Steepster

LongJing always has a place in my cupboard, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this one the most from January’s Steepster Select; or maybe the Okubucha.. Can’t decide yet.

Brewed in the traditional Dragonwell method, I emptied contents into a warmed tall glass, poured in 180F spring sourced water and let sit until the leaves expanded and danced around the glass. I drank the glass 2/3rds and added more water to the remaining 1/3rd. I had maybe 5 infusions with this method, the last resulting in mostly clear hot water with very little flavour.

The aroma was nutty and vegetal, as described on the packet, and lasted through the first 3-4 infusions.
The taste was typical of Longjing, and I thought it to be delicious. The fact that it’s organic only made it better.

Definietly a great tea, and I’ve yet to have a bad longjing…knock on wood.

I steeped this loose leaf in a small teapot.

The first steeping I followed the instructions on my Select packet. It was a punch in the mouth of a pine forest. I had a hard time discerning any specific flavors because of how large it was.

The second steeping I gave it a little less time. It came out with a solid green forest flavor with nice overtones of eucalyptus. It was savory, elegant, but still bold.

The third steeping I let it sit a bit longer. It was sweeter, but still savory and tasted closer to the smell of a pine forest with the ground covered in needles during an early, brisk sunny dawn in Spring. It was definitely my favorite steeping.

The fourth steeping I let it sit much longer (I might have forgotten about it). It was acceptable, but more astringent due to the long steep time and yet weaker because it was the fourth steeping. The third steeping was definitely the sweet spot for me.

This variety of oolong is my personal favorite. This cultivar is more mild than others I have tried. The taste is light and sweet. The complexity diminished quickly with successive steeps, and I wouldn’t recommend more than two.

This tea is pretty much what it says on the box. It has strong tannic tastes and almost a very mild apple notes to it as well. I was able to get about 3 good steeps out of the sample that I received.

Steeped this according to the instructions on the package. Just off boiling and for about a minute and a half. Maybe a bit longer because I didn’t hit the timer on my microwave immediately.

I added sweetener because I do that. The smell of the tea is really that of grains, like the descriptions say. I’m not picking up any carmelized sugar yet. Waiting for it to cool off enough not to burn my tongue.

Keep in mind for this review, I am a relative newbie to oolongs and this might be my first taste of a Red Robe. I’m expecting to like it, but my tastes haven’t really evolved enough to identify what I pick up. I have a good memory for ‘I have tasted this before’ and a bad memory for ‘and this is what it is called’.

The first steep of this tastes rather grainy as well. Not in a bad way, like really nice bread but without the chewiness. This is still rather hot for me to be drinking this, I’ll wait for it to cool down a little before drinking more.

As it cools, more sweetness comes out and I’m getting a sugarish taste but not quite caramelized. Still a very nice tea. This never got quite caramelized sugar, but it got much sweeter for me as it cooled to just above room temperature. All in all a very nice tea.

If something changes in further steeps, I shall come back and edit this note.

Really relaxing earthly aromatic.

I loved this tea. It was sweet and roasted like a brown sugar almond cookie with none of the “tininess” that I find most oolongs to have.

This tea was earthy, malty, and had hints of honey sweetness. Its a very light and smooth black tea. A little sweet for my liking as I prefer the bold/sharp black teas a bit more.

1st taste – Nice and grassy but I get a little bit of a dirt taste to this that’s not so pleasant. This tea smells nice but not very sweet.

I added honey to this tea and I thought it was much better with a little bit of sweetness.

This tea seems very fine and seems like a great tea, it’s just not my favorite.

Very slow getting around to my steepster select box when I’m backed up on my BBB box and my million tea swap with yyz, but I decided that I need to start drinking these as another box from steepster is on the way. So I reached in the bin and grabbed one to try it out. This was winner!

I’m not really an oolong kinda gal. The roasted ones just taste like hojicha to me. But, I need to try all the teas, so i’ll give it a go. This one is surprisingly good. A definite roasted quality to it, but also very sweet and coconuty. I may have to try a few more Dong Dings. Maybe my tastes have evolved again! Keeps happening lately.

Ok this is going to be a long one…

I used the sample pack 4gm in a new Yunnan Sourcing Celadon 100ml gaiwan. I figured a nice aromatic roasted green oolong would match.

1St steep 50 seconds after a quick rinse and the leaves still are bunched abit. The smell is outrageous. Everything in its description is there. The coconut, brown sugar leading the way. The flavor was even more enticing as the concord grape (pits and skins alike) and coffee joined the party. Exceptional.

2nd steep 40 seconds and the aromas are still strong with the flavors absolutely filling up my mouth with “POW”. The wet leaves in the gaiwan are showing off nicely and I think I heard them say “you ain’t drunk nothing yet”.

3rd steep 45 seconds and the proverbial mother load. By far my best experience with roasted green oolong in this cup. Full of aroma and flavor and I get a stronger hint of the coffee and new flavors of tobacco and slate. I like the color of the soup too being a rusty yellow.

4th steep 50 seconds and a noticeable drop off in the aroma as it to has changed into a more smokey tobacco scent. The flavors of coconut and brown sugar are just faint reminiscences now with the smokey slate flavor bursting through.

5th steep for 1 minute and I have to say that at first I got a little pissy because I wanted the coconut brown sugar back and felt disappointed in being left with the other flavors.

6th steep 70 seconds and I hit an epiphany, I remembered this flavor of smokey slate from the true rock Wuyi’s and then the appreciation sunk in. That slate sensation in the mouth is exactly like those Wuyi oolongs I have been drinking and with the help of Shunan at Tea Drunk I came to appreciate them. Its kind of like the first time you have bitter melon. You immediately cringe your nose and pucker. But after several times eating it, you later come to an agreement that that flavor is sought out for its contribution to your taste-buds. That’s when I stopped being pissy and realized that this tea was just developing into a classic flavor and just appreciate it.

7th steep 80 seconds and I took time to sniff the lid and still some fragrance of coconut and brown sugar but it was almost gone in the soup. The flavor now was of Wuyi only and quite satisfying.

8th 9th 10th added 10 seconds to each and alas its about petered out but the rusty yellow hue hangs on as do the smokey slate flavors.

All said, the best sample in my recent memory. A great experience as it schooled me on the flavor notes to be more patient and contemplative. The gaiwan tea combo was a home run as well. I love this type of tea experience. Thanks Steepster

Not my favorite, way better than the karigane though. I like the other oolong that came in Select better.

I’m not sure I’ve had a Dong Ding before… but I was a bit wary of this one for some reason. I like dark oolongs but many times they smell a lot better than they taste for me. This one isn’t half bad. I’m liking it – there is a roasty coffee taste through the middle of the sip that I’m liking. I’m not getting any grape or coconut, but perhaps they will come out in subsequent steeps. As it is, this is good enough to steep at least one more time. Not sure that its a tea I can’t live without, but its nice.

I suspect that this is a very fine tea, just not a type I am particularly fond of. It is roasty and very sweet, but kind of weak, in a way. I think I would appreciate it more if it was a bit more bold. Again, very appreciative I got to try it though! :)

It’s been a while since I’ve had a roasted oolong like this one. I’m definitely getting the grape/fruity notes with some gentle coffee type flavors from the roasting. I’m not sure I’m getting all of the subtle flavor in the first steep here.

The second steep I am getting more of the coconut flavors and it reminds me a bit of burnt toast. I’ve enjoyed trying this but it doesn’t really make me want more somehow… I think perhaps gong fu style for the next packet is a good plan.

I can’t believe that my note will be the first. I am happy that its a good one. I enjoy the fact this this is a very smooth and light black tea with a sweet tang on the back end. It’s a very interesting tea of great quality.

An excellent quality black tea but not my taste of black. I tend to like a sweeter black tea. This one is smoky and savory. Maybe with more and knowing what to expect I would find a place for it in my cupboard.

This brewed up twice as dark as I remember it last time. Odd, because I didn’t change anything.

This cup is almost nutty, with a bit of a sweet undertone (the caramel I noted last time again). There is a smokiness to it that I don’t remember from last time, but I’m enjoying the mix of that with the strong cherry notes.

Probably about time that I try some of the other things that came in my December Select box! Things got busy and I just forgot. There’s definitely more than one serving in this pouch, and depending on how much I end up getting out of it I might send it along in a swap or the upcoming Tea & Cards box. :)

It smells impressively caramel-y both dry and wet. It also brews up incredibly light for a black. Possibly because it’s based on oolong varietals? Regardless, it’s a lovely golden color that I’ve never seen from a black tea before. The taste is very nice. I like bright blacks and this is right up my alley. There’s no bitterness at all, and the slight caramel note contributes to make it a nice, smooth cup. Unfortunately I’m not getting the cherry notes, just an earthiness underneath everything that seems halfway between a traditional black and an oolong. What an interesting tea!

ETA: After it cooled down about 5-10 degrees I got the cherry tang at the end. It’s more of a dried cherry flavor but it’s definitely there and makes the cup even more interesting. Upping the rating.

This is the first of the Steepster select teas I have tried. I was initially pretty unimpressed by the amount of tea in the packet, as I would generally use more tea to fill my mug. But I wanted to get the right flavor, so I measured out 8oz for each of my two steeps, and I would say this amount of tea is perfectly suited for 8oz of water.

I thought the dry leaf smelled like other plain black teas – nothing too significant about it. I prepared according to the instructions, and thankfully didn’t get the wet dog scent that others have noticed.

I find that this is a smooth and tasty black tea. On both steeps, I got similar flavor profiles, just less intense on the second go-round. It’s definitely slightly fruity, with a pleasant mouthfeel and no acidity or astringency whatsoever. It has a light, smoky flavor, and it’s not a strong tasting black tea, but I do like it.

For a plain black tea, this is a winner. I would recommend giving it a try if you get a chance!