IrelandA delicious and balanced dark roast oolong
Notes of vanilla, some very slight hint of floral notes, coffee, as well as roasted flavours (nutty, charcoal). Delicious tea, thick mouth texture and quite a warming and calming energy. For me, an important thing about this tea is that despite the heavy roast, the brighter and darker flavours are balanced and keep the tea interesting during the whole experience. Excellent sustain: at around 7-8 steeps the flavours are still very potent, it could probably easily go 12-15 steeps. On later steeps the brighter vanilla and floral notes go away, and the nuttiness becomes more dominant. (Used 4 g of tea in a 70 mL porcelain gaiwan with 8-14 second infusions with boiling water)
United StatesHeavy Roasted!
I like this oolong quite a bit but just want to caution that it is quite heavily roasted. I had the opportunity to try a few different da hong pao teas with varying roasts through my local tea scene side by side (gaiwan next to gaiwan?) and the more intense roast shapes this oolong in such a fun way. I love the way this tea develops through each steep, the chocolate and tobacco notes really shine with a lovely minerality undertone.