Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Champagne Color’

The dry leaves are two inches in length, black in color and appear to be tightly rolled. The smell of the dry leaves is sweet.

A two minute infusion reveals a champagne colored tea, the smell is nutty. It reminds me of a Genmaicha.

Three minute infusion deepens the color in my cup. Now, the taste is meaty and full bodied. The leaves are still rolled.

Four minute infusion and the leaves have unfurled completely. The brew is back to the original champagne color. The taste is now much lighter than the previous infusions.

Five minute infusion and the taste is similar to the last, a light smooth oolong.

Since the leaves are long and wiry, be careful of the amount of leaves that you use in your infuser basket. Someone once told me to use half the amount of leaves for oolongs than you would other teas. The reason for this advice is that the oolong leaves tend to be more tightly rolled than other teas. The leaves unfurl with each infusion yielding a different layer to the tea. Using a smaller vessel to brew an oolong tea is also good advice and it will allow you to enjoy the many aspects of an oolong with very little leaf in your brewing vessel. I used my Korean Seokjung (clay tea set) to brew this wonderful Phoenix Oolong.

You can purchase the products directly from the Tao Tea Leaf website.