Like all of the teas I’ve tried from Liquid Proust this one doesn’t include any steeping instructions, so I decided to consult the oracle known as google and see what other companies recommend when steeping the base tea, in this case a Baozhong Oolong. Sadly I found that I didn’t have much luck when steeping this tea at 195˚F, which is what was recommended by several sources, it left my tea tasting like a watermelon jolly rancher. That really isn’t my thing, so I starting playing around with different water temperatures and steeping times. It turns out this is one stubborn tea. I finally gave up and tossed everything into my cold steeping pitcher.
In hindsight I probably should have saved this tea until after I’d had a cup of something a little less finicky, perhaps my favorite earl grey, but once I get an idea in my head there is no letting go. Fortunately I had excellent results cold steeping this overnight. The long cold steeping time left me with a pitcher of tea that had a mild, but pleasant grassy flavor and only the faintest hint of tart watermelon. A little added sugar smoothed out the tartness, leaving me with a pleasantly flavored oolong that’s perfect for the hot days of summer.
You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2016/6/14/watermelon-baozhong-liquid-proust-teas
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I’m kind of odd and only put steeping advice on my Etsy. This one was made to cold steep or have iced. Thankfully you cold steeped the rest to taste the difference. If you want to brew it hot, everyone is different, my suggestion (but not the rule) would be to treat this like a green tea as the oolong itself is really delicate.
Normally I brew my tea hot, let it cool in the fridge, then ice it down before drinking, but that really didn’t work out well for me this time—all I got was watermelon jolly rancher. I somehow managed to miss your steeping advice posted in the listing, so I’ll have to try it again with the lower temperature and post a new tasting note. Thanks for the help!
No problem. I know my tea isn’t very user friendly without the steeping advice on the package, but it’s too hard to do because 80% of people I know that drink my stuff go gongfu and not western.
I haven’t had time for gongfu recently since I’ve been traveling for work, so I’ve been doing more western. Normally that isn’t a problem, but with this tea it didn’t work out very well. I should have known better… watermelon flavored teas are notoriously difficult to steep hot, I should have just started out cold brewing it.
This is true, but dang… sorry you had a watermelon jolly rancher tea. These type of remarks make it easy for me to realize how important it is to find a way to advise brewing both gongfu/western
I’m kind of odd and only put steeping advice on my Etsy. This one was made to cold steep or have iced. Thankfully you cold steeped the rest to taste the difference. If you want to brew it hot, everyone is different, my suggestion (but not the rule) would be to treat this like a green tea as the oolong itself is really delicate.
Normally I brew my tea hot, let it cool in the fridge, then ice it down before drinking, but that really didn’t work out well for me this time—all I got was watermelon jolly rancher. I somehow managed to miss your steeping advice posted in the listing, so I’ll have to try it again with the lower temperature and post a new tasting note. Thanks for the help!
No problem. I know my tea isn’t very user friendly without the steeping advice on the package, but it’s too hard to do because 80% of people I know that drink my stuff go gongfu and not western.
I haven’t had time for gongfu recently since I’ve been traveling for work, so I’ve been doing more western. Normally that isn’t a problem, but with this tea it didn’t work out very well. I should have known better… watermelon flavored teas are notoriously difficult to steep hot, I should have just started out cold brewing it.
This is true, but dang… sorry you had a watermelon jolly rancher tea. These type of remarks make it easy for me to realize how important it is to find a way to advise brewing both gongfu/western