Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea Licious
Tea Description:
Wulong tea has become quite popular in recent years, owing mostly to its reputed weight reducing properties. In any case, Wulong offers a brisk, strong flavor and vibrant aftertaste that will make it a delicious choice even if you are not trying to lose weight. This particular blend has added fruity touches courtesy of the passion fruit and other assorted real fruit pieces for a tea that is exceptional in flavor and aroma. Ingredients: China green oolong, marigold and passionfruit.
Learn more about this blend here.
Taster’s Review:
This Passion Fruit Oolong Tea from Tea Licious has a delicious, sweet, fruity flavor with just enough tart notes to it to keep the taste interesting.
The aroma of the dry leaf is very fruity. Once the leaves are brewed, the sweet notes in the fragrance temper a little bit, and I notice more of a vibrant “tea” scent and not so much of the strong fruity tones.
The passion fruit notes really play to the fruit notes in the tea. Usually with a greener Oolong like this one, I tend to notice more of a “floral” tone than a fruity one, but, here I notice more of the fruity notes of the Oolong, with the flowery notes sitting off in the background to provide a little contrast and complexity.
The passion fruit flavor is really well defined in this tea. I’ve tried a few passion fruit teas where the flavor isn’t always as prominent as I would have liked it to be, but here, the flavor is definitely passion fruit. It doesn’t hide. It’s loud and proud, but even though it is a foreground note, it doesn’t overpower the sweet, lush notes of the Chinese Oolong.
The texture is soft and smooth. Subsequent infusions of these leaves allow the flavoring to subside just a little bit and allow for more enjoyment of the Oolong’s complex qualities.
A really delightful tea – this makes a FABULOUS iced tea!
Taiwan Lishan High Mountain Oolong (Wulong) Tea from Fong Mong Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where To Buy: Fong Mong Tea
Tea Description:
Lishan High Mountain Oolong Tea is one of the most unique and highest quality Oolong. Grown in the Li Mountains of Taiwan, this tea is harvested at the elevation of 1200 meters in an isolated area. Due to the cold weather and relatively harsh environments, the plants grow at a very slow rate and in small quantity. The tea is either harvested during the winter or summer and sometimes only once during the entire year. After the harvest, the leaves are carefully handled and aerated during the long ride to the nearest tea maker. Despite the difficult growing conditions, the leaves are selected as the highest quality of Oolong.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
There are few teas that get me as excited as Oolong teas, and my favorites are by far the AliShan and the LiShan type Oolong teas (is there a difference between the two? I love them both, and I would be hard-pressed to be able to determine a difference between them. I mean, I know that there are differences, but I really enjoy both of them almost equally.) So, when it came time for me to sample this Taiwan Lishan High Mountain Oolong (or Wulong) Tea from Fong Mong Tea, I was a very happy tea drinker!
The dark green tea leaves, wound into tight pellets, took their time to completely unfurl. It took about six infusions to completely unfurl … but that’s quite alright with me … that just means more tea time enjoyment for me! The aroma of the brewed tea is sweet and floral, with notes of “green” … what I mean by that is … you know that smell that you experience when you walk into a forest after a rainfall? How it smells of sweet, green leaves? I smell hints of that in my teacup.
But it’s the flavor of a Lishan Oolong that captures my heart every time I drink it. It’s so sweet, smooth and creamy. It’s a complete joy to sip … so relaxing and restorative.
At the start of the sip, I notice sweetness, with notes of flower and cream. As the liquid washes over my palate, I notice the softness of the texture. Toward mid-sip, I notice hints of fruit notes. Nothing really distinct … just … hints of what could be apple. As the sip progresses toward the finish, I start to notice a vegetative note.
It is at this point where I notice vague spice notes – this is a very faint taste, but I notice it more toward the finish of the sip … as if the spice sort of settles onto my palate. Just a hint.
A lovely, complex Oolong from Fong Mong Tea! If you like your Lishan teas like I do … this is one you should try!
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong, Wulong
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Wulong tea has become quite popular in recent years, owing mostly to its reputed weight reducing properties. In any case, Wulong offers a brisk, strong flavor and vibrant aftertaste that will make it a delicious choice even if you are not trying to lose weight. This particular blend has added fruity touches courtesy of the passion fruit and other assorted real fruit pieces for a tea that is exceptional in flavor and aroma.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Passion Fruit Wulong from Red Leaf Tea is a gentle, delicate, dainty tea! How perfect that I decided to use my gorgeous pink with golden swirl teacups! I feel dainty drinking this sweet, juicy, fruity tea!
The Wulong aroma is present but it may have needed more steep time to give me that Wulong punch I am used to.
This is so subtle yet enticing with its flavoring. I could see this being the perfect tea for a young girls tea party, to introduce new tea drinkers to finer teas, etc. Brewed double strength I can absolutely see how this would be a wonderful iced tea as well.
Yes, I do like this one quite a bit. I tend to lean toward stronger flavors personally but this tea has really hit its mark with a soft warm gentle glow.
Passion Fruit Wulong has a strong buttery aroma, with fruity notes jumping up for attention. The flavor of passion fruit, and mango, perhaps even some papaya come out to play then to finish there is a lingering flavor of melon, perhaps honeydew or cantaloupe.
At 4.99 for 1.6 ounce its a steal!
Next time you are picking up some of the amazing matcha from Red Leaf Tea be sure to snag some of this as well!
Da Yu Ling Oolong from Tea from Taiwan
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Tea from Taiwan
Tea Description:
Da Yu Ling oolong tea (wu-long tea) is a premium-grade oolong tea from the Da Yu Ling area of Taiwan’s Taichung county. Its high altitude (more than 2400 meters) makes this one of the highest tea plantations in the world.
Learn more about this Oolong here.
Taster’s Review:
The website states that this tea was harvested winter 2012, and the package was vacuum sealed to preserve the freshness … and it is evident in the tasting! This tastes really fresh!
I chose to try this tea because I didn’t recognize it as one that I had tried before, but now as I’ve read the entire description on the website, I see that this is a tea that is grown on the Li Shan mountain. I guess that makes it similar (or possibly identical to?) a Li Shan Oolong … but, as I taste it, while I do note some similarities, I note also some striking differences to Li Shan Oolong tea (which I do love, by the way!)
What I notice in this first cup (the combination of my first two infusions, following a quick 15 second rinse) is a very crisp, almost “perfumed-air” quality to the flavor. But not perfumed as in a chemical taste, but more like the air that you might taste if you were in a meadow where orchids and lilies bloom. Imagine what that air that surrounds the meadow might taste like … that is what I taste here. It is quite floral – tasting primarily of orchid, with hints of lily.
It is refreshing and sweet and very enjoyable. There is a gentle creaminess to the cup, not overly buttery or like milk or cream, but something quite similar to that, lighter though, perhaps. There is an undertone of fruit, reminiscent of the apple pear … or what is also known as the Asian Pear. Crisp, sweet and juicy, but also delicate as the Asian Pear is delicate in flavor. Very pleasant.
In subsequent infusions, the flavors become less distinct, as they seem to meld together to offer a sweet, smooth, delightful flavor. It is at once: floral, slightly creamy, vegetative, and sweet. Lovely!
Taiwan Muzha Ti Kuan Yin from Nuvola Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Nuvola Tea
Tea Description:
The saffron-coloured Muzha Ti Kuan Yin Tea has a light fruity aroma and a melting creamy mouth-feel. The flavors are strong and long-lasting even after several infusions, which leaves a sweet lingering sensation in the mouth.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
What a lovely Ti Kuan Yin. This Ti Kuan Yin is a bit different than what I typically envision when it comes to Ti Kuan Yin Oolong, usually, I expect a very green tea with more of a floral/vegetative tone. And while I to taste hints of flower and vegetable within this cup, this tea has a stronger toasted nutty kind of taste, which suggests to me that these leaves were roasted.
But my first hint was the dry leaves themselves. Instead of the deep, forest green color that many Ti Kuan Yin teas possess, this one is darker in color, a shade that is more brown than it is green. And then, the aroma also offered a toasty scent, a scent that filled the kitchen as I brewed the tea and enchanted my senses. 
The flavor, as I mentioned, is that of toasty nut. But there are hints of flower in the distance, as well as hints of vegetation. Sweet, caramel-like tones please the palate. A really wonderful flavor. In this first cup, which is the results of my first two infusions, I find the flavor overall to be somewhat delicate, light and uplifting. However, even though there is a softer flavor to this cup, it tells of stronger flavors to come … begging me to infuse these leaves again … and again! So, that is what I shall do.
This second cup (infusions 3 and 4) is indeed more flavorful than the first cup, with notes of charcoal peeking out from the roasty-toasty taste. It has one of those “warm and welcome” kind of tastes to it, evoking thoughts of home and hearth and autumn. (Autumn is my favorite month and always speaks of home and time for family to me.) With these increased toasted flavors emerges a flavor that was very subtle in the first cup – a sweetness that tastes of caramel and honey.
My third and final cup (infusions 5 and 6) was not quite as strongly flavored as the second cup, but, even so, I think that this third cup is my favorite. The roasty-toasty notes seem to have softened somewhat, allowing for some of the floral notes to emerge … these floral tones that seemed somewhat hidden or obscured in the first few infusions. I love how the floral notes meld with the toasted flavor: it is savory and yet sweet. A beautiful contrast.
This tea has taken me on such a fantastic journey – one that is definitely well worth the trip! In other words: YOU should try this tea!