Pomegranate Oolong Iced

I got curious and tore open one of the packets to try brewing this hot, and I don’t like it any better. The pomegranate which smells so lovely on the leaves has a very dry and artificial taste to it — the last word I’d ever use to describe it would be “juicy”, and probably the second-to-last would be “sweet”. It’s tragic, really!

My Harney & Sons tea order came in the mail today, and it seemed like a little bit of nostalgia. When I first started exploring loose leaf teas about ten years ago, the first teas I bought were Harney & Sons teas. So I kinda felt like I was coming full-circle having been on this tea journey for a decade.

Anywho…back to the tea.

The tin describes the mix as having extra large leaves of Ti Quan Yin oolong. As soon as you open the tin, you immediately get a strong whiff of pomegranate. Strong and penetrating. I figured that would carry over on the brew, but no…just the aroma. When brewed up, it tasted just like Ti Quan Yin (mellow, buttery mouthfeel, a touch of sweetness at the end). I got very little pomegranate flavor. But then I added more water to the brewed tea (H&S recommends steeping in 2 cups of boiling water, then adding 6 cups of cold water), and the pomegranate flavor started to emerge more. I guess the water drowns out the Ti Quan Yin, so it might be difficult to get a good balance of oolong and pomegranate in a particular brew.

The rest of it is in a pitcher in my fridge, but I’m not too wild about it. A pity.

John Harney Appreciation Tea #25

My latest H&S order arrived yesterday, and in it was included a sample filter bag of Pomegranate Oolong Iced. It was huge and filled with beautiful whole-leaf TQY scented with pomegranate. I have been toying with the hypothesis that I have some sort of allergy to oolong, but I’ve resolved to find out whether or not this is true by testing several oolongs before hanging my oolong pot out to dry.

In some ways, it makes no sense really: all tea is camellia sinensis, so why would have I have issues with oolong, but not with black, green, white, or yellow teas? Is oolong prepared with the addition of some other ingredient? Or could the concentrations of something in tea be higher in oolong than in other forms of tea? It’s all a big mystery to me.

Anyway, I tried this tea in the sachet version brewed hot a while back with unclear results (my feeling of slight queasiness may have had another source…), so I decided to begin my oolong inquiry with a big batch of this tea cold brewed. I am drinking it right now, and all that I can really say is that it tastes like oolong! The liquor is bright yellow, and I was so impressed at the heft of the infused filter bag that I briefly considered reinfusing it. But I am trying to give oolong a fair shake, so I tossed it instead. So far, so good. I do not feel ill. Only time will tell whether that weird headachey feeling will return to me after consuming all of this tea.

A propos: I do not actually taste much pomegranate in this brew. I taste oolong, oolong, oolong! I believe that I could acquire a taste for oolong, but first I must determine whether or not we are compatible… I should be able to answer that question by the time I’ve tested the six different oolong samples which also arrived in the H&S package. This was the first time that I ever order samples from H&S. They come in attractive black matte envelopes with gold accents, and the size is generous, predictably enough. Their prices are so reasonable, that I usually just order a whole tin of any tea I’m curious about. Not oolong, though. I did not want to have pounds of it on hand, just in case we were never meant to be. We shall see.

In closing this 25 tea tribute, I would like to reiterate how grateful I am to John Harney for all that he did for the world by sharing with us his abundant love of tea.

May he rest in peace.

There is a warm version of this now you can buy at Barnes and Nobles. I love the smell, but the taste is a little bitter for me. By the end of the cup it was so bitter I had to toss it. Far better was the Tropical Green Tea. Skip this one and go for the Green.