Grapefruit Oolong from Adagio

Scent in tin: citrus-y, rather like fresh grapefruit
Brewed in: glass teapot
Steeped: 4 min. @ barely boiling
Cup: porcelain teacup

Why did I order this tea? Uh…it sounded interesting, different, and…well…interesting. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I can leave most of Adagio’s flavored teas (aside from chestnut and gingerbread, both of which I’ve gotten out again in this cold weather). But aside from my fascination with a tea that is flavored with something completely different, I was also intrigued with oolong as a background for the flavoring. The base tea is normally my biggest problem with flavored teas – if I don’t like them, it’s normally the base tea used. But I’d never tried a flavored oolong, and when I stumbled across these while buying tea filters for a gift, I had to take a chance.

Looking at the dry leaf, you can see clearly that it is a dark oolong, which explains the somewhat harsh brewing instructions of 5 minutes at 212 degrees. Scaredy cat that I am, I couldn’t do that to an oolong right away, no matter how dark, so I shaved off a minute and caught the water just as it started to boil. The dry leaves smell deliciously grapefruit-y, and there are pieces of rind mixed into the leaves, which are good sized and healthy looking. It actually made me hungry for grapefruit – a few slices on the side would have made me very happy.
Alas, I had no grapefruit, so I had to count on the tea to assuage the hunger. The scent of the brewed liquor was very nice – not just citrus, but rather good oolong tea with a citrus note. The texture was very smooth and rich as one might expect from an oolong, but the taste was somewhat unexpected.
Rather than simply tasting like grapefruit, the tea tasted like…well…tea. Good oolong tea, rich in flavor as well as texture. The citrus was more like the taste that comes *after* you’ve eaten the fruit…the remaining sweet tangy-ness that lingers on your tongue, with no hint of any astringency at all. The taste is almost delicate in a way, complementing the richness of texture in the mouth.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this tea very much. So much, in fact, that I plan on ordering a larger size when my sample runs out. I think it will be a wonderful tea to serve to guests, and I am considering trying it as an iced tea this summer (I’ve never tried iced oolong). It’s very reasonable at $2 a sample, or $6 for 3oz. I’d highly recommend at least a taste!