With the 4th anniversary sale going on at teavivre.com, I wanted to try this one gong fu to see if I couldn’t pass it up (I’m anticipating that my tea budget will be very tight around here with the addition of a car payment!). Thanks to Dinosara for leaving me a bit more of this lovely tea before she moved, now I can spend some quality time getting to know it!
I followed the directions on the company’s site: 212 F, rinse,25s,35s,45s,55s,65s,75s,85s
The rinse had a very vague sugary taste (I always taste the rinse!), but nothing to write home about.
The first steep had a full, milky mouthfeel and slight milky aroma, but a pleasant sugary bass note, like Sugar in the Raw.
The second steep also had a full, silky mouthfeel, but the sweetness had deepened into an almost-bitter, but I still found myself chasing after it. The smell finally appeared in the aroma cup, a light gardenia-like smell, but mostly that fresh delicious green oolong character!
The third steep had that stevia-like bitter-ish but sweet sugar flavor, a little harsher and greener in character, but a great milky smell and intense floral green oolong aroma. I wish I could bathe in that scent (how expensive would that be?!). This steep had the strongest flavor of all the steeps.
The aroma of the fourth steep was thicker florals and a bit green. The liquid is much greener in flavor and has lost some creaminess. I consider the tea to be waning after this point, but no less tasty. It is still sugary, almost fruity sweet. It leaves a mineral water-like sensation on my tongue.
Fifth steep: more generic green florals, the sweetness has toned down quite a bit. Still with the minerals in the aftertaste. If a generic and cheap tea just tasted like this, I would have a cold brew operation going 24/7. That said, this is definitely a decrease in quality over the first steeps of this tea!
Sixth steep: Mostly just minerals and vague green-ness… Gets a decent echo of sweetness once it cools down a bit.
Seventh steep: I honestly would have stopped at steep 4 or 5 if not for the teavivre instructions. This steep was like fuji water. A little sweet a lot mineral, mineral greenness. Pretty okay for a 7th steep!
I have concluded that I do not need this tea in my collection, though it is very good. I just have three other oolongs that are too similar to this one to justify the purchase. Hence I will bump it down one point to push it below my threshold for tea buying. I still want some Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls, though, so if anyone wants to go in on an order to hit free shipping, let me know!
I just looked at my old note on this tea: amazing how the first two steeps pretty much stayed the same, even though I was brewing for vastly different times!
