If memory serves – this is my very first experience of sipping on a tea from My Green Teapot – and I’m very excited!
Mint Green Oolong from My Green Teapot is the tea I’m kicking things off with and I have to say I’m already a fan! Talk about great first impressions!
Many of you know I’m freakishly into mint! I absolutely LOVE mint! The minty-freshness…oooooo…..ahhh! So when I saw that this Oolong Tea was mint flavored I automatically jumped for joy and then ran over to my hot water apparatus and started heating!
The fairly intense mint flavor paired perfectly with the natural Oolong punch of the leaf. The first infusion was completely impressive and the 2nd infusion also packed a powerful minty punch.
For me – this was the BEST first choice to make a first impression of My Green Teapot’s company and tea offerings! I can’t want to try their other offerings but I’m a little frightened that I won’t be able to find another one that blows this out of the (tea) water! The more I sip on this the more I adore it!
While sipping on this tea I decided to visit their website and noticed they SPECIALIZE in High Mountain Flavored Green Oolongs! WOW! How glorious! I can’t wait to try the rest of their flavors!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: My Green Teapot
Description
Our Mint Green Oolong Teas are all natural whole leaf teas from Taiwan infused with mint.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Pinglin Bao Chung from Terroir Tea Merchant. . .
Terroir Tea’s claim to fame is telling you about the terroir (origin of the tea, including environment, location, soil, climate, etc). Which is totally one of those things I love to know. Where did this come from? Who grew it? Can I go meet them?
This particular tea comes from a place that allegedly smells like tea all the time because said tea is drying outside.
I dare you to find a better location, except for maybe Disney World or something.
What I like about this tea (aside from knowing about the enchanted town from whence it came) is how very light and buttery it is. The color hardly changes at all during steeping, so you have to TRUST that it’s steeped after a few minutes. It’s very airy and floral and sweet. It’s like a Precious Moments figurine of an angel.
I joke about Precious Moments figurines a LOT, but it’s mostly because I intend to become the kind of old lady who collects the heck out of them. I love their… little… faces.
I know I wear all black every day, and own more than one Marilyn Manson album, but I can’t resist sweet things. I love dessert tea and sweet light oolongs. I love puppies. I love figurines.
And I love the idea of a town in Taiwan that smells nice all the time. How WONDERFUL is that?
That’s how Terroir Tea brings you in. They sell not only the tea (which is delicious!) but the story behind the tea. It’s the whole package!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Terroir Tea Merchant
Description
An aromatic strip-style green oolong that’s purely delicious and refreshing. The lightest oxidised of all oolongs, Bao Chung has the best characteristics of green tea together with unique oolong qualities to create a complex and enjoyable tea experience.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Elixir #9 (Peachy Oolong) From Liquid Proust Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Liquid Proust Teas (On Etsy)
Tea Description:
Ingredients: Green oolong (Vietnamese Tung Ting), peach blossoms, flavoring.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Finally trying the last of the tea samples that Andrew, from Liquid Proust Teas, was nice enough to send my way. Over on Steepster I’ve posted this review as well – and there it has some special significance as well as it’s my 3000th ‘tasting note’ on that site. I really wanted to celebrate my involvement in the Steepster community by drinking a tea made by someone also engaged within the Steepster community not just as a ‘creator’ but as a consumer as well.
The base for this tea is a Tung Ting/Dong Ding, which is a type of oolong I find pretty enjoyable though not one I drink as regularly as other types. The infused leaf was just gorgeous; long, full olive green leaves with a nicely bruised and oxidized red rim around the edge of the leaf. I tried to show my mother, who was watching me brew the tea but she just didn’t understand the beauty of that.
With both Western Style infusions I ended up doing, I found that more than anything else that I could taste the base tea. It was very fragile/delicate overall with an initial sweet flavour with almost a ‘leather’ or gentle smoke note, but then evolved into this super fragrant and aromatic floral tea with very bright, round notes of lily or possibly lilac to a lesser extent. There was also a smooth, silky vanilla-like sweetness as well especially in the end of the sip/long lingering aftertaste.
I could also taste the peach blossom as just this extra ‘floral’ flavour with a little bit of honey and generic fruit sweetness. Sometimes I forget that, unlike orange blossoms, peach blossoms don’t exactly taste ‘peachy’. I do wish this had been peachier, though – with a name that contains both “Elixir” and “Peachy” I expected both a more vibrant, rich fruity taste as well as something distinctly peach. That said, this was a very calm, delicious tea and I did really enjoy drinking it.
Dong Ding Oolong from Far Leaves Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Far Leaves Tea
Tea Description:
A classic Taiwan Oolong, grown high above lugu valley this summit tea has a soaring floral opening and a rich lasting finish.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Getting some of this Dong Ding Oolong from Far Leaves Tea to sample from my SororiTea Sister Anne was such a lovely surprise! Not only do I love a good oolong, but I have never had a tea from Far Leaves Tea, so this is a real treat!
I love the cute canisters the tea comes in and while I did not find anything regarding this on the website, yet, I am almost certain that the container is fully recyclable, that is if you do not choose to reuse it!
The dry leaf is typical for a green Dong Ding oolong and has a lovely light floral aroma. I am getting a bit of a white lilac aroma from the dry leaf.
Once steeped the liquor smells of vanilla, cane sugar, and lilac. The color of the liquor is golden yellow, or a very light amber tone.
The taste in the first steep is more toward the floral side with just a hint at nuttiness, not as buttery or creamy as some Dong Ding, but there is a slight vanilla undertone to the taste. If you swish the tea around in your mouth you will feel more of the creaminess and richness. The resulting aftertaste is floral.
The leaf holds up well to several steeps, at least four, with each steep releasing the flavor notes at different intensity levels.
The astringency in this tea is the perfect level for this type of tea.
I generally prefer a dark roasted oolong but this is quite lovely and the quality of this tea makes me want to explore more of Far Leaves options.
Wu Ling Tea from Tea from Taiwan
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea from Taiwan
Tea Description:
Wu Ling oolong tea (wu-long tea) is our best tea in our regular collection. Wu Ling is a mountain area in Taichung county and its high altitude (more than 2000 meters) contributes to the ideal growing conditions for wu long tea.
Another reason why Wu Ling wu long tea is of such fine quality is the soil of the Wu Ling area. Wu Ling was a fruit producing region for many years until economic conditions favored imported fruit over home-grown apples and pears. Former orchards in the Wu Ling area were converted into oolong tea plantations, and Wu Ling wu long tea is renowned for its fruity quality.
Wu Ling is located on Mount Li (Li Shan or Pear Mountain) and wu long tea from Mount Li is the most prized wu long tea in Taiwan. It is ideally suited for gong fu style brewing and can be re-brewed up to eight times while still retaining plenty of flavor.
More information about the Li Shan area of Taiwan (including a section on Wu Ling wu long tea) can be found on this website about Wu Ling farm.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wu Ling Oolong is a very subtle tea with sweet notes of vanilla, cane sugar, and pear. Now as good as that sounds, don’t think that these notes are going to jump up and do a jig on your taste buds. This tea has a polite mannerism that evolves through multiple steeps and must be sipped slowly and savored for each succulent note.
Of course this tea is best brewed gong fu style and through the multiple steeps produces more notes to enjoy.
As you enjoy infusions you will find notes that range from sweet, as I mentioned above, to spicy, nutty, toasty, bake-y, floral, buttery, and fruity.
This green oolong still has a nice roast-y flavor, but unlike it’s darker counterparts is much more delicate and more vegetal in flavor.
This tea is quite complex and layered, some have said it is a bit too confusing for them while others absolutely adore it. Personally, I find it quite enjoyable but more so when I really have time to relax, such as while reading, or enjoying the outdoors. It allows me time to really savor each note as it comes forward.
I especially love this tea because I have an intense sweet tooth and butterscotch candies are one of my favorite candies. Between the cane sugar note, and the butter note, I do taste butterscotch candy in this tea every so often.
In dry form the tea has a wonderful aroma, steeped the color of the tea is a very light yellow, leaning toward a deeper golden yellow in forward steeps. Interesting how the tea becomes darker not lighter in progressive steeps. It only goes to show what a good tea this is since it has such staying power and continues to give off its bounty of notes. The leaf once steeped really expands allowing you to see how each leaf had been carefully rolled into the tiny nuggets. The aroma of the steeped leaf is my favorite of the two aromas between dry and steeped as it gives off a deeper darker note of extra crispy toast. It is no surprise that I prefer this over the pre-steeped state as I do normally prefer darker oolong.
For a green oolong however, this tea is top notch and I will throughly enjoy the rest of my many steeps to come.