Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Norbu Tea
Product Description:
Our Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin is a green style Anxi Tie Guan Yin that was harvested and processed* in the Spring of 2011, but the way it was grown makes the mouthfeel and particularly the aftertaste quite different from traditionally grown Tie Guan Yin. Our Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin was grown very much like Japan’s Kabusecha (a partially shade-grown green tea). It was grown in full sun like a regular Tie Guan Yin until 2-3 weeks before harvest. At that point, a cover/net was rolled out directly on top of the tea plants to block about half of the sunlight. The reduced exposure to sunlight increases amino acid & chlorophyll levels in the leaves, resulting in a finished product with a fuller mouthfeel and an exceptionally rich, penetrating and mouth-coating bittersweet aftertaste.
Taster’s Review:
Norbu Tea has an excellent collection of high quality teas, and I’ve always been very impressed with teas (and especially their Oolongs!) that I’ve received from them. So, when I received this Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin in my Oolong October Steepster Select package, I was thrilled. I had very high expectations, and again, I find that Norbu Tea has not only met those expectations, but exceeded them.
The brewed tea smells beautiful. Very floral! Hints of lilac that remind me of my gramma’s backyard in the springtime. Orchid. Honeysuckle. It is a very lush floral fragrance.
The flavor is sublime. It tastes sweet and floral, and the mouthfeel is thick and rich. Creamy. I want to say “buttery” but it really isn’t quite like butter, it is more like sweet cream. The aftertaste is sweet, but with a slight savory tone to keep it from coming across as too sweet. It is a very luxurious tea to sip.
Generally, you would find me recommending Norbu Tea’s Ali Shan Oolong (and my preference is for the spring or fall harvest Ali Shan) … and I still do! But, I now need to include yet another onto my list of recommendations for Norbu Tea: Shade Grown Tie Guan Yin! If you are a fan of Tie Guan Yin, you MUST try this one. It is likely to become your favorite!
Dong Ding Oolong from Naivetea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Naivetea
Product Description:
1st Place 2011 North American Tea Championship Aged/Baked Oolong
Layered flavor, notes of toasted rice and caramel, lingering refined sweetness.
Mouth Feel: Soft with medium and smooth body
Aroma: Subtle, roasted aroma with hints of cane sugar
Ingredients: Ching Shin Oolong
Oxidation/Fermentation: Medium, 30%
Roast: 30%
Origin: Dong Ding, Central Taiwan
Elevation: 700 meters/2,296 feet
Taster’s Review:
For the month of October, the Steepster Select theme was “Oolong October.” Needless to say I’m overjoyed about the theme, as Oolong is one of my favorite types of tea. (And no, we didn’t skip a month. The first month was August, received in August. The guys at Steepster decided to change it up a little after that first shipment, so now the teas we received in September are October teas… and the teas we receive in October will be November teas… and so on).
Anyway, this is the first tea that I tried from our three Oolong selections in the October collection. I was thrilled because I love Naivetea’s Oolongs – they have a wonderful selection and their flavored Oolongs are amazing. I haven’t yet tried their Dong Ding, so I was definitely excited by this opportunity to taste it.
The first thing I notice is the aroma of the dry leaf. It reminds me of the smell of autumn … specifically, the smell of the woods in autumn, when earth and wood is damp and the leaves are drying and there is a distinct note of smoke in the air from a nearby cabin’s chimney. The fragrance of the brewed tea is a different, but still quite enjoyable: warm and roasty-toasty, with hints of earth and vegetation.
Mmm! This is an absolutely perfect tea choice for autumn! It is sweet and toasty, with an caramelized flavor that teases the palate. It has a somewhat vegetative taste, but it is more like a roasted vegetable flavor: you know that sweet, slightly charred taste of vegetables that have been roasted at a high heat? You can still taste the vegetable there, but, much of the natural sugars in the vegetables have been caramelized. A sweet yet savory taste. Yeah… that’s pretty much like what I’m tasting now.
Unlike some of the greener Oolongs, this has a thinner texture. It isn’t a buttery or thick mouthfeel, it is soft and light, which allows me to experience the complex layers of this Oolong. So happy to have had the opportunity to try this Oolong – it’s outstanding!