Ocean Of Tea, Ti Kuan Yin

Ocean Of Tea Description:
Ti Kuan Yin is the most famous Chinese Oolong tea with a great orchid aroma and finish. This tea is nice, light and has a hint of dried apricot. 

Our tea is hand-harvested from the Wu-Yi tea bush and made by using traditional crafting techniques developed in China’s Fujian province. The leaves are tightly rolled and you can get 3-4 good infusions out of the same leaves. Affordably priced, this is a great tea to drink with company.

Sample provided by Ocean of Tea.

My Review:
This is my second Ocean of Tea offering. The first being Earl Grey Premium. I learned from that one to trust the recommended steeping instructions that are clearly listed on the simple, yet well laid out, label. I also found the quality of the tea to be very good, so I am a little more relaxed with this one.

I opened the sample and removed 2 tsp of leaf per instructions. This looks like Man Tea because it looks like camo. There is hunter green, olive green, lighter green, and some tan leaf in the tightly rolled mix. Yep, I could get lost in this.

The leaf went in the press and to it was added filtered water heated to 195 F. The steep time was three minutes. This produces a lot of leaf. A tea ball is definitely not recommended by me. It expands way too much and needs to be free. The liquor is honey golden in color and the wet leaf scent is medium roasted with orchid notes.

The sip is much like the aroma except the roast and the orchid floral notes are very balanced. Another thing I notice is this has a strong honey like sweetness. I do not detect any bite or bitterness, then again I don't expect any. It is somewhat drying. The company description mentions dried apricot. Many of the reviews by fellow bloggers mention it as well. Having never tasted a dried apricot, I don't make the connection. I'll take their word for it. Others also mentioned nutty. On that I will agree, though here I don't make a connection to a particular type of nut.

For my personal tastes, I prefer a greener less roasted tieguanyin but if you are a moderate roasted oolong person, I can find nothing off putting or out of place with this cup. Ocean of Teas' Ti Kuan Yin seems to me to be a solid oolong at a fair price.

Visit the Ocean of Tea website.