Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: The Tao of Tea
Tea Description:
The Phoenix Mountains (Fenghuang Shan) in Guangdong, China are home to famous varietals in oolong teas. In our last visit to this area, we studied at least seven different varietals. Notable and popular amongst them is the Mi Lan (Honey Orchid) varietal. Our name for it is Royal Phoenix.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I spent my evening enjoying this Royal Phoenix Oolong Tea from The Tao of Tea. It’s splendid, and what a wonderful tea with which to just sit back and relax. Beautifully fragrant and so flavorful.
I enjoyed four fabulous cups of this tea (I combine two infusions in each cup, resulting in eight infusions total). I think my third cup was my favorite, because it was in this cup that the flavors became very seamless and it was a harmonious experience in flavor.
My first cup offered me a soft, honeyed flavor with notes of sweet fruit with just a hint of sour, reminding me very much of a fresh plum. There were notes of wood and a sort of rustic, earthy note, as well as hints of fragrant flower. The first cup was the softest of the four cups I enjoyed, but, it was still very flavorful.
The second cup was more honey-ish than the first, with the sweeter notes of the fruit starting to emerge over the tart notes. The flavors were still very focused in this cup, and it wasn’t until the third cup where the flavors seemed to mellow a little bit and meld into one another and become very smooth and beautifully mellifluous.
The fourth cup, the flavors continue to soften and meld. However, I noticed that the honey notes were subdued and that is what made the biggest difference for me between cups three and four and why cup three was my favorite, and why I decided to stop at four cups. The honey notes are just so luscious!
A really enjoyable Oolong.
