Red Blossom Tea Company

Hit the wrong button and it all goes ::poof::. Sigh.

This is the last bit of leaf I have for this tea so I thought I’d do it in the gaiwan to hopefully help this tea go out with a bang.

I think it worked.

The smell is delicious – exotic and fruity with a rich and homey scent to it. And the taste? Yum. I’m not exactly sure what the water temp was (but I’m guessing a bit hotter than normal) but either that or the use of the gaiwan has really brought out the richness in this tea. Normally the fruity taste dominates but today, it’s the buttery caramel sort of flavor (like kettle corn) that takes top billing. The fruity is still there but as a bit more of a supporting actor.

This cup is a perfect ‘last’ cup for this tea. Hopefully the wonder will carry through a few more steeps but even if it doesn’t, this tea is leaving my pantry on a great note.

My last oolong wasn’t all that hot so I decided to try something I knew was good. I’m surprised I have as much of it left as I do. And when I say that, I mean I’m surprised I have more than one cup’s worth of leaves. I have two. Woo!

Okay, but now that I’ve brewed a cup up, I have the one cup left that I figured I did before. Confused yet? I kinda am.

Anyway, the flavor notes say light, sweet and rich with hints of mango, passion fruit and caramel. I’m with ‘em on the first bit. It’s light and sweet but it’s got a rich flavor to it. More like condensed cream than just sugar. Sweet but richly so. I’m a little iffier on the mango, passion fruit and caramel. What flavor is Juicy Fruit gum? Because that’s what this always makes me I think of. Wikipedia says that they probably use pineapple, peach and banana, so at least we’ve got the tropical fruit thing matching. I can see the caramel now though. I’m pretty sure that’s what give this tea the rich tone to the sweetness.

Anyway, I do love this tea. The Silk Oolong Anxi was a little better but I think it lacked what I’m now going to say is the caramel. So when I say ‘better’, it’s really a personal preference thing. I think when this tea was fresher it had a bit more body to it (or that might have been the Anxi) but all in all, it’s aged pretty well. I need to be better about remembering my greener teas so I don’t have to worry about how they age.

Well, one cup of this left for some unknown date in the future. Then, aside from samples, I will be left with only Citron Oolong for my oolong teas. Yikes. I need to order some oolong, stat!

Urg. I’m running out of tea left and right! Last of this tea which is very saddening as it is super-yummy (this is a technical tea term). I busted out the gaiwan for this since that’ll make it last longer. Rich, sweet, a little thick (but not too much), no astringency… So good. Probably the best bit is the taste that fills my mouth the instant after I swallow. Which isn’t to say the rest of the tea doesn’t taste great, because it does. But that taste… ah!

Iced from yesterday. Disappointingly bland. Not sure if it is the tea or me, but considering how yummy this tea is hot, I’m guessing I didn’t steep long enough before icing.

That makes me feel like I’ve put it on a cake. Which I didn’t. Though now that I think about it, I’m intrigued by the thought of tea-flavored icing.

ETA: Hmm, maybe it isn’t me because as the tea warms up a bit, more of the yummy flavor comes out. So I think this is a tea that is best hot.

Ugh, I love this tea. Love it. But it always throws me for a loop.

Red Blossom suggests brewing between 2-3 mins at 195. Since this is rolled, I do 2:30 instead of my more normal 2 mins for oolongs. But without fail, at the end of the 2:30 I look at it in my glass teapot and think, “This can’t possibly be ready.” The liquor is just so light! A pale yellow floating about in the tea pot. Sometimes I worry and let it go a bit longer because of this, but I always pour by 3 mins.

But then I pour it into my cup. It gets instantly darker. Perhaps it is just from pouring into a more concentrated size? But even though the color is stronger, it’s still light. A lovely yellow with tones of glowing green (almost like the rating bar on here).

But it’s light. Maybe I did something wrong this time and it won’t be as good. Maybe the leaf has finally gotten old and 1g:2oz water isn’t enough. I worry. Did I brew it long enough?

So I take a sniff. Mmm, it does smell lovely. Like a garden that has just been rained on. Not MY garden, mind, but a more exotic one. Something lush and jungle-like. Mmm.

I sip and flavor just explodes in my mouth. It’s so thick! How can something so light in color taste so thick and have such good mouth-feel? It seems just steps away from being able to be chewed. But at the same time, there is a lightness to it, a freshness – perhaps from the citrus notes? – that makes me feel that this tea would be perfect to sip in the middle of a steamy summer. But that thickness makes me think it would fit in during a frigid winter, too.

I can’t help but let my shoulders relax as I drink this. As I sip it, I can tell that yes, I’ve ignored it a bit too much and it’s gotten old. It’s so good I haven’t wanted to use it up so I’ve let it lose that phenomenal taste it had when new (yes, this tea used to be even better). But ultimately, I don’t care that it doesn’t have quite the depth it used to.

I love this tea.

(Ahem, and I just realized I wrote a book while drinking this. blushes Sorry about that!)

Ah ha! I did not know I still had some of this! I thought that using up the last of my Silk Oolong Formosa meant I was silk oolong-less. I am so happy to find that I am not – and even happier to find that I have a decent amount of this tea left. Not a ton but enough for 3, maybe 4 more sessions. Yay!

Oh, this is sooo good. Sweet and creamy and sweet and wonderful. Almost like a lightly fruit-flavored butter. Or maybe like sweet cream. Hmm, that one is probably more accurate. Creamy but not quite rich… Or at least not rich like chocolate fudge is rich. Creamy and almost rich like… preserves as compared to jelly. But not as sweet as that.

Mmm. Preserves. I think I need some buttered toast with strawberry preserves in between steeps. Which is right now because my cup is done. And I have no idea if this review makes any sense. Drinking this made me a too bit euphoric to worry about logic.

So good.

So freakin’ good. This was a sample – on session’s worth. 2 mins at 195. Lovely and fresh with a taste a bit like the faint aftertaste of cane syrup. I’m a fan.
Second steep is very buttery and creamy. OMG, so good.

A robust oolong with nutty, earthy flavors and not a hint of sweetness. It has a buttery feel and lingers on your tongue. I haven’t had many premium oolongs; this is really a different world from the cheap stuff. Drank this gongfu style out of a yixing pot.

We slightly oversteeped the first pour (at about 4m), but subsequent steepings were 3m, 3m, 4m. The complete lack of typical oolong bitterness stood out to me. To me, this is a very unique tea!

Delightfully floral and amazingly sweet. Definitely me standard tea for work and daily sipping.

I’ve had great luck with all of Red Blossom Tea Co.’s teas.

I’ve gone through a couple of Red Blossom Tea Company’s pu-erh. All have been lovely.

For 4/22: Prepped in a Ceramic Infuser Cup. Ahhh, love the smell jasmine!!

Tea buds are much larger than most jasmine pearl varietals. Prepared in a medium sized gaiwan. Need very few buds(a pinch to coat the bottom of the gaiwan) to produce several infusions, keeping the water temperature below 200 degrees. Drank all day.