TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

Home roasted green TGY oolong

bored… trying not to use my last yunnan golds, or the remaining 5g of good matcha, resorted to playing with things i dont drink as often…

used one of Yunnan sourcing’s green oolongs (no label, so almost 2 years later i have no idea which green wu it is.)

placed the oolong nuggets on aluminium foil, then in they went –
countertop convection oven

400F, 1 min + 1 min (1st min still looked green, so i put it another min, then it started to smell like sort of burnt hay/weeds).
Picture – top is roasted, but doesnt look as brown as i see it …

liquor sure isnt greenish anymore 🙂

flavor: muted flavors of the original green oolong, missing: flowery. not much of that green feel (some say metallic)
with …roasted feel… roasted like… when you place a vegetable on a really hot plate – roasted/burnt skin (like those roasted red peppers),
pleasant, cant feel as much astringency, some green tannin on the tongue(less than unroast),

noticeably different from being a straight green or a “real” dark oolong which i guess are also oxidized and stuff. maybe i feel some faint tobacco but its mixed with some of that burnt hay thing.

maybe next i’ll try a lower temp for longer time to even out the flavors (have the inside of the nugget done as well not just the outside – as i think happened here)

Tie Guan Yin * Iron Goddess of Mercy * Fujian varietal .Yunnan Sourcing LLC

Yunnan Sourcing LLC
their details:
“Tie Guan Yin * Taiwanese Grown Oolong Tea * Iron Goddess of Mercy * Fujian varietal * Spring 2007
hand picked…hand roasted just enough to dry…
low oxidization level (just 25%) preserves the flowery and fruity notes…”

a tgy, Didnt know what i was tasting since the package was not labeled in english 😛 , but i opened it and a familial smell struck me,
oy, i should know by now what i like, but this was another roasted oolong.

Really tiny oolong nuggets (some smaller than 4mm)! dark/shade of green…

liquor is obviously dark from too much stuff, but for easier infusions imagine a lighter shade of orange.

1 tbsp black scoop + 4oz 180F + 3min =

smell is flowery,
taste: roasted/little toasty & tobaccoish, astringency yes probably from the green side of things. didnt detect any floweryness,
pretty long aftertaste.

will have to retry- since i messed up the first time. — still the same impression.

wet leaf : very super nice …very 🙂 :
most are entire leaf plus some little stem, but the leaf is greenish, silky soft, very tender & tears very easily when handled, i have no idea how they twisted the leaf in those little nuggets.

dark(roasted) oolongs are not my thing, i dont know why i keep buying them 😛

Tea bag wulong-oolong tea taste-off: TenRen vs. Yamamotoyama

OOT teabag ‘extravaganza’

PARAMETRICS: 4min -> 7oz ^ 200F

TenRen topright: smell toasty taste: watery, already minor astringency

YMY topleft: watery, mild-med astringency, greenish

TR btmright: no smell, taste:watery oolong-ish, astringent cant tell anymore.

YMY btmleft: smell minor black?#?# …taste: watery black-ish!??? wtf… some spice thing going on?!?! wtf

…ish… weird stuff…

no caffeine effect on brain, still cloudy (not enough sleep)
feel the warmth of the hot liquid, now its making me sweat.

😦

wtf … watery and astringency, the tea bag curse.
hmmm… ill try 1bag 4min 4oz 200F but… “I’m afraid of Astringency” (the David Bowie song)

after cooled down to room temp, the teas taste pretty bland with a cruddy background bagged green tea taste.
but standing out are the TenRen tung ting and the TR tgy (top R, botm L)

disappointed by the yamamotoyamas, was rooting for them, oh well.

Golden Dragon Oolong .Peet’s Coffee and Tea

the ‘rare’ tea collection $3/pot (incl tax)

by the name it sounded ofcourse like a friggin less oxidized oolong, hoping for green here 😛 but what i got is again a black oolong, well oxidized,

flavor 4/7, 1st pot was strong (they use just boiling water for all teas ofcourse), quite present astringency not high but medium-low, tobacco leaf flavor was less than their TGY, also a bit chocolaty and malty, similar to an assamy + yunnan taste.

2nd pot – rebrewed the leaf (still with just boiling water, but this time less brewed- like 3min)
more pleasant taste, very low astringency, pleasant taste.

brown liquor, wet leaf is mostly full some torn, varied colors, green, brown, brown-purpleish, green with oxidated edges. most of the wet leaf has a rough feel (picked at an older age?).

pretty good, liked it better than their other oolong – the TGY

would do this one again yes.

take care to do a fast 1st brew for this tea. (1-2min, check taste, it goes astringent fast.)

Ti Kwan Yin Oolong tea .Peet’s Coffee & Tea

2.25$ incl tax for a cup.

suposedly a TGY

describble: “A “greener” oolong tea with an exotic flavor; floral, herbal and nutty, with an undercurrent of fruit.”

flavor: 3/7: to me its a “blacker” oolong. dark taste, minor tobacco-ish flavor + a hint of orange. its like the oolongs tasted from Chado tea.

again? no.

would rather drink their other oolong – golden dragon oolong (black)