Scent in package: warm, like raisin bread, with a malty fragrance
Brewed in: Tea for one pot (work)
Steeped: 4 min@180 or so, then 5 min. @180 (or so)
Cup: Café mug at work
This tea was another free sample sent with an order…I do love free samples. This one I loved so much I immediately ordered a larger bag, which is where the leaves I’m drinking now came from!
It’s an interesting tea to look at…large dried leaves of brown and green in a twiggy mixture that reminds me of something I’d see on the forest floor in autumn, minus the white mold spores. It smells faintly earthy and warm, almost like you’d expect from a cooked puerh, though not nearly as strong. There is a sweet, malty scent underlying, which smells like boiled raisins, malty, sweet and sticky.
I brewed the sample at home…with tap water, as I normally do. My filtered water at home just makes tea taste thin, while the tap water gives it body and more flavor. At work, I use spring water from the water cooler, which is kind of in between the two. I used the same brewing parameters at home, though there may have been more infusions (I don’t remember, and I didn’t take notes, unfortunately).
I love this tea mainly because it consistently tastes like warm raisin bread, and I *adore* raisin bread! That’s not to say that the taste excludes the quintessential oolong flavor, but rather it compliments it most nicely, intensifying the traditional oolong taste into something sweeter and more bold. It is a bit thinner with the spring water, and I will say I prefer it with tap water, but either way, the tea is sweet and absolutely delectable, like a dessert. If you like darker oolongs, and malty teas (think a very light Assam), this tea is definitely one you should try. I highly recommend it, and I may just go get some raisin bread to snack on next time I’m brewing a cup (or several). This would be a wonderful breakfast tea too, good with something that needs syrup, like pancakes or waffles.
Try it. You’ll love it.
In regard to your water, I would definitely recommend a good carbon filter system. I am going to make the assumption that you are using reverse osmosis as your filtration at home, hence the thin taste. The problem with RO is that it removes the minerals which the tea needs to taste full. It is the same problem with distilled water.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with tap water is that while you are getting the minerals necessary to bring out the flavor in the tea, you are also getting all kinds of stuff that you don't want in your cup, chlorine for starters, which ruins flavor and gives you a dose of bleach in your body. Also there are some chemicals that can be in our tap water that are made more harmful when heated in the kettle.
Also, if you can help it, try not to get water in plastic as it, too, can leach into water and give it a funny smell and taste.