Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Infusions’

Dry leaf reminds me of fresh cut greens.

Brewed this sample in my IngeniTea and made it into iced tea.

2 minute infusion yields a pale yellow infusion.

This is very much a green oolong, not sweet, not too bitter.

This tea really reminds me of crisp, fresh cut grass.

Good for multiple infusions. The bitterness fades with each infusion, making this oolong more enjoyable the further you go. Try it, Experiment. Enjoy!

You can purchase the Yellow Gold Oolong Tea | Huang Jin Gui Wu Long directly from the Canton Tea Co. website.

I have had this tea for a few weeks but wanted to wait for the perfect occasion to try it.  Mark T. Wendell has a reputation for exquisite teas and seems to import only the very best.  In business for over a hundred years, it wins customer loyalty by superb service and quality.  I’ve long been a fan of their black teas but have yet to try one of the oolongs.  Today was a grey and gloomy day which called for a special tea to provide sunshine within.   Mark T. Wendell’s Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong  was a much more than satisfying compensation for a dank chilly afternoon.

The first thing I thought when I saw this tea was, “Ooh, Extra Fancy?” This is the first plain dark oolong I’ve had the pleasure of trying so I’m really excited to see what I think.

The leaves were long, dark, and twisted with a few light green/gold pieces thrown in just for fun. The scent of the dry leaf was light and toasted. This is a tea that really needs boiling water otherwise it will taste extremely weak.

The first infusion was very smooth and not astringent, which is a problem I’ve had with the first infusions of a few flavored oolongs. The toasted scent has carried over to the brewed tea and is now taking on a wood-like quality.

My favorite thing about oolongs is their ability to change personalities over infusions. However, this one didn’t change much at all. I was really looking for some type of sweet note or just anything different from one infusion to the next, but I was a bit disappointed. In addition, it was only able to withstand 3 infusions which surprised me a bit since it was an unflavored oolong.

I will say that if you aren’t expecting any surprising tastes, this oolong is quite drinkable. I’ve been drinking it while studying because it is very smooth and I don’t have to add a bunch of stuff to it before it tastes good. I was excited to try it, but I think I’m still looking for my perfect oolong.

You can purchase the Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.

This is the second tea blend I have tried with Formosan and Indian teas. I am wondering about Formosa teas are. They are from Taiwan. From what I can gather, Formosa teas are oolongs. So, I am supposing that the one in this particular blend is on the black side of things. This does explain the flavor profile. I was not expecting an oolong to be in this tea. I think a shorter infusion in my smallest teapot would be a better brewing method for this tea.

I was right, less leaf and a different brewing vessel improved this tea. I treated the leaves as I would if I were brewing on oolong: less leaves, cooler water, small tea pot.

Ok, now to the review of this tea.

Amber colored liquid poured from my teapot to my cup. First smell is of a traditional tea smell. No fancy additives taking away from the tea leaves. The sip revealed an earthiness that is hard for me to pinpoint. If you could taste water running over smooth stones, that would be this tea. It is simple tea with many layers of flavor.

The astringency is there, but I expected that with this blend. All the teas are bold in their own right and then to have here all together in one blend, this is one tea that definitely says Good Morning in a BIG way.

This will have to be a weekend tea for me. Time is a factor for me during the week, this tea will cause you to ponder the story of the tea leaves and solve the problems of the world. With each new infusion, another dimension unfolds. The second infusion is milder. I don’t see this going over two infusions and still being viable. I suppose the reason for this is the other two black teas as I rarely think that black teas taste good after two infusions.

All in all, this tea is good. If you are curious about oolongs, this may be a good starting place. It tastes like an oolong but has all the characteristics of black tea.

You can purchase the Winey Keeman English Breakfast directly from the Grace Tea Company website.

Dry leaf appearance: dark green, flat leaves with pineapple, brown rice, cardamom, bamboo shoots, red pepper corn, papaya and coconut. The smell transports you to an island vacation. I suspect that the coconut is the reason my teapot had a “mini vacation” to a tropical paradise!

This brew is clear with a light taste. Pure enjoyment can be found with this tea. I find myself wanting it each day around 8:30 PM, which indicates to me that the caffeine level is low and the tea itself is relaxing.

Good for multiple infusions.

You can purchase the Bamboo Shoots directly from the TeaFrog website.

I have had this tea for a few weeks but wanted to wait for the perfect occasion to try it.  Mark T. Wendell has a reputation for exquisite teas and seems to import only the very best.  In business for over a hundred years, it wins customer loyalty by superb service and quality.  I’ve long been a fan of their black teas but have yet to try one of the oolongs.  Today was a grey and gloomy day which called for a special tea to provide sunshine within.   Mark T. Wendell’s Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong  was a much more than satisfying compensation for a dank chilly afternoon.

The leaves are long, slightly twistes, and have a magnificent dark chestnut color  with some pearly silver tips.  They slowly unfurled and majestically filled the tea pot, creating a dark golden liquor.  Although the odor and aroma was not pronounced, the taste of the tea was simply lovely.  The best adjectives that sprang to mind were  regal and stately.   By that, I mean that the tea is clearly a “king” or “queen” of the oolong family.  The taste is both self-assured and a little bit playful in that it can smoothly segue from a woodsy taste to a floral one to a fruity one.   The different waves of flavor are typical of a leaf that has been exposed to sophisticated and careful growing methods.  

The multiple layers of taste and flavor assure that you will have a remarkable tea experience with Mark T. Wendell’s Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong.  I had several infusions.  Although the tea does not need sugar at all, I experimented with adding some on the third infusion and it did not spoil the tea at all–the Demerara sugar added a bit of a jam-on-toast affect to the tea which was delicious and it did not take away from the strong elements of the tea.  I than added some milk and the tea stands up very well to the milk.  For those who like a milky or creamy tea, this tea’s wealth of flavors are not diluted by the milk.

Mark T. Wendell’s Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong tea is a splendid investment if you want some impressive flavors to brighten your day.  If it were a liquor, I would call it a champagne.  If it were a painting, I would call it a classical Dutch master.  If it were music, I would call it Mozart.  

You can purchase the Extra Fancy Formosa Oolong directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.