Kauai Orchid Oolong

I wish I had a photo to go with this tea, because it is unbelievable. My friend Rebecca went to Vancouver, and abashedly admitted to paying $57 for 100 g of this tea. But, in my opinion, it was so worth it. We celebrated last night with tea, ginger snaps, and Apples to Apples!

The bag said 90º C for something like 3 min., but we decided to go a bit lower as to not hurt the leaves, and steep longer. Cleaning them, the leaves smelled smoky, and several steeps later, had enlarged such that they probably took up 1/4 of my teacup. The leaves were so delicate that the water never turned past a light cyan color. It is so light that you really can just leave the leaves in the cup and not over-steep.

I’m no oolong master by any means, but I could absolutely taste how smooth and slightly buttery this was, with absolutely no bitter aftertaste as you have with so many teas. The floral notes, presumably from the Kauai orchid (which I know next to nothing about, I’m afraid), were absurdly delicious and light. I could drink this by the gallon if Rebecca would let me, and am definitely going to try (and probably fail) to get one last steep out of the leaves this morning…!