttery sweet. The wet leaves were very buttery to me, and when cooling, they had a flowery sweetness I can only describe as gardenias.

The cup is ecru in color, with a definite sweetness and light buttery aromas. There is also a fruity nature in the cup. There is a very smooth, buttery quality that stands out, yet it is gentle and calming. The flowery sweet flavors are more discernable on the back of my palate after swallowing.

My second cup steeped even more buttery. The wet leaves were most buttery and vegetal-like buttered corn or peas, cooling to a vegetal sweetness. Cup is slightly darker, and more aromatically buttery and fruity. My palate was happy, with buttery goodness at the forefront, so sweet and so smooth. :)) Light fruits seemingly emerge-light peaches, not as pronounced as a good Tie Guan Yin though. There is absolutely no astringency at all!! The best cup of the three. :)) [1:15 at 180*]

Although the aromas in the third cup are fading, it was still quite creamy and sweet. The tastes are also waning, with a light creamy sweetness on my palate. This was the most vegetal of the cups, reminding me of peas on the back of my palate. The fully opened leaves are big & beautiful! [5 minutes at 180*]

I really enjoyed this cup of tea-the buttery nature and smooth cup really stands out. On a sad note, I lost my pet bunny Tchai last Saturday. Such a sweet, gentle girl! <3 :-(( Hop on Tchai!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EeObPCMR8

Cupped: Friday, June 15, 2012.

Reviewed: Saturday, June 16, 2012.

Free sample from Fong Mong

Lovely tea. There, that’s all I need to write. It isn’t? Ok, well, upon opening the packet I got that proper oolong aroma, which immediately got me excited. The 6 minute recommended steeping time made me go “Eep!” as with the Blue Jade from Fong Mong. Still, I followed the directions and soon a lovely aroma was arising from my teapot. Impatiently I tapped my foot and waiting while the tea steeped. Then I got to taste it. It was light and creamy on my tongue. There was a definite fruity note to it with a sweet, slightly floral aftertaste that really came to the fore as I exhaled. Fresh, tasty, definitely one to keep in stock. I really liked this tea.

Thanks for the sample, Fong Mong Tea.

I debated whether or not to use all of my sample for my testing. I decide to use half of my sample (3g), just in case something messed up. I followed the directions and brewed in my cast iron.

I’m still getting into more refined oolongs, but this definitely has some subtle floral notes and a little bit of sweetness. Nothing too prominent. I steeped it for 6 minutes, which seemed a little bit long, although there wasn’t any bitterness to speak of. I plan to steep it a little less next time with my second infusion.

Sip down. I knew I loved this one but I forgot how wonderfully aromatic it is. I don’t care if I am dangling participles or splitting my infinitives here. The point is this smells amazing and tastes just as good. Truly a wonderful cup that reminds me of why I am so obsessed with tea..

I used 3g – half the sample – 12oz water at about 85C for 6 minutes. The smell of the wet leaf is vegetal like steamed broccoli. The liquor in the cup is orange yellow in color. The taste is a bit sweet and floral. As I understand it this tea is grown along with pear trees so it will absorb the sweet fragrance of the fruit. This is a lightly oxidized tea with no hint of smoke or roastiness. It is slightly astringent but not bitter. I notice it is leaving my lips feeling numb and tingly. The aftertaste is very fresh and green. As I continue to sip, I notice the mouth feel has a light milky quality and the taste is mildly buttery.

I got three steeps. This is pretty tasty. I wish I had done my homework before tasting this as realizing the scarcity and difficult conditions in which it is grown would have enhanced the experience.

This is a bit charcoally and a bit woodsy as well as sweet especially when it cools. It’s full and mineral-packed or so it seems. There is a pleasant graininess to it, too!

Free sample provided by Fong Mong Tea-thank you very much

Wow, this is a truly unique tea! I can honestly say I’ve never tasted anything like this.

Dry leaves smell sweet and like a combination of fruity and floral. Brewed leaves smell a little malty and a little like some sort of cool mint. The liquor is coppery red.

At first, I didn’t taste the mint, and mostly tasted the floral/fruity flavor, but now that my palate picked up on the mint, I mostly taste that along with maltiness from the Assamica. This tea is smooth, sweet, and not bitter at all. It doesn’t fit into any preconceived notions of what a black tea should be-and I like that.

I have never tried a Taiwanese black before and I am grateful for the opportunity to have tasted this unusual and flavorful tea.

Free sample from Fong Mong Tea

I was curious to taste this tea because it sounded like something completely new to me. Opening the packet, I was hit with a malty aroma and could see that the leaves were large.

When I began brewing the tea I got more of the minty aroma coming off it. So, malt and mint. What would it taste like? There were undertones of other black teas I have drunk in this cup, but the dominant flavour was mint with a bit of malt. If anything the minty flavour was too much for me but I decided to resteep the tea with a slightly shorter steeping time and see what came up. I was able to reduce the mintiness a bit and that helped my enjoyment of the tea. Overall, I was not sure about this tea. It is clearly good quality and the flavours are there as advertised, but it did not enthrall me despite that. Now that I know what to expect from it, I think I need to experiment a bit with brewing parameters to get the best from it. Perhaps I shall learn to like it more, or perhaps it is just not to my tastes. Still, as I wrote before, it is a good quality tea and others may enjoy it more if the flavours suit them better. Thank you, Fong Mong Tea, for the chance to try this one.

Finally getting to another sample from Fong Mong! This is really good! I didn’t really expect such a toasty flavor. The smell and tast is like oats but also green like my favorite green oolongs. Usually the roasty ones are darker but this one is definitely green. I really like this unusual combo!

I don’t have time to get into details here, but I’m really enjoying this! While the toastyness is novel and fun, I think I still prefer the unroasty green oolongs. I guess I wouldn’t buy this one, but it’s still really tasty.

Edit: second steep. Roasted veggies!

Thanks to Fong Mong tea, who provided this free sample for review. It’s been a while since I’ve had a Dong Ding (or any oolong besides a TGY), so I am looking forward to trying this one. I am following the western steeping instructions that they provide, but I can’t bring myself to steep the tea for 6 minutes. I did bump it to 4 minutes rather than my usual 3 because the Blue Jade I tried from them didn’t seem quite full flavored at 3 minutes.

The steeped tea smells roasty, a bit floral, and a bit vegetal. I have to say that I do think this one is oversteeped, unfortunately. There is a bit of astringency and a hint of bitterness that I don’t think would be there if I had stuck to 3 minutes. Otherwise, the flavor is pretty nice… a tad roasty but not too strong, some nice oolong flavors under there. Unfortunately this bitterness is taking over more as it cools. I ended up dumping out the first steep and steeping the leaves a second time for 3 minutes. This time the flavors are nice and pleasant, no bitterness. Lighly roasty, vegetal, not very floral or buttery, but with a very slight sweetness that lingers in the aftertaste. I like this dong ding pretty well, but like I said earlier I don’t love even lightly roasted oolongs. Most dong dings are lightly roasted, as I’ve found, but every once in a while you happen across an unroasted one. I enjoy this tea (now that it’s not bitter), but it’s not something I would seek out.

This is the third and the last sample I got from the great Fong Mong Teas. Thank you once again!

This one is very soft and creamy, but has a nice butter hint to it. It doesn’t surprise with a variety of taste or a wild bouquet of taste nuances. But it is surely a great tea, the smell is very full and rich, especially the one of dry leaves. And the buttery/earthy touch gives a nice warm sensation.

I will consider having this one as a dinner tea or a great tea for eating sweets and snacks!