IDEAS tea

before the leaves unfurl, (which takes a number of steeps as it’s very tightly rolled) there’s a sharp brittleness to the tea, with lots of soapy, perfumey floral note. Not altogether pleasant, but I’ve learned never to judge an oolong before it opens up to you.
As the leaves do open up, it smooth out, nothing perfumey and only the slightest soapy aftertaste. Sweet florals, light grass, lettuce, there’s a nuttiness to it as well — pecan. There’s the sort of mineral butteryness I find in Sencha, with a slight bitterness. The florals are very perfumey to me after the leaves have fully expanded, I find there’s a bit of a strange smell around my set while brewing this one.
I have also found that through this session, the flavours have come full circle, back to the soap and perfume of the rolled leaf, just with a fuller body. Some may enjoy these tastes, but I can’t really see this ding dong ever be something I’d seek out.

I prepared this Gong Fu Style in my Yixing teapot that I use everytime. While Songboling’s are cheaper oolongs in the tea hierarchy, what’s nice about Songboling’s are that they have the earthy oolong taste for a rather inexpensive price.

The Songboling’s from IDEAS tea are no exception and tastes exactly what I had while I was living in Taiwan. A problem with cheaper oolong teas is the bitter aftertaste but I didn’t experience that with this Songboling. What’s nice is that IDEAS tea shipped fast for a Taiwanese tea merchant, it’s probably because they’re headquartered in Vancouver, thank goodness.

I’m looking forward to ordering other oolong teas from IDEAS tea in the future. It’s just a shame their selection is so limited.