Castalia

Gongfu Sipdown (1461)!

Yesterday I finished off the last of this sample with some juicy blackberries nibbled on in-between the steeps! This Taiwanese oolong has a beautifully buttery mouthfeel with medium bodied notes of gently toasted hazelnut, coconut milk, and undertones of pandan. It was exactly the kind of cozy oolong that I needed for a super rainy afternoon and evening!! Six steeps and it was tapped out though. Honestly, I didn’t have a ton of leaf for the size of gaiwan I was using so I was pushing the steep time longer to compensate & I’m honestly surprised it lasted as long as it did.

It’s definitely a shame that this isn’t a tea still on the AU site because it’s definitely one I would order. This and Ventura Highway, both straight oolongs from AU, were very good. I know they have a third called Eventide, and I plan on getting a sample whenever the new blends launch that AU recently teased in an email.

I know I got this sample from someone but I can’t remember who. So, thank you to whomever it was that passed it along – maybe VariaTEA or Sil!?

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CTe9oNCgXGP/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PzATU-45U&abchannel=SaidTheWhale

DIY Advent Calendar – Day 2

Today’s tea is courtesy of Sil. Thank you!

This is just oolong to me. There is supposed to be more I think but it’s just oolong and it’s a pretty meh oolong at that. Fun to try but surprisingly mediocre.

Not only do my new neighbours have a regularly shrieking infant, noisily exercise at the crack of dawn on wooden floors in an old house, and see fit to position their television on our adjoining wall, but also they both charge and/ or leave their phones by the adjoining wall to ring, beep, and vibrate at all hours of the night. FML.

I, of course, am the complaining neighbour because I am the one who is repeatedly woken up and disturbed while they appear to be blissfully unaware, so I communicate politely when really I would like to rip their heads off and yank all of their electronics out from their sockets and hurl them from the window. Yeah, it’s really a challenge, really really a challenge to not go all up in their face because really what kind of moron do you have to be?

Right then. Whew. Had to get that out.

This is my cup of the morning after having been awoken at about three. I must have been woken before that as well because after the three waking, I wasn’t able to get to sleep for two or three hours or so. At this point, I don’t know whether it is the phone or the baby or both, but this being repeatedly awoken is torture. The carelessness and stupidity at fault is another layer on top.

I missed my yoga class to continue to sleep and still woke up feeling like hell, of course. Ouf.

Ahem, yes, about the tea. Roasty, toasty, cherrywood good. The slightest bit of coconut as it cools. This is only my first steep. More as things evolve.

Second steep. Far more coconut emerges in scent and in flavour. I am steeping in a clear glass canister and the leaves are so very lovely to watch as they begin to unfurl attached to their stems and teeny branches.

Third steep. Even more coconut as the leaves unravel further. The roastiness disappears slowly but a bit of heaviness remains.

Fourth and fifth steep. Some chocolate creeps in along w the coconut.

I suspect the tea had more to give, but I was on my way out to clear my head and calm down and decided to call it and toss the leaves.

Interesting procession of flavours. I am a bit curious as to what would happen further if I had continued to steep.

Thank you for the share, Dexter. I enjoyed it though at first I thought that the roastiness was on the verge of too much—just that line.

Sorry/not sorry for the rant.

I’ve been drinking this tea this afternoon while eating Chinese takeout and watching the hockey game
Mmmmm nice, very nice.  Roasted without being overly smokey.  Bold without being bitter.  Nutty, woody, little charcoal and that old quality in good aged oolong.   This is just very comforting – the kind of tea you just want to hug your mug.  I’m happy with this one.
 https://www.instagram.com/p/BMw-Yk2AeB-/

Backlog: sipdown. Dry smell – wood, burnt stuff. 100ml gaiwan, 180F. I didn’t really have enough leaf so improvising.
Taste – fruity, smooth, no aroma, wood. Wet leaf smells strongly of burnt cherry/fruit wood.

Not a whole lot of anthing from this tea- no real flavor. Compared to regular oolongs it’s meh. Compared to the aged oolong Liquid Proust shared, it’s not even close.

Glad that I only got a sample and that it was on sale. Random – I hate their steeping directions.

I have drank this on different occasions now because I really wanted to say it… but, this is not quality ‘aged’ oolong. Mine was in one of those August 14g bags and I drank it at least 10 steeps each time because the idea was really cool, but… let down.

I need to try some other August stuff sometime to see if either their audience is different then I or if this was just a fluke or something else

The coconut dragged me into this one but I can’t taste it at all. Slight coconut aroma in the dry leaf but nothing more.

With every sip, I go back and forth between thinking this is like a floral green and a toasty dark, so I’m happy to see that Sil had the same experience.

First steep is sweeter and slightly greener, while this second steep is toastier overall. Another interesting observation is that the steeped tea smells damp if that makes any sense, kind of like damp woods.

Ultimately, it’s an interesting oolong but the sample was more than enough.

Finally got to try it! Yay! And I got it really fast. I can officially recommend August Uncommon Tea as a company. I’ve never had better customer service. And they included a tea scoop which makes measuring leaves out so much easier.

Onward to the tea. About 2-3 grams in 2-3 ounces. I could have done it Gong Fu with more leaves, but I turned it into western for strength.

30 seconds.
Orchid. And toasty. Overall pleasant. More time needed.

Two and a half minutes later.
Chocolate orchid dominant, which is something that is hard to describe. It does taste exactly like that flower. Again, that is a distant reference. Still more toastiness and a little bit of the coconut talked about.

5 minutes second/third steep.
Toasted coconut and mild orchid. On the borders of being similar to an almond joy, but not nearly as sweet or chocolaty.

10 minutes, fourth steep.
Toasted coconut and chocolate orchid.

This tea could actually go on.

Anyway, I agree with Sil and it is a fairly typical roasted oolong that is not quite green and not quite dark. Yet I can say it’s one of the better examples of a roasted oolong. If I had more disposable income, I might get the full 100 grams of this because its so calming and pleasant. Really an everyday tea. As for the petrichor, I can definitely understand the comparison and would drink this on a rainy day, too. Chocolate orchid and toasted coconut are the two best ways to describe this tea really. But I do have teas that are similar to this. It actually tastes exactly the base of Tea Spot’s Coconut Cabana which is by no means a bad thing. I actually appreciate the purity this one has. I can now say I feel a little accomplished after drinking this tea.

Sample from Beelicious Sadly this one is a miss for me, if only because it just tastes like a roasty oolong. I’m not really getting a feeling of there being any blending happening with this. It’s just a green-er looking oolong that tastes somewhere in the middle of a green oolong and and really roasty one lol. It’s not a BAD cup of tea…it’s got a smooth finish to it, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not worth 20$ shipping haha

Ba de ya – say do you remember
Ba de ya – dancing in September!
I’ve said that oolongs are my favorite rainy day teas, specially a darker, roasty oolong, this one would make a superb rainy day tea too.
They used the word petrichor inthe description page on this tea, it was a word that i may or may not have heard before but I had to look it up and it is the “pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather”
Taste like Petrichor? really can you taste a smell? Sure you can, i’m always talking about how one thing taste the way another thing smells, Anyways I’m glad to see this Petrichor word because now I have a new word to use when I try to describe these types of oolongs, the rainy day oolongs,I’m thinking I get the Petrichor from most of these types of teas and thats why they suit me as rainy days teas, I never made that connection before :)