This is another generous tin furnished by Zenjala. This proved to be quite an interesting tea. When I opened the bag it was heavily lemon lime. Honestly it was kind of too heavy to the point of smelling artificial. I was concerned. The leaf is tightly rolled into nuggets typical of oolongs. You can't tell it by the picture but the appearance of the nuggets is a bit grainy or fuzzy looking.
The label on the inner bag is clearly marked with brewing instructions. I used a scoop of nuggets in my press. The first cup was not nearly as heavy on the lemon lime as it smelled but I couldn’t make up my mind about it. The oolong base was coming through, but in the background. The taste was like what I would expect from a flavored tea bag. Maybe if I used a short first steep it would be greatly improved. I'll have to experiment with that next time.
As I steeped cup two I noticed how full of leaf the press had become. The leaf has really expanded. This time the lemon lime is greatly reduced. This is a good cup.
As the cup cooled the highly floral oolong began to shine. Sweet, sweet honeysuckle. Now this is a great cup. I think the base is Huang Jin Gui also known as Golden Osmanthus. Whether I am correct or not it is still very nice. I didn’t have time to steep this further so I sat it aside, because I know it will go a lot longer.
The next day I continued to use the leaf and steeped three more cups for a total of five – 12oz mugs. The last still had nice floral flavor and the lemon and lime were still mildly present.
Rehashing a bit, though I didn’t care much for the first cup as it seemed too heavy on the lemon lime, the rest of the cups were excellent and highly floral like a high mountain oolong. The lemon lime move more into the background with each cup. Yet it is still present in every cup. I really like this one.
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