Superfine Taiwan Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding Oolong Tea
93
Percentile
5 ratings |
|
Commercial Description
...this is also a High Mountain tea, which is known as its obvious floral fragrance. This Moderately-Roasted Dong Ding Oolong Tea is made of the tea leaves from Qing Xin Oolong tea tree. By roasting the tea, this Dong Ding Oolong has thick and soft leaf, smooth and brisk tea liquid. Meanwhile the strong floral fragrance makes it taste rich...
Ratings & Reviews
Page 1 of 1 page with 5 reviews
95 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5Alex (45 reviews) on Jun. 3rd, 2018
This was one of the free samples I picked with my Teavivre order. I put most of the sample in my gaiwan, leaving just enough for a later western style brew. The dry leaves smell quite roasted, but also floral and somewhat woody. The first infusion has an aroma much like the dry leaves, but a bit more floral. The taste is definitely roasty, but not so much that the roast completely covers up the other flavors, which are similar to the aroma with the addition of roasted nuts. It's fairly sweet, not as much as a bug-bitten oolong, but more than any Tieguanyin I've had, for example. After the first infusion, an almost cannabis-like smell shows up among the flowers and trees. By the third infusion, little of the first infusion's sweetness remains, and there's now some more bitterness that wasn't there in the beginning. It isn't strong or unpleasant to me, but I also enjoy very dark chocolate and IPAs, so it's possible that someone more sensitive to bitterness might dislike this tea. The leaves are quite pungent at this point. The fairly normal roasted and floral smell they started with has turned into something that makes me think of a stoner's exotic garden. With the fifth infusion, the sweetness has started to return, but this time as some sort of fruit that I can't identify yet. Sixth infusion: the stoner seems to have planted a pear tree. The roast has calmed down considerably as well. After this infusion it started needing much longer steeps, but the flavor stayed fairly consistent after this. I lost track of how many infusions I got out of it.
This is such an interesting tea that evolves quite drastically from the first infusion to the last. It's certainly not something I'd want every day, but I'd love to keep some around to have occasionally. While the price per ounce is more than I usually spend on tea, I think it's actually pretty reasonable for the quality, especially considering that it's not an everyday tea. I've spent nearly as much on tea that was nowhere near as complex.
Update: Instead of western brewing the rest of the sample, I put it in my gaiwan and used less water. The character of the tea was completely different this session, with strong, very sweet stone fruit flavors in the beginning evolving toward a slightly bitter floral and vegetal taste in the later infusions. Now I really want more of this tea so I can experiment with ratios even more.
87 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5Amanda (338 reviews) on Jun. 10th, 2014
The aroma of the dried leaves is really neat, it is a blend of roasted and floral. You get notes of sweet roasted popcorn and barley, this fades to orchid and honeysuckle, which in turn fades to a subtle chestnut. The dried leaves smell delicious, I really like the balance between floral and roasted.
The first steep is subtle yet tasty, you can tell this tea has not fully 'woken up' yet so the flavors present are not very strong. Oh the joys of short steeping and watching a tea's flavor bloom. The taste is roasted with notes of toast and popcorn, it has a finish of subtly sweet chestnut.
I was able to get a total of sixth steeps, each one quite delicious.
80 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5SarsyPie (119 reviews) on May. 30th, 2014
Pumpkin Guts! The dry leaves smell like pumpkin carving time. This is great for me, since I happen to love that time of year, as well as pumpkins. While steeping, the tea smells green and sweet. It smells only very faintly roasted.
The flavor is mild and a little more roastiness is apparent in the flavor than the aroma. This is an excellent tea.
Thanks to Alex for the sample!
67 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5Val1 (6 reviews) on Dec. 4th, 2013
Green, amber, without excessive grassy astringency and bitterness, with interesting, intriguing flavor evoking forbidden, undesirable, queer associations, with some mawkishness when cooled. Will drink with care. The second steep, without adding fresh tea, was more pleasant.
90 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5Alex Zorach (1448 reviews) on Oct. 9th, 2013
Definitely among the best oolongs I've sampled. Exceedingly pleasant, easy to brew and drink, and I'd imagine it would also be being pretty accessible.
This tea is marked as "moderately roasted"; it seems to tend slightly toward the greener side., close to what I've seen called a "traditional green" oolong, or a light amber oolong rather than a moderate roast.
The dry leaf is pleasantly aromatic, with tones of honey and wood, and faint floral tones. Upon brewing, it smells almost identical, but stronger; the floral tones come out more and they slightly suggest orchid, although not as much as the intensely green oolongs. It has a rich, thick mouthfeel, with only a slightly astringent finish, just enough to create a very pleasant sensation. Flavor is sweet, with little bitterness, and a slight sourness. There are a hint of skunky tones, which I actually found enjoyable.
The second infusion is strong, and tastes a bit darker: it has more skunky tones, and a very clear character, but bold flavor. It is more bitter and less astringent. It was my favorite infusion regardless of how I varied the steeping times.
If I used shorter initial steeps, I was able to get a third infusion, which seemed to revert back to the overall character of the first: more astringency but more subdued flavor. The used leaf seems to have a soapy smell but thankfully, none of this comes out in the cup.
I experimented a bit with brewing, but did not try gong fu brewing. I found very little leaf was necessary to produce a flavorful cup; I found my favorite way to brew this was to use less than a teaspoon of leaf, brew for 2 minutes, followed by a single, long infusion of about 5 min. Alternatively, using just over one teaspoon, I found brewing for 1 minute, then 2, then 5+ worked well. This tea was easy to brew and small changes in brewing didn't affect the flavor much.
At $27 for 3.5 ounces, this tea is pricey. But it's a top-quality tea though, it definitely has the quality to back the price. The leaf stretches pretty far too.
Page 1 of 1 page with 5 reviews
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