Taiwan Monkey Picked (Ma Liu Mie) Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

I let my cupboard get out of control. It’s great to have a lot of tea, but it isn’t great to have large amounts of really good tea that you can not ossicle drink while it is at its best.

In spite of this one being past its prime, it had good flavor and multiple steeps with each being enjoyable. It is a little bit roasty rather than highly floral and holds up well to sweet snacks. It had great body and showed it’s quality even…get this…three years past it’s recommended ‘use by’ date.

This is the end of this bag, and once I have emptied the cupboard of some of its oldest residents, I will start on the newer ones and tame this monster. I will be buying my teas in smaller amounts in future so that they can be enjoyed at their prime.

Yet another of my free samples from Teavivre… thanks so much for the opportunity to try all these teas! I really consider Teavivre to have greatly contributed to my tea education with all of their samples.

When I opened the sample pouch and sniffed the tea, I was kind of surprised by how super vegetal the leaves smelled. Like, woah spinach and greens. I sniffed some more and started to get roasty scents, and the faintest hint of butteriness. Definitely not like the super green tieguanyins I’m used to drinking. I steeped it up and smelled a super roasted, toasted grains aroma from the liquor. At first it seems like that is the only note, but after smelling it a while I start to detect the slightest hint of sweet florals hiding out. Intriguing.

I have to say I was pretty prepared not to really be a fan of this tea because I don’t tend to like roasted oolongs. But Teavivre proved me wrong. I’m not head over heels or anything, but this is a tasty cup of tea. The roasting is light and doesn’t take over the flavor. It just kind of nicely hangs out there, adding some nice warm, toasty notes. The other main flavors are the slightly floral sweetness of the tieguanyin, with some light vegetal notes, but nothing like it seemed when I smelled the dry leaf. As I’m drinking it the sweetness is growing in my mouth adding to the tastiness of each successive sip. Definitely a tasty tea, and it surprised me by making even this nonfan of roasted oolongs enjoy it.

Thankyou Angel and Teavivre for this generous sample!

I used 1.5 teaspoons

Colour: yellow/amber
Dry leaf smell: overwhelmingly like spinach…..I was pretty worried at this point because I don’t like really vegetal teas.

Steeped leaf: smelled less vegetal
Taste: roasty, slightly vegetal, nutty, with that buttery/milky mouthfeel. A couple of sips into my cup, some floral and sweetness started to develop in my mouth.

2nd steep: 3 minutes, my favourite steep, less vegetal, but still nutty and creamy

3rd steep: 4 minutes, starting to diminish in flavour but still delicious

I like this just as much as the regular TGY Teavivre offers.

I find TGYs to be very comforting. Whether the emotion is happy or sad, TGYs know how to celebrate or soothe the soul.

Seriously, who could resist trying a tea with this clever name? My latest round of samples arrived yesterday. (Yeah!) I did not intend to break into them this soon, but they were there. Well you know how it is. Actually this one was not completely sealed. I might not have noticed but there were monkey droppings in the bottom of the big pouch ;) Being sealed in the larger pouch, the tea is still fresh and no harm done. Since it is open let’s have at it.

The nuggets look like normal tiguanyin. I forgot to sniff the dry leaf. Steeped in my press for 3 minutes with boiling water. The brew is a green tinted amber. It is extremely clear yet dense. That probably makes no sense but I stared through the press at it for a few seconds as I found its beauty fascinating. This is my first monkey picked oolong. The rich roasted aroma coming off the brew caught me by surprise. I try not to read other reviews or company flavor profiles before tasting. You can also catch the oolong in the scent. The leaf did not fully open on the first steep.

The sip is like a wave crashing over the tongue. It begins as a hearty roasted blast breaking on the taste buds. Next, splashing up is a moment of intense milkiness. Then as the flavor begins to recede, the tiguanyin is revealed. The aftertaste is somewhere between tgy and watermelon rind.

Second cup I went 1 minute. I got interrupted and the cup sat after I poured for several minutes. This cup is very different from the first. The roasted notes are much more subdued. This tastes like a mild genmaicha has been brewed with the tgy. There is also another note, not exactly earthy, but not really woodsy in mid sip. Looking over the other notes at this time, I guess this is what others are calling nutty.

Third cup back at 3 minutes. Pretty much this is now a straight mild tiguanin. Sweet. It has a nice lingering fruity aftertaste.

Thank you TeaVivre for the sample. This is another winner.

I have successfully completed my first training session at McDonalds. I am so excited to actually have a job again and I don’t care that it is a small, part time job. It will show that I actually have initiative to work after college and will look good when I get ready to look for a bigger job or to go back to school.

So, I decided that I was going to make a pot of this to have after supper and then another pot to have after showering and before going to bed. I was expecting this to be a green oolong this time, so I wasn’t surprised when I saw the delicate light brew after two minutes.

I poured out my first cup and smelled toast. Yes, my tea smelled like toast. Then I tasted it and it tasted like dark toasted toast. The taste is mild and the toast taste is really pleasant. It is hovering somewhere between toasted and baked cracker. Though if it is more like a baked cracker then it is the whole wheat kind with sesame seeds baked into the cracker.

It is actually really nice and mellow. It was the perfect tea to have after having a smoked salmon open faced sandwich for dinner, so I guessed my tea choice perfectly. I will have to update this note after I have my second steep to see if the flavor has changed in any way.

Second Steep It tastes a lot like the first steep, only there is something a little creamier in this one. And I am getting more of a nutty taste to this one too. Creamier and nutty. It is tasting a little like the dark oolong than the regular Tie Guan Yin that I had a few days ago. This would be a good one to have when I want the boldness of a dark tea without having the dark tea. I might have to save the leaves and have the third steep in the morning with breakfast!

This is my first tea other than Lipton in many days. All through Memorial Day weekend I was feeling fluish. Sick. I had know idea how sick I could get. Finally on Wednesday I called my Mother and she took me to a doctor. When he took my blood pressure and it was 50 over 35 it was off to the emergency room. After explaining my pains, the nurse asked me if I was bit by a tick. I said yes. According to my symptoms they treated me for Ehrlichiosis. The IVs went in and it was 5 days of intense fever, coughing and body aches from hell. This is my first good tea since then. I am sipping it slowing. I will comment more in depth later when my sense of taste returns. In the meantime, this tea has made me feel so much better.

soooo random teavivre sample of the day! I pikced this one, and of course didn’t realise, half asleep that i was, that this was an oolong. Now, to be fair I picked up some oolongs, greens and blacks from teavivre as my first order, to try and branch out from my blacks.

When the water hit the leaves, it was the smell that woke me up. There is something about the smell of green oolong that just makes me cringe. I was originally going to take this to work in my travel mug, but as it sat there steeping and the smell intensified, i just couldn’t do it. I was close to just saying i give up and dropping it down the drain, but instead i poured it into a mug and let it sit there…watching me…taunting me.

So i did it. I took a sip (albeit it was after i’d brushed my teeth, so maybe that influenced my tongue) and it was kinda good. While the smell was OOLONG, the taste wasn’t quite the usual oolongy taste that I’ve come to associate with oolongs. I did manage to drink nearly all of it while running around the house getting ready for work and brewing up my other teas to take to work.

I’m going to hold off rating this one because i didn’t take the time to experience it and really focus on it, but all signs point to this possibly being something i might enjoy, if i can ignore the smell. I have the leaves i can resteep tonight, as well as another package i can try.

Soooo for now, thank you teavivre for this. I drank almost a whole cup of greeny oolong! woot woot!

I’m very excited to try this one because it says in the product description that Vitamin A prevents scurvy…since I have been ‘workin’ my alter-ego as a pirate lately…I decided it might be a good idea to slurp some Vitamin A…just in case…

On a more serious note…

This tea infuses to a comfy-cozy light to medium orange-brown in color. It’s VERY YUMMERS. It’s a little malty for an oolong. It’s also a tad brothy…the texture is thicker than I anticipated. I like that. It’s satisfying. It smells a little like charcoal but it doesn’t really taste like it. There is a bit of floral flavor right in the middle of the sip…not really at the beginning or at the end, oddly.

This is…Rrrrrrrrr-right…MATE-E!

What a lovely Oolong!

Sweet, delicious, roasty-toasty nut flavors with hints of browned butter that has been drizzled over mild steamed vegetables, and a lovely peach-like taste in the background. Honey tones too!

YUM! I love this tea … I’m on my second cup (third and fourth infusions, combined), and I am noticing now a hint of vanilla starting to peek through, as well as the peach tones emerging more. The vegetative tones have softened some what, as has the charred roasted taste that I experienced with the first cup.

A really enjoyable tea… I need to spend more time with this one!

Second tea of the morning….. (SRP #41)

My computer hates me today. I just lost my review.. Anyway, the short version of my intro is that I appreciate the new way they are packaging free samples. Less waste is always good in my book. Also, I appreciate that they have moved toward putting labels on the small manufacturer packages of samples, too.

This sample was provided by TeaVivre for review. I think I am on my last round of these. This has been so fun! Thank you so much to Angel and her team for introducing me to teas beyond my favorite China black teas.

The leaves are a tight ball and dark green. The liquor is an amber yellow rather than golden like greener oolong varieties. I am pretty sure the leaves are slightly roasted in this tea. It could just be the variety, but there is a light roasty or baked scent as well as flavor. It really reminds me of roasted green vegetables. The notes of butter with the heavy mouthfeel are there, but the roasted flavor is the most prevalent. I generally prefer greener oolongs, but this is good. It lies somewhere between the green and dark oolongs as far as flavor.

Mug method, 2 minutes, 185 water. No additions. Getting ready for a resteep.