What-Cha, India Darjeeling 2nd Flush Goomtee Oolong Tea

What-Cha Description:
A delightful oolong tea which evolves and develops with each subsequent brew. A great fruity nose with a complex taste of orange and spice.

Sample provided by What-Cha Tea Redefined.

My Review:
I'm having a blah day. I knew I had not written many review posts lately - I will say the matcha reviews took an extraordinary amount of time to test, photograph, write, edit, and post, but really like most people summertime is just not prime hot tea weather. I forced myself to grab one out of the box today. Turns out What-Cha is just the treatment I needed to fight the summer tea blahs.

As with all What-Cha teas I've reviewed, this is a 10g sample in a resealable aluminum zip lock bag. The label is simple and to the point. It tells me what I need to know including a description and a best by date.

I opened the bag and my blahs went scurrying over the hill. I held the bag to my nose several times. So sweet. So spring flowers. I finally decided it has the aroma of a bouquet of peonies. Let's see, I could continue smelling this or...

Removed about 3g of leaf. It is as pretty as the aroma. The lightly twisted leaf has streaks of red and browns, along with some silvery white tips. So glad I grabbed this already today.

I used my clear glass Bodum press with water heated to 195F. I let this steep for 3 minutes per the label instructions. The leaf did not move much at all during the steep. I won't hold the lack of dance against it. I can't dance either.

As always with a Darjeeling, I am surprised at how light in color it is when poured. It looks like old fashioned ginger ale without the bubbles. I wish I had better photography skills to capture the glow of the cup. It is liquid sunshine.

The scent of the wet leaf is intoxicating. It reminds me of peaches, no wait, it's grape, I mean orange. Yeah, it is like that.

Tasting, I first notice the muscat grape notes, along with touches of malt. Beyond this it, at first, grabs me as fresh mountain stream water. Then I notice fruity notes that lightly suggest orange. I am not able to identify any spice notes as mentioned in the description. I'll chalk that up to different brewing parameters.

This is a gentle, relaxing cup to meditate upon. At the same time, I found it invigorated me. It definitely took away the blahs. Since I waited so late in the day to get started, I am going to have to break for the evening meal. I hope afterwards to pick up with more cups as this is really an enjoyable oolong.

You can find What-Cha, India Darjeeling 2nd Flush Goomtee Oolong Tea here.