I expected a rather bland, uninteresting oolong, based on the big-brand mass production and long-ago reviews here, but came away rather impressed. The dry-bag aroma mixes toasted rice with moist hay or newly mowed alfalfa, while still picking up the underlying base tea.

The taste came across nice and strong, as if somebody took a typical oolong flavor and turned up the volume knob a few notches. I like that! There's a little bit of grassy or vegetal element to the flavor too, which gets more pronounced through the sip and into the aftertaste, then sticks around a long time. It's not an unpleasant, "underside of lawn mower" grassiness either, but instead, a similar rice-like quality as the dry aroma, and as I've found in Japanese green teas. That was a pleasant surprise. The aftertaste does start bittering up after a few seconds, though, so hurry up and take the next sip, or wash the last one out with another beverage or your favorite antiseptic mouth rinse. Wet-bag scent was straight tea, much like a few of Murchie's many green-black tea blends.

For the price—standard Bigelow rate at most supermarkets, which is usually less expensive than all but store brands or Lipton—the value is hard to beat. Sure, there are better oolongs out there, but not many in bags, and none I've found yet at this price point.

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