I got a small tin of this delectable tea as part of a box of three sampler tins (also including a tin of Ben Shan Oolong and one of Tie Guan Yin) at the Tower of Cosmic Reflections Teahouse at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. Sadly, the purchase of the sampler box has given me a lot more joy than my visit to the Chinese Garden did, as I was accompanied by my parents who spent their entire visit complaining about the family we were staying with while in Portland. I love my parents, but it wasn’t easy to enjoy Portland with them. Anyway, I digress…
This is (as the other commenter noted) classic oolong tea. Though I thought the package’s recommended brewing time of 4 min. was a bit much, I gave it nearly that, in a mesh strainer in a stoneware thermos-like mug from Teavana. It smelled like generic oolong in the tin, but the brewing/brewed leaves have a rounder scent than some oolongs, with lots going on: the normal vegetal smells, but also an almost meaty, savory smell. The liquor is a medium greenish-gold. A sip reveals that the smells were not misleading: yes on the vegetal, yes on the flowery (though not much for an oolong), but also a sort of soupy savoriness. I feel like I could add vegetables and some salt and have a light dinner going! This element makes this a very satisfying tea with high drinkability, enhanced by the complete lack of bitterness.
As far as I can recall, I’ve never had this particular kind of oolong before. No idea whether this cup’s savoriness is normal for a Tung Ting. If so, I could see keeping a good example of a Tung Ting around regularly. We’ll see if/how this one insinuates itself into my current tea rotation!
