Leaf Type: Oolong
Produced By GoeTea
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
Have I mentioned lately how much I love the Global Tea Taster’s Club? I have absolutely loved every single tea that I’ve tried thus far (all five in the first shipment, and so far, I’ve tried 3 of the four teas sent in the second shipment), and I also love that it not only offers me the opportunity to try these teas that I would likely never have tried otherwise, but it also offers the opportunity to learn more about the teas and the processes each tea undergoes through the literature that is included with each shipment.
With this October Shipment (where we “visit” the tea farms of Taiwan), we received two teas from GoeTea. The first was the Oolong Tea with a High Degree of Fermentation, and in comparison, this tea is much sweeter and less on the savory side. Whereas the Oolong Tea with a High Degree of Fermentation had a consistency and flavor that reminded me a bit of a thin broth, this one has a heady, floral aroma and a flavor to match.
Hints of sweet apple linger in the distance, along with a honey-esque undertone. The floral notes remind me a bit of honeysuckle – so much so it evokes memories of springtime at my gramma’s house … where the honeysuckle bloomed and the Santa Ana winds would come in and sweep that fragrance through the air.
Definitely a lovely tea to sip and to recall fond memories!
ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club, October’s Shipment, Part 2: Oolong Tea with a High Degree of Fermentation
Leaf Type: Oolong
Produced By GoeTea
For More Information, visit the Tea Farms webpage
About ITFA Global Tea Taster’s Club:
By subscribing to the Global Tea Tasters Club, you will receive tea from ITFA tea farms 6 times per year. Each time, we will select a different region to feature and as we grow in tea farm members, so will your tea experience.
Your tea will also be accompanied by info about the tea and the tea farms themselves.
To know where your tea is coming from, who has grown and produced it, to taste the difference in teas from around the world…what could be better?
Taster’s Review:
This Oolong tea is AMAZING! It is quite unlike any Oolong I’ve yet to encounter.
The aroma is floral and sweet, reminding me a bit of orchid and lilies. It is a very intense fragrance. This floral essence translates into the flavor of the cup, but, I would have to say that the floral notes do not become the main focus once I’ve taken a sip. 
That is because this tea has an incredible savory overtone to it. It tastes a little salty, a little buttery (with a soft, creamy mouthfeel that compliments the buttery aspect), and vegetal tasting … a bit like steamed vegetables, yes. And, by now, you may be thinking “how does this make it unlike any Oolong I’ve ever tasted?” because I’ve often used the terms “buttery” and “vegetal” or “vegetative” to describe an Oolong.
What makes it different, in my opinion, is that these are more savory than sweet, which is characterized by a saltiness that I don’t think I’ve ever really tasted in an Oolong. This savory aspect makes this quite like soup, like a rich, nourishing broth … rather than a sweet Oolong tea.
But yes, there is sweetness to this tea as well. Remember the floral notes I mentioned earlier? Well, they are there, and they provide a sharp note that is quite complimentary to the savory tones, as well as a sweetness that seems to provide contrast to those same savory notes. Instead of a savory note that cuts through some of the sweetness, here I find that the sweetness is arriving just in time to cut through some of the savory flavors.
This is an Oolong I’d recommend to all the Oolong enthusiasts out there … it is one of those MUST TRY Oolong teas!