Guiyuan Roasted Dong Ding

This is a great tea. It smells of sweet, toasted brown sugar and a hint of coconut – as the description says. Very lightly floral, roast-y, and figgy on the tongue. This oolong has a nice smooth, heavy feel at first – but the aftertaste is bright and fruity.
I could really get into this tea!

Full bodied flavor, was surprised based on the light color of the tea. Naturally sweet, with deep notes of dried fruit and brown sugar. Very comforting, warming winter tea. Almost no tannic flavors. I enjoyed this tea very much. 9/10

Stronger flavor the second infusion. It’s lost some of the toasty flavor from the first steeping, still not getting coconut.

Wow the nose of this is something I have never smelled on a roasted Dong Ding. This will be my 4th that I have tasted. Doing this in the gaiwan.

Smell: sweet brown sugar, coffee, a creamy nutty smell.
First Steep: After a quick rinse I do a 20 sec brew time to start things off. No much coming through, not as roasting as I would expect.

Smell: More coffee, and coconut coming off the gaiwan. Smells even better.
2nd Steep: Still not much on taste coming through. This tea is a lot lighter then I would expect.

So far I am intrigued I just wish it will give me a little more. Long steeping will hopefully change this.

This was from my free Steepster subscription ages ago. I tried the other sample a while ago but didn’t write a tasting note because it is tough for me to say much about roasted oolongs. It’s certainly a decent tasting roasted oolong, but I just end up tasting a charcoal flavor with any roasted oolong. Maybe a bit of caramel. I like to actually taste the GREEN of green oolongs, so roasted oolongs just aren’t my thing. I think this might have been the only roasted oolong I had remaining in the cupboard!
Steep #1 // 10 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 minute
Steep #2 // just boiled // 1 1/2 min

I really like this oolong. It’s roasted and charcoal with out being too much. Nutty, smooth and a little creamy. Yep this is a good one.
Thanks so much Sil for sharing…..

This one doesn’t have much flavor. It’s a very lightly roasted Dong Ding. Nothing super special. But I’m glad it’s not overly roasty. I really don’t like overly roasty oolongs much anymore. ><
But this one is more drinkable. Thanks for the sample, LiberTEAS! Always happy to try another oolong!

I received this as part of an oolong sampler Steepster now offers. This was a pleasant, relaxing tea with faintly sweet character hinting of honey, and simply satisfying. It was great for three steeps. I increased water temperature and steep time just a tad with each subsequent steep, starting slightly lower than recommended.

I took a whiff of the steeped leaves, and was greeted by an aroma reminiscent of genmaicha’s toastiness.

The liquor itself is still too hot to sip, but the caramel and coconut notes are subtly in my nose. I hope these scents come through on the tongue, the notes on the packages are so rarely what I experience.

They didn’t. It’s toasty and nutty and fantastically sweet. The caramel wants to come through, but stayed in my nose in the end. Most of this tea’s character plays out in the nose, and that’s okay. I like it.

This was from the December 2013 Steepster Select box.

It was a really rainy night last night and I really wanted to curl up into a ball under blankets and read. This toasty oolong seemed liked the perfect company. Being the start of summer, I haven’t been drinking too many of the darker oolongs lately. This was a nice treat. Roasty, sweet, lighter oolong. I brewed this gong fu style and it just kept giving and giving and giving. I had to call it quits and go to bed before the tea gave out. I enjoyed this one!