Haveteawilltravel select Send Message

My friend in Arizona loves Ginseng Oolong. He loves them so much I got him a half pound for Christmas, and he is nearly through all of it. So, as a treat, I brought this down when I visited for vacation. I grabbed my gaiwan and warmed it up. We opened the package and inspected the curly nuggets. The small rolled oolong had grown very dark with age, and it carried a slight woody and dust scent. We placed all we had inside the gaiwan and let them sit. I lifted the lid and took in the aged aroma. The ginseng was slight, but it had the sweet familiar characteristics. I rinsed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. Honestly, this was not a wow tea for either of us. We sat and tasted and relaxed in the tea, but I didn’t taste of anything all that great. In fact, I was done with the session by the third steep, but I kept going for his sake. The tea had the common ginseng oolong taste in the first step; however, the brew wasn’t stevia sweet; it was almost medicinal. The flavors were rough and dusted. There was an odd tone about this brew, and we couldn’t put our finger (or tongue) on it. I kept steeping for a little while longer until my friend held up his hand in response to “no more”. Or rather, in his own words, “I think the tea is on its last limb, best we lay it to rest”. We were both unsatisfied after the session, and we progressed unto some aged sheng. Anyways, I don’t think ginseng oolong should be aged; rather, I prefer it to be in it’s fresh state. However, I am happy to have experienced it, and I did learn from the experience. I was a little sad that my friend didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped, but I had him smashed and tea drunk in no time with the sheng, haha.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BArmuDYzGYQ/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel