Qi'Lan Fireside Oolong

Tea Advent Calendar – Day 23

From what I remember, this was a nutty roasted oolong. Enjoyable, but apparently not very memorable!

A powerful oolong, with heavy roasted flavors and a darkness to it that is enjoyable. Also got this on firesale on clearance I guess. Sad because I would buy more if it was available.

I really like genmaicha and I enjoy oolongs, so I thought I would give this a try. The loose tea doesn’t smell like much, but the tiny rolled beads look fresh.

The first steep (3 minutes) smells like toasted rice. It steeps a medium gold colour. The first sip brought a smile to my face. It is slightly sweet and tastes like toasted rice or grain, it also has hints of seaweed (but without the saltiness or vegetal flavour.)

The second steep (2 more minutes) tasted similar but has more flavour. The colour of the liquid was a bit darker and you can taste some tannins but no bitterness. The leaves has expanded to about five times their original volume and are dark green like kelp. There is almost a bit of sesame flavour to the tea, but not quite.

The third and fourth steeps were done in cooler water and produced pleasant and flavourful cups of tea. I suspect you could brew this tea many more times before it loses flavour.

I saw a 2oz bag on sale for $1.75 and was like, well obviously I HAVE to buy that. I’m not 100% sure I’m reviewing the right tea here. The name matches my order, but the name on the bag is “QiLan Fired Oolong.” I can’t even find it on Teavana’s website so I think it’s been discontinued and I got it on clearance. But I am not getting anything like the flavors the other reviewers have described.

First steep: 3 min, 190 F. This actually tastes strongly like nori (seaweed used in sushi) to me. Very savory, not sweet at all. The leaves have started to unfurl on the long axis but not the short axis.

Second steep: 4 min, 190 F. Still savory, a little less nori, very smooth. The leaves have started to unfurl on the short axis.

Third steep: 5 min, 190 F. The leaves are fully open now. The taste is now light with more of an aftertaste.

Fourth steep: 6 min, 190 F. …yeah okay these leaves are done.

Finishing the last of this as a cold brew. It’s something I’ve been wanting to try for this particular tea, and it thankfully turned out to be a refreshing iced tea. A little roasty, not too light. I might have to try this with other oolongs in the future.

Sipdown! I forgot I was almost out of this one. Good news for me, because my cupboard is crazy full right now. (And I have two new tea orders on the way!)

This is a roasted oolong from Teavana. The roast on this is lighter than their discontinued Auspicious Ayame oolong. The taste is more floral and vegetal, even a little buttery, and not quite as dry. Personally, I enjoy both of them, but I would say that this one is more balanced in flavor. A solid choice for people who like oolongs, especially cozy roasted ones. I wish I’d had a little more leaf in my tin, though, because this particular steep was on the weak side. But I still enjoyed my last cup! Not sure yet if I’ll restock… It’s very drinkable, but it’s expensive, and I want to try more roasted oolongs from other companies and see how they compare.

This oolong is brilliant! It really does inspire thoughts of camping fireside drinking a nice hot tea after a long chilly hike. For me, teas that can bring back specific memories are invaluable.
This tea is very fragrant, has a toasty, roasted, woodsy scent. The taste isn’t bland, but not as strong; still satisfying. An all around delicious tea!

As I said a few days ago, I was curious to see how this one would taste as a cold brew. I steeped about a tablespoon in my water bottle in the fridge for eight hours. The cold brew turned out to be much different than I expected! It was roasty, of course, but more like a roasted grain flavor. Actually, I recently took a tour of the Sam Adams brewery where we were able to taste a bunch of their malts. This cold brew reminded me a lot of the caramel malts that we sampled at the brewery. It also has some bitterness that actually kind of works with the flavors rather than being distracting or off-putting.

Overall, I would say that I’m glad that I tried cold brewing because it was quite a surprising experiment. However, I prefer this tea hot over cold in terms of a smoother flavor. Also, with how overpriced this tea is, it seems like cold brews would just use up too much leaf too quickly. I only dared try it because I’m still using the free ounce I have from my Starbucks reward.

I like this tea. It has a nice scent and flavor. The scent is almost like chocolate. It has a mild roasted flavor. It looks like it will resteep tons of times with good flavor.

Floral but not perfumey, complex… not as much toastiness as I expected, but enough to keep it interesting. Probably a bit overpriced, but definitely good quality and very enjoyable.