Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Samovar Tea Lounge
Tea Description:
Origin: Wuyi Mountans, Fujian, China
Flavor Profile: Deep and complex…with a rich body, a roasted aroma, and sweet finish of raisin sugar, honeysuckle, and roasted barley. Warm and earthy notes of bittersweet chocolate and peat moss. Expertly dark roasted, the Wuyi oolong has very little floral notes. If you are a coffee lover, this tea will steal your heart away.
Tea Story: This long rolled oolong tea harks from the remote and ancient cliffs Wu Yi Mountains in Northern Fujian province. Produced in China since the 18th century, our dark-roasted Wuyi is also know as Wuyi Qi Lan, Wuyi’s Profound Orchid.
Our Wuyi’s nutty, dark-roasted flavor profile has won over many a coffee-drinker. If you’re someone who’s trying to wean themselves from coffee, this Wuyi is the perfect step into the world of tea. Trust us, we’ve seen many stave off coffee-withdrawal with a smile, sipping the Wuyi.
Samovarian Poetry: A climactic eruption of tea intoxication. Hauntingly ambrosial, with an evolving complexity of carmelized raisins, roasted barley, smoked bittersweet chocolate, & aged peat moss.
Food Pairing: This is the best oolong for pairing with deserts. The roasted, nutty flavors pair excellently with dark and milk chocolate, sweet creams, and the dense sweetness of baked figs or juicy dates stuffed with chevre.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Wuyi Oolong Organic Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge is a good starter Wuyi but at the price for this specific tea may not be worth it to those just starting out. This is a good tea, with notes of honey, cocoa, rock mineral, peat, salt, and lingering floral after notes, but with that said there are many other Wuyi Oolong out there at a much more affordable price tag, that are just as good, if not better.
Please don’t take this wrong, as I do enjoy this tea quite a bit but there is a slight bitter note left behind when I recall what I paid for this tea, which leaves me a bit disenchanted with Samovar.
On the good side of this Wuyi Oolong Dark Roast from Samovar Tea Lounge, there is a hardy, robust, flavor that would be excellent to serve to your coffee drinking pals. There is absolutely depth to this cup and some really wonderful flavors to explore. I also can detect some nuttiness and a creamy mouthfeel within the sip.
I feel this is an excellent tea to introduce your non tea drinking friends to as well as a great place to begin a tea journey. While there may be less expensive options out there to explore, this tea does provide one with a great starting place and a baseline to compare all others to. It has the elements one should expect and require of a good Wuyi however perhaps lacking in some elements it has all of the base notes one would need to start their knowledge from.
I do not regret this purchase, it was one of my first purchases back when I got into loose leaf tea and I do absolutely feel it set the parameter for what to expect from a good Wuyi.
Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) Wuyi Rock Oolong from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This wuyi Da Hong Pao Teavivre provides will be a perfect choice for people who want to discover Wuyi Rock Da Hong Pao teas or for oolong lovers that want to find a Da Hong Pao for their daily teas. The tea presents characteristic such as its high and long lasted floral fragrance, smooth, rich, sweet and refreshing aftertaste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a lovely tea to be sipping right now: It is so cold and wet outside, the kind of cold that gets into your bones and hangs in there, and it seems no matter what you do you just can’t get rid of that cold feeling!
Tea to the rescue! This Wuyi Da Hong Pao Oolong to be specific. The flavor is so warm with its toasty character that it seems to get right to that chill and warms me up.
The first couple of sips, I noticed a distinct mineral-y kind of tone, together with the warm, toasty, almost charcoal-y kind of flavor. The mineral note and the charcoal note seem to go together seamlessly. There is an undertone of sweetness that is honey-esque, but it is quite delicate, especially in these first two infusions. There are also intriguing floral tones that almost seem like they don’t belong there, given the sort of rugged, roasty-toasty, mineral-y kind of flavors that met me at the introduction. But these floral notes are so delightful, you want them at the party, even if they don’t seem to fit in quite so well at the beginning.
In subsequent infusions, I found that the mineral/charcoal tones seemed to soften as the floral notes began to emerge, and the honey-esque tone united with the flowery flavors so deliciously. I found that with each new cup of this tea, new flavors were just waiting to be discovered. As the mineral-y notes began to wane, I found that the background notes began to take on a more “woodsy” kind of flavor, deep and oaken, and this note seemed to add to the overall warmth of the cup. I love that this tea stood up for a good eight infusions, making this a lovely cold autumn’s evening tea for me.
But then, Teavivre has never failed to provide me with just what I need when it comes to incredible flavor and quality. They are one of the best, in my opinion!
Organic Shui Xian from Arbor Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Arbor Teas
Tea Description:
Our organic Shui Xian Oolong hails from the Wuyi mountains in China’s Fujian province. This exquisite oolong is produced using the top three to four leaves on the branch. After wilting and bruising the leaves, they are hand-rolled into their final shape. When brewed, these dark green-brown leaves create an amber infusion with an exquisite floral fragrance that complements the tea’s sweetness (in fact, Shui Xian translates directly into “narcissus”). The taste is smooth and lightly sweet, with a subtle dryness reminding of pear skin, followed by a lightly baked aftertaste. As with most oolongs of this type it is moderately oxidized, ranging from 40% to 60%. Like other fine oolong teas, our Shui Xian Oolong may be infused a number of times, with each infusion revealing a new nuance of this tea’s complex flavor.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This tea offers a very fruity flavor and is quite juicy. The roasted woody flavor is one of my favorite notes in oolong but it is so well complimented by the lighter plum flavors. I get far more plum in this cup than peach but regardless I do enjoy the juiciness of this tea. I actually almost choked on my first sip because the juiciness exploded like biting into a ripe plum! I was not expecting this out of such a darkly roasted oolong.
The aroma is lovely with nutty and earth notes working their way up to my senses. There is something in this aroma of must notes and forest floor.
The after taste lends toward the drier notes but it never quite gets so dry that it leaves your throat parched – the juiciness of the tea keeps that from happening.
I love roasty toasty oolong teas especially when they have that backed good flavor in them. The light and subtle sweetness does bring about a bakery essence to the taste.
Of course you have your rock mineral notes in here that are lovely and I do love mineral notes in tea. It comes over as quite refreshing along with the juicy plum flavors and reminds me of sitting along side a fresh running steam watching the water run over the rocks and pebbles within it.
A pleasing tea and from a company that also cares about the environment – can’t get better than that!
Shui Xian Wuyi Oolong from Verdant Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Verdant Tea
Tea Description:
Shui Xian is a tea shrouded in mystery -its name is either a reference to a Taoist immortal, a spirit of the water, or the narcissus flower. This triple-meaning is fitting for the immense complexity and richness that the tea offers.
Learn more about this Oolong here.
Taster’s Review:
This is such a delightful Oolong. The complexity here is intense! So many layers of flavor just waiting to be explored.
The sip starts out soft, but remains soft for only a moment, until my palate starts to recognize the flavor of sweet, creamy vanilla washing over it. After the blanket of vanilla subsides a bit, I begin to notice a pollen-y kind of taste … it is sweet, almost like honey, but, not quite. It tastes like it falls somewhere between the pollen and the freshest honey as it slowly oozes out of the comb. I can still very much taste the flower in this honey-esque note.
Then, I start to perceive notes of smoke in the distance. Not a strong smoky essence, but, instead, imagine charcoal that is still smoldering. Wisps of smoke appear around the surface of the charcoal … it is a tender smoke, very wispy, and offers hints of a toasty, almost charcoal-y flavor.
The tasting notes from Verdant Tea suggest ripe mango, and I do taste a fruit flavor, but I don’t know that it’s really mango that I taste. I’ve had a few mango flavored things today and I don’t know that I’d really compare those flavors to what I taste now, but I do see where Verdant Tea is coming from with that comparison. It is indeed mango-like.
Subsequent infusions reveal more of an apricot flavor, with nutty undertones. I taste hints of cinnamon as well. The tea is not quite as creamy now, although I do taste notes of vanilla … these notes are just not quite as smooth. Instead, I notice an almost mineral-y texture to the cup which really complements the cinnamon notes quite nicely.
Later, I notice that the honey sweetness seems to have united with the smoky tones to offer a caramel-y kind of taste that is sweet and smooth. In these last infusions, the tea has lost the mineral-y texture in favor of a smoother, softer … almost thin broth kind of mouthfeel. The flavors now are very unified, less distinct in their individuality, but no less complex.
Overall, this is a very unique and mysterious tea, true to its description … and another perfect example of what makes Verdant Tea so wonderful. High quality teas that not just taste good, but take you on a journey of complex flavors!
Mandarin Balsam Oolong Tea from Aftelier Perfumed Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Aftelier Perfumed Teas
Product Description:
The flavor and fragrance is based on the contrast between the syrupy vanilla sweetness of Peru balsam and the floral citrus of yellow mandarin, which marries beautifully with this full-bodied tea. This organic Wuyi oolong tea, with its slender tightly curled leaves, has a deep oxidized, roasted rice aroma and nutty flavor. Producing Wuyi Oolong tea is labor and time consuming: sun wilting, room wilting, shacking, dehydrating, roasting, rolling, cooling. The procedures occur repeatedly over days. Wuyi Oolong is even more aromatic after aging. Provides up to four infusions retaining their fragrance.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I was really impressed with the teas that I’ve tried from Aftelier Perfumed Teas, so when we were approached to try their latest creation, I was very excited.
This tea is really good. The vanilla tones of the balsam provide a really rich, creamy flavor and texture to the cup, and when combined with the deep, toasty flavor of the Wuyi Oolong, it is sublime! It reminds me very much of rice pudding, only in a teacup and without the fat and calories!
The mandarin contributes a sweet and slightly tangy flavor which contrasts well with the creamy vanilla rice notes. The floral tones are only slightly sharp, but it is enough to help cut through some of the sweeter tones to keep the tea from becoming too cloying for the palate.
It is a very elegant and luxurious kind of tea, but even so, I don’t think I’d classify this particular perfumed Oolong as a feminine tea. The more rugged qualities of the Wuyi give the tea balance.
What I like best about the teas that I’ve tried from Aftelier is this: they don’t try to cover up the flavor of the teas that they use. Instead, they embrace the natural qualities of each tea, and find the flavors that will accent and compliment them. I think that this latest creation from Aftelier exemplifies this, with the way that the deliciously creamy tones of the balsam accent the sweet, roasted notes of the Wuyi, and the mandarin coming in to brighten up the cup just so.
This is more than just a cup of tea, it’s a work of art!