Vietnam 'Red Buffalo' Oolong Tea

A Western style cup that I had back during that day I was drinking lots and lots of oolongs earlier in the week. It’s been a while since I last had this tea and it was nicer than I remembered. Very creamy and soft mouthfeel with dominant notes of thick, golden honey and red fruit jams with some starchy baked yam and brown sugar notes too. Warm, inviting, and very round across the palate.

Whoa, I totally understand why this tea is so highly rated and popular! It’s amazing! I didn’t want to wait for the tea to cool before tasting, so I I took a sip with a spoon, and before I realized, I had sipped almost half of the cup! I taste honey, butter, and cream. There’s a floral aftertaste that has me going “mmmm.”

Unfortunately, this tea doesn’t re-steep too well – I was only able to get 2 steeps (1 and 2 min) out of it. However, this is definitely going on my re-purchase list!

195F, 8oz, 1 tsp. Westren.
2min30s- honey, floral, cream. Creamy honey throughout steep. Smooth.

I steeped this well passed the time printed on the directions. Dropped the 2nd steep to recommended time of 1min. Really the flavor was similar and tea was not negatively impacted by longer steep time. Like this tea 89.

I did try this in a gaiwan the next day and found I liked it better westren.

10:55 am Sunday Indianapolis, IN

Reviewing my first tea from the dark matter group buy.

I seem to be getting into the habit of only reviewing a tea when I find something about it that I don’t prefer. I must like being the bad guy ; ) or I am too picky. Or I don’t want to see you get burned if you buy a tea because you read only good reviews, but then are stuck with something you may not like for a reason no one mentioned.

And this tea is the first one I would not recommend. It’s not that bad, but I tasted a very off putting taste in the first couple steeps, which ruined most of the following steeps for me. It could have just been me (my friend enjoyed the tea) or it could have been my batch, as this can happen.

I started off gongfu-ing this for 4 steeps. Then went into 10 min, 20 min, 30 min steeps. I would recommend brewing with western parameters. It made the weird chemically taste that I have tasted before, but can’t describe, seem less noticeable. It was either the roast (is this tea roasted?) or the high level of oxidation. First rounds very noticeable, last three less noticeable. The off flavor never totally went away.

One thing I did like, the smell towards the end was like real oatmeal raisin cookies. I did like that. I plan to experiment more with oxidized and roasted teas in the future.

Honey! A delicate honey smell and flavor. It seems pretty balanced with only the slightest hint of toasty. The 3rd steep turned a red gold color that may just be one of the prettiest cups of tea I’ve seen (alas, no pictures!). I brewed this in a gaiwan but there wasn’t much of a change until the very end steeps where a bit of mineral came out. It was pleasant but I’m not sure how often I would want to come back to it as opposed to a bolder tea.

Quick Review

I made this in my Kamjove Gongfu Tea Maker yesterday afternoon before going on a hike. I had noted “Malty, sweet, cinnamon, and nutty. Reminds me of cinnamon glazed almonds.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEUDVYkA-2d/?taken-by=sgsanders1

I had a total of 8 steeps from this sample from the Dark Matter series. I will probably end up purchasing more of this eventually. It’d be a nice tea to have in the afternoon or morning. When you’re craving a doughnut or coffee cake, this is a great substitute! However, I wouldn’t take my advice on the account that I had ice cream for dinner! Ha-ha.

This is a very smooth oolong, no bitterness at all. I am guessing that it would still taste good if over steeped, and it’s a good candidate for grampa style brewing. I’m getting malty cinnamon drizzled with honey. This would be a great afternoon treat, or a tea to share with folks who don’t like bitter tea.

My second tea from the 2016 Dark Matter.

Now this is an oolong that’s more up my alley. This tea brewed up a nice amber color and the leaves are impressively red in hue; fitting of the tea the more I got to know it. The first few steeps were wooden, with barely any roast flavor to speak of. That almost immediately gave way to these lovely honeysuckle and creamy notes, with this sprinkle of cinnamon dancing around my mouth as I aspirated. When it ended, it went quick. However that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it left me wanting more. A nice little firework of a tea.

This is one I’m incredibly likely to order more of.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEJq6-Mj_cP/?taken-by=pyramid_king_brandon

Consumed as part of Dark Matter 2016. Concurring with Liquid Proust in that it reminds me of a Taiwanese Red Jade. Sweet, no astringency. Liked it, although not sure it’s sufficiently in my wheelhouse to purchase.

Tried this as part of Dark Matter 2016, though I already had received a sample in a previous What-cha order. I used 6.2g in a 100 mL gaiwan with 200 degree water. The wet leaves gave off an aroma of cinnamon french toast when I took the lid off the gaiwan. The taste was pretty consistent throughout the 8-9 steeps of this one that I got. Sweet malty honey flavors with a nice and creamy texture. Not particularly interesting…but particularly tasty. This is one I might see myself buying some more of as a bit of a comfort tea that doesn’t require too much thought about complex flavors or anything of the like. Flavor sort of reminds me of a graham cracker, only in liquid form.