Tung Ting Oolong

I think this Tea is wonderfull on a gloomy rainey day like today, it just fits a peaceful mood doing nothing at all but sipping tea, lost in thought, listening to the sounds of the rain on your windows.

I bought this tea on Ebay. A terrible mistake. The tea was tasteless, with little woody fragrance which was gone after the first steep. It was a second Ten Ren tea I had an opportunity to try and I wish I had not. Their products are at best mediocre.

I can’t remember which grade of the Tung Ting I bought at TenRen at this time—I think one of the best—and today I infused it in bulk to fill my thermos for work. So this note does not reflect trying to get the absolute best from the tea, but of it’s service filling a very practical need. The leaves are dark, tightly rolled, and smell like the dark roast TGY that I used to drink all the time. It tastes a lot like that TGY too, dark earthy toasty, quite nice and mellow. Good stuff, but not terribly special.

I wish I could thank the lady in the shop who sold me this tea…

I picked up a few tins of Ten Ren tea years ago, when I was first getting into tea. This one has been sitting in my tea drawer ever since because I have realized that I mostly am not a fan of dong ding oolongs. But today, my usually tea-averse partner decided that he wanted some oolong to pair with moon cake and this was the one he chose! He drank two whole pots of it, and I resteeped a third for tomorrow before tossing the leaves.

The dried leaves are dark green, mixed between small fannings and whole, curled leaves. They smell of wood smoke and baking bread. After steeping, the whole leaves uncurl beautifully and the tea is a rich orange color. The scent is chestnuts and butter and fresh grass. It tastes of toast, nuts, and honey. Not a stunner, but a really excellent everyday sort of tea.

It’s a decent Dong Ding oolong — the first steep has a strong smokey flavor that mellows out in later steeps to an almost nutty beany taste. I wouldn’t buy it again but I have enjoyed it.

Lovely. Earthy and grassy. Both in scent and flavor. Good hot or iced. Darker amber color. Steep about 2 mins. Maybe 3. It becomes bitter quickly after that.

This is a regular for me – one of my favorites!

I bought this tea at a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and I absolutely love it. It’s one of my favorite teas. I steep the teabag in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. The taste isn’t too earthy, just very light and fresh.