Bai Hao (Oriental Beauty) Oolong Tea - Organic

I went for a late walk last night around my neighbourhood and couldn’t believe how delicious the air smelled. There are many fragrant trees and bushes around, particularly lilacs! It was so lovely to discover as this is my first Spring/Summer that I’m living in this area. I caught myself daydreaming about it at work today too and thought it was only fitting that I dive into a sweet and floral tea.

Believe it or not, this is the first “Oriental Beauty” oolong I’ve tried. I’ve heard many good things about this cultivar over the years and can finally say that I understand the hype! This particular harvest is very well balanced and really hits all my favourite oolong notes. This is certainly a contender for new favourite oolong!

The liquor is a gorgeous rose tinted caramel kind of colour. Not the thickest, but incredibly smooth and lubricating. The flavour though!!!! Oh man, it’s so yummy. It’s got some honey and sugarcane going on, stone fruits like peach, nectarine, and apricot, and the perfect level of orchid-like floral note. Further infusions bring out more of a wet stone kind of flavour that I’ve more experienced in a Da Hong Pao. The only area that I would say it can improve on is in the number of pots I can brew before the flavour tapers off. I can get it up to about the minute mark before it just sharply drops. I guess that’s pretty good, but compared to the Silver Needle and Sheng I recently bought its life is shorter. Will definitely keep exploring this kind of oolong, I imagine other companies have great examples of it too.

GCTTB

I was expecting to love this tea based on past reviews but in my experience I haven’t really loved an Oriental Beauty yet so it might be just me.

I over steeped this accidentally at work. Darn!

It was fairly strong with strong roasted notes. Probably would have been lighter if I hadn’t steeped it so long. I could pick out what was like autumn leaf, roasted notes & faint honey.

This tea just wasn’t very good for me. I’m not rating it because I over steeped but it still might not have been my cup of tea even if I got the brewing times right.

I received a lovely care package from the super sweet Dexter this week, with a generous selection of oolongs (and a couple citrusy treats because yum, citrus!)

This is my first leafhopper tea, and I was really excited to try it. I had heard that leafhoppers are really unique, and this is definitely different than I expected (in a good way).

The llaf looks and smells like quite a green oolong, with a slight creaminess towards the end. So I expected a crisp, green tasting brew.

Steeped, it gains a light toastiness, rather than the creaminess the dry leaf scent had. The liquor is a darker gold thsthan expected as well, which, I think, gives sipping it a bit extra luxury feeling (holy balls Bear. Speak english much?)

I’m going to fiddle and see what other steeps offer, but watching it steep in my little glass gongfu teapot makes me happy and helps take awareness away from the wet grey yuck outside the window.

Thank you Dexter!!!!

This tea had a me confused for a moment. There was a typo on my package naming this “Amber Dragon (Bai Hao).” I knew that Bai Hao was Oriental Beauty, so I searched their website and Amber Dragon actually doesn’t exist, so I’m not sure where it came from. I deduced that this was their Oriental Beauty/Bai Hao.

This has been the most balanced/neutral brew I’ve ever had. I opened that package to reveal a variety of colors. These small summer leaves ranged from light brown to silver tips. They carried a darjeeling alike aroma of muscatel and sweet grass. I brewed these in my gaiwan. I washed them once to release their honey almond aroma. The reason I say that this was a neutral tea is that my steeping time never increased. I kept a consistent 30 second steeping. It had a very plateau palette of flavor. They were heavy flavors of nut and roast. I could hint at a sweet honey undertone, but this was very faint. This brew was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. If I steeped it shorter it would not have flavor, and if I steeped longer it would go south. I was amazed at the fact that I could continue a steady half minute steep time. The flavors did not fluctuate and even the bronze shimmer of the liquor maintained its color. This was an interesting brew. I did not find it incredibly good, but it also was not terrible. It was completely balanced.

https://instagram.com/p/0QFFx6TGXW/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Well, after having that lovely bai hao earlier, I wanted more! This sample came from Blodeuyn, and I’ve had it for a while as well. Clearly I’m a slacker when it comes to tasting swap teas in a timely manner. The leaves look almost identical to the other bai hao – they’re medium-length and twisty and quite fragile. Dry scent is hay and autumn leaves with a touch of sweetness.

Steeped aroma has strong hay notes, but also something resembling pastry and some honey. The flavor is also strong on a combination of hay and pastry notes. There’s also a roasty autumn leaf flavor here. I must admit, I’m missing the strong honey notes that I found in TeaVivre’s version, and it’s hard to enjoy this tea as much after trying that one. This isn’t a bad tea, it just can’t hold a candle to the other. :(

A generous sample from Tao Tea Leaf that I’m delighted to have received because it is so good. I’ve actually only rated a few teas this high. It has a fairly rich flavor and extra smooth and satisfying mouth feel. Deep fruit notes, apricot and lychee. Since I don’t sweeten my teas, when I run across one like this that’s naturally sweet it is extra special. Honey-ish sweetness but softer and smoother than honey. Compared to this tea, honey seems tart. It’s a beautiful flavor, not a lot of complex notes but more like beautifully harmonic chords. I’m putting this in my favorites box for times when I can use a flavor-smile.

The second steep had a consistent flavor profile though far more subtle than the first.