High Mountain Oolong

Water: 8oz

Leaves: small uneven rolls

Steep: 3m

Aroma: Unsure

Color: Golden yellow

Taste: I didn’t realize its been 2 years since my last oolong review. As a result I decided to give this tea a try. As with the previous tea this too was also damaged during shipment. The tea leaves have a distinct aroma but it’s difficult to describe. I started out by rinsing the oolong for 15s followed by a 3m steep (well a little over since i forgot to start my timer lol) The small rolled leaves expanded while brewing they ended up being huge! The little 1 teaspoon grew to being 1/4 cup when I removed the leaved from my cup! The color was golden yellow with great clarity. The flavor of the tea was light, the aroma was stronger than the taste. With the first sip I got bitterness but after with more sips it faded. Overall I found this to be an okay tea.

Thank you 3 Leaf Tea for this sample

I usually gong fu my oolongs, as of late, but some truly do shine brighter when brewed Western style. I chose to follow the directions on the sample package I received from 3 Leaf, which gave the steeping directions in Western style.
The dry leaf, small balls of emerald green, didn’t smell like much, as often green oolongs are wont to. Maybe a slight sweetness. Brewing, the steam reminded me of Teavivre’s unflavored milk oolong in that it smells like a slightly sweet, green spring day, which at this point is almost a ‘generic high mountain oolong’ smell to me (can you tell that I’ve left off drinking low quality tea? LOL). The leaves unfurled into mostly whole leaves, some looking a bit ragged and a few in pieces.
The liquid is a straw yellow, smooth, and lightly floral. This is not a knock-your-socks-off lilac, like Verdant’s Spring TGY, but it has that light essence of high mountain wildflower-like floral, with a light minerality like a cool snow melt mountain stream. A light sweetness and minerality lingers on the tongue.
To me, the tea is not as floral as many high mountain oolongs, not buttery like a TGY, and not cloyingly sweet like many milk oolongs. This tea would be labelled a high mountain green oolong in a blind taste test, and it very much embodies it’s name.
This is a good every day drinker, when you’re feeling like green oolong but don’t want to be knocked around by powerful flavors. This instead is a good, peaceful drinker.

EDIT: I got a second steep out of this that was much sweeter and a bit buttery; brewed for 4 minutes.

*Note: this tea was provided as a free sample for review from 3 Leaf Tea.