Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Butiki Teas
Tea Description:
Our Nilgiri Frost Oolong originates from Nilgiri, in Southern India and is graded TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe). Since this tea is grown at a high elevation, the leaves are exposed to a light frost during some nights of the winter months. The long thin chocolate colored leaves are hand twisted and produce a weighty body. This smooth tea has notes of citrus, peach, pecan, and oak. There are many qualities similar to a Nilgiri black tea; however, the frost oolong is much gentler and sweeter. This tea is produced in very limited quantities due to the short harvest period and special conditions that must exist.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is not your average flowery Oolong! In fact, this is the Oolong I’d recommend to those who tend to shy away from Oolong teas because they find them to be too floral tasting or too delicate. This has a smoother, robust flavor that reminds me a bit of an masculine, aged bourbon that has been aged in an oak cask … but without that strong alcohol taste!
OK … so that is more of me imagining what a good, strong, aged bourbon might taste like, because I’m certainly no connoisseur, and hopefully, I didn’t come off sounding like I had no idea of what I was talking about. For all I know, bourbon doesn’t taste really masculine or woody or anything else. I’m just shooting from the hip here, imagining how this might compare to the flavor of a top-notch bourbon.
But, what I do experience – immediately – when I taste this tea is the peach tones. So distinct and sweet and yummy! There are also notes of citrus, just as the description above suggests. At first, the citrus notes revealed themselves to be the sweeter side of citrus, but, as I continue to sip, I notice a clear sour note that hits right before mid-sip, and just as quickly as it appears, it disappears. It seems to just drop in for a moment, to offer an interesting contrast.
Nutty flavors, yes, I get those too. Lovely woody notes as I mentioned earlier… and virtually no floral-y notes whatsoever. Even if this does not measure up to the bourbon qualities that I mentioned earlier, this is definitely masculine and absolutely fantastic. And , actually, I think it doesn’t HAVE to measure up, because I’d rather drink this than the finest, most expensive bourbon that’s out there!
This is definitely one of the best “darker” Oolong teas I’ve ever tasted! If you love Oolong like I do, you really MUST try this one.
