Orchid Temple

Upping the rating on this one from 25.

So, this one has really been nagging me. After a lot of advice from various Steepsterites on how to correctly steep this one, I lowered the water temperature and took the rest of my sample to task!

The leaves this time definitely didn’t unfurl all the way on the first steep, which I figure is due to the lower temperature not scorching them into submission. And the infusion was about the same color, with the same aroma. Buttery shortbread with floral notes. Very mouth-watering.

The taste here is loads better than the first time! I’m getting a bit of a buttery afternote, but it’s mostly floral. There’s no astringency, and no ….

AHHHHH! I just got a call from a place that I interviewed at, and I HAVE A JOB! WHEEEEE! So now I have no idea…

Um, yeah, um. Tasting note. Um… Okay, it tastes pretty good, but it should taste better, Something’s missing, and I’m not quite really sure what it is. It’s almost weaksauce in flavor, although it feels like it should be thick and rich, it’s sort of missing that mark.

I have no idea what I’m typing anymore, because I’m SO excited that I HAVE A JOB!

I. Have. A. Job!

WHOOOOT.

Golden Moon sample No. 8 of 31. I was glad that my random selection today was an oolong. I was in the mood for one. I can already tell I’m not likely to stop at one oolong today.

The dry leaves are very green, ranging from a dark forest color to a much lighter yellow green. Some stems are present. The leaves are tightly curled, almost in little balls. Their fragrance isn’t strong; they smell a little grassy, with a slight bit of toastiness (not nearly as as much as more oxidized oolongs often have). There’s a hint of a floral note, but it isn’t anywhere near as intense, or as beautiful, as that of the Life In Teacup An Xi Tie Guan Yin Grade II modern green style.

Liquor is pale yellow with a green tinge, very like that of many green teas. The aroma is unusual. It is floral, but… it unfortunately reminds me of the floral smell of some dishwashing liquids. It has a soapy undertone.

Thankfully, there is no soap in the taste. I do get a little bit of butter, a little bit of cream, and some floral taste on the first steep.

Second steep: 3:30 min. Color is a deeper yellow, aroma is still a little soapy, but it seems to be less now. Flavor has a more toasty, vegetal quality now. Not as heavy on the butter. There is a mild floral sweetness as well.

Third steep: 4 min. Less toasty, more vegetal, about the same buttery, about the same floral.

Fourth steep: 4:30 min. Not toasty, less vegetal, more buttery, more floral.

Fifth steep: 5:00 min. Sigh. I’m not going to do a fifth steep. I’m just not liking this enough to do another one. :-(

On a positive note, I love how wet oolong leaves look. When they unfurl, they are quite dramatic looking. It’s the same effect as those little gelatin capsules kids drop in water, and as they dissolve animals made of sponge come out that are four or five times the size of the capsule. It makes steeping somewhat unpredictable, though, since you never know whether the leaves are going to outgrow the filter when you start. (Are those oolong leaves in your filter or are you just glad to see me?) These were no exception. Wet, they are grand, majestic things that have expanded to take up about four times as much room in the filter as when they started. Olive green, with interesting serrated edges.

In all, I’m unlikely to order this one. It doesn’t bowl me over. It doesn’t even show enough promise that I want to give it another chance. I don’t find the aroma appealing, it doesn’t do anything special for me in terms of mouth feel. And it isn’t as flavorful as others I’ve had, nor does it have the character of some I’m currently enamored of.

I’m a little sad about it as I was hoping to discover another favorite. C’est la vie.

This tea looks very light with an appealing toasty aroma. I think I’m detecting “toastiness” a lot in my teas, nowadays. Maybe I’m just reacting to the warmness of the water? But in any case, this tea does, initially, seem very “toasty” to me. I think toasty is tasty, so that’s good. On first sip, I taste buttery gardenias….yummy! On subsequent sips, I’m reminded of GM’s Coconut Pouchong sans coconut. This must be the “oolong” aspect. It’s almost like roasted green tea mixed with steamed banana leaves and white flowers. The aftertaste is very orchid-like.

This is good but if I were to rate the GM oolongs (on personal preference), it would definitely be Coconut Pouchong first, Sugar Caramel Oolong second and this third.

Golden Moon Tea Sample #8, selected at random.

The buttery note of this type of tea is always pleasing and so is the floral note. It’s good and pleasant but I don’t think that there’s anything here that will sear this tea into my memory and impel me to spend money on a full size. I like, but am not in love with, oolongs, green teas and white teas, so if you are reading this, please be a bit jaundiced about my opinion. I’m the person who thinks that the smokiest Lapsang Souchongs should be smokier. I am the person who drowns herself in perfume instead of applying a tiny whiff. I’m the person who used to wear Bob Mackie knock-offs. So I can respect this tea but not, perhaps, love it.

In my attempt to be productive today, I put on a load of laundry… and made more tea. That counts as productivity, right? Especially since that removed one more sample from my pantry.

Let me preface this by saying: I’m picky about my green oolongs. Because I love them. A lot. And have had some really awesome ones. Because of that, I honestly wasn’t expecting that much from this one It’s not a cheap tea at $20 for a 4.5oz tin, but I’m in love with some that cost four times that so I really don’t think this will be a fair comparison. But it’s a green oolong so I can’t not compare.

The good news is, I wasn’t really disappointed by this one. I mean, I didn’t expect great things and I didn’t really get them. That’s not to say that is it a bad tea. It’s not. It was pretty good for what it is, actually. Has a nice light, floral scent to it – sweetly vegetal with a hint of creamy. The taste could be a little thicker – I used 3.5g/6oz so I know it isn’t my brewing that made the taste thing (or it shouldn’t have been) – but overall it’s pleasant. The aftertaste is somewhat heavy – not a light floral aftertaste or thick, chewy green flavor that I’ve had and loved in different oolongs, but rather somewhere in the awkward middle.

By far the best thing about this tea is the scent as it smells really wonderful. But for me the taste is just… lacking. I want fresher, richer and more vibrant tastes. I think if I had had this tea a year or so ago, I would rate it a lot higher but now I just want more out of my oolongs than this one can give me.

I am not enjoying this one as much as I would have hoped. I like oolong teas, but this one seems a bit too floral for me. There is a floral note to the dried leaves and then one to the brewed tea. Sifting through other reviews on here, it appears I infused it a bit incorrectly, but you live and learn.

As I said, the dried leaves, curled into little balls, smell like oolong with a strong floral note. I will not lie, that this note concerned me, so I added a few rocks of sugar to my cup as it was infusing. Followed package directions, infused hot, three minutes.

The liquor is a very pale yellow and the odor is characteristic of the dried leaves, there are no additional aromas released upon brewing. The tea continues to baffle me because though I can smell the floral orchid note, I really can only taste oolong while it was hot. As I allowed the tea to cool, I noticed more of a bitter note at the end of the oolong, this was not here while the brew was hot. This bitter note is more upsetting because I added sugar to the brew.

I fear I messed something up, that or I do not like orchids in my oolong…

Underwhelmed. Mehness. The flavour of this tea does not live up to the promise made by its fragrance. It smells really nice, but the flavour is a bit bland, a bit weak. The fragrance is mostly that of green tea: fresh-smelling, a bit vegetal. There are also some floral undertones here. Given its name (and given that I read only the name, and not the ingredients), I thought I’d get more orchid (I love floral teas), but that’s not the case. There is only the most subtle of floral hints in the fragrance, and even these are mostly absent from the flavour.

I like less subtlety in my tea, so found this a mediocre offering. Next, please.

This is a very pleasing, quiet contemplative cup of tea for me. Very light and floral, unlike some of the more recent oolongs I have been trying which are more on the buttery/vegetal side. I am still on the fence about whether I like floral type teas but I think this would be a nice, mellow substitute for something like a jasmine green. Pretty a-ok in my book but not totally riveting.

The description here seems quite accurate to me: green and floral. Also a little buttery, at least in the aroma. The color is a very pale green, almost like a white tea. This reminds me of Samovar’s Four Seasons, but maybe just because that’s the most recent green oolong I’ve had; this is lighter in flavor, and sweeter. It doesn’t quite have the rich buttery mouthfeel of FS though. (Note: they are both Tie Guan Yin/Iron Goddess varieties)

This was a very generously sized sample – at least 4 grams of tightly rolled leaves, total. I’ve steeped it twice so far, and may adjust the rating depending on how many it yields. I don’t quite have a system for how much QPR affects my ratings, but it is a factor i.e. if this yields a comparable number of steeps as Four Seasons, it will get a slightly higher rating because I like them similar amounts and this costs half as much. I find it relevant, because if a tea feels like a ripoff, I genuinely enjoy it less.

ETA: I’ve had six steeps of this now, and it’s getting milder, but no faster than the Four Seasons did.

2.3g leaf, 3.5 oz water, 45 second steeps near boiling
$21/4oz

After my strong cup of French Breakfast this morning (the caffeine in there had me buzzing for quite a while!), I wanted something a little more mellow for this afternoon. I’m down to my last few Golden Moon samples, so this seemed like the right one. I had a feeling the tightly compacted chunklets would do a good job of expanding, and that was definitely the case. After two minutes of steeping, they looked to be about halfway undone, i.e. a good place to stop and take a first taste.

1st steep: 2.5 minutes, 190 degrees: There’s a pleasant buttered vegetables aroma, which is partially but not fully realized in the flavor. I also have some subtle floral and toasty notes, but they’re pretty far in the background.

2nd steep: 3 minutes, 190 degrees: I’m not getting as much toastiness this time, but a little more general vegetal flavor. Buttery notes have toned down too. Aroma is milder but still grassy and pleasant.

Overall not a bad Oolong, but I probably wouldn’t seek it out especially.