Sampled in Velvet Sky in Jenkintown. Bao Zhong, or Pouchong, has been one of my favorite types of tea since I tried it, but I'm occasionally disappointed by it, and this is the fourth-worst example of it that I've tried. That may sound specific, it wasn't all that bad, but it was not close to my favorite example of this type of tea.

Dry leaf is fairly broken pieces of leaf, looks like a lower grade of bao zhong than I'm used to drinking.

The aroma of the cup is intensely floral, even somewhat perfumey. But upon sipping, it tastes very different. The aroma upon drinking is slightly lemony and also suggests spearmint or horsemint, with a sort of deep herbaceous notes I don't associate with this type of tea--more with other green oolongs. These herbaceous tones obscure the floral aroma, and the net effect is that it tastes rather soapy.

Thin-bodied, but more astringent than I'd expect, and rather sour as well.

Also--does not resteep well. Even using a fair amount of leaf, after a 2 minute first steep, a second, 5 minute steeping was thin-bodied, bland, and weak in aroma.

Not the worst example of this type of tea I've tried, but definitely towards the low end of things. This is also the most disappointing pure (unflavored) tea I've tried from Octavia, which I am usually consistently impressed with. The price is also poor...compare to Ten Ren's third-grade pouchong, which I think is a much better tea, and is around half the price, or Wegmans, which is also, in my opinion, better and cheaper. Both of these teas also have more intact leaf (and are thus probably a higher grade) than this one.

Add your own review

Login or Sign Up to comment on this review.