12 Days of Chris-Tea-Mas - Day 6: Jasmine Oolong - Tea Ave

Jasmine Oolong - Tea Ave
Type: Oolong (flavored)
Appearance (dry): Medium to large dark green balls of oolong
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 100°C, 8g, start at 1 min +30 sec each brew.
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 8

Tasting Notes:
So, it turns out that all of the Tea Ave samples I have are all 3 grams of tea, so I'll just be working with that instead of the planned 5 grams today (sorry!). Along with that, I'll be using a tasting set instead of the usual gaiwan, since I think it'll work better with the smaller amount of leaf and flavor, and since it will also give me more brews for the same amount of water. Today's album is a mashup album/mixtape by Starcadian; just released today, hear it at: https://www.mixcloud.com/lamusiquesismique/lms-mixtape-n2-starcadian/ .

Anyway, I started without a rinse this time and brewed for a full minute. The aroma was undoubtedly jasmine, but it was also very, very fruity and candy-like. The liquid was a light yellow; in relation, the flavor on the first few brews hadn't come out– all I could notice was the jasmine and perhaps a very light creaminess from the Jin Xuan base. However, it did leave a very sweet aftertaste in my mouth, and had a smooth texture. Over brews, the liquid became a much more bright yellow green, and the floral notes– both in the aroma and taste– became more pronounced. It did lose that sweet aftertaste, but in general, the body of the tea was sweet. I also noticed some sour and definitely grassy notes which appeared at the end of the taste; in my opinion, it complemented the sweet, floral taste of the tea very well and added a bit of depth to it. Over time, it became more savory in flavor– it had lost its sweetness– but it gained the milk flavor of Jin Xuan, and retained the creamy jasmine from the beginning (it was not, however, as creamy or sweet as their rose or plain Jin Xuan oolong). I ended up stopping at 8 brews, but it looked like the tea could go for a few more.

Like most Tea Ave teas, this tea suffers from a lack of flavor, most likely from the small amount of leaf I used. I've also noticed that Tea Ave's teas tend to do the best with a large amount of leaf over many brews because they have absurdly large leaves (in fact, by the time I finished brewing today, one leaf was maybe 2 inches; they're huge), and the flavor just tends to be weak in general at the beginning. However, as brewing continues, their teas tend to last a very long time, even in western brewing, staying strong in flavor (in fact, one time, I brought about 10g of Rose Oolong to a Chinese restaurant once, and it lasted the entire night in a tea pot, brewing the entire time). Overall, I enjoyed this tea very much, even though I'm not that much of a Jasmine kind of guy; as I said before, I prefer rose a lot more. However, while I did think it was fun to drink, I noticed that it lacks complexity in flavor, but it does make up for it by just being a tasty tea.


Misc. Notes:

Despite it being the last day of school before break, and a minimum day at that, today was surprisingly uneventful. I had class, went home early, had a nap (because of a headache), played some video games and watched videos/browsed the internet, watched Lee Daniels' The Butler (I actually liked it quite a bit), and am now writing this review. In fact, I actually still had that headache at the start of this review, but by the end, it's gone (I can't tell if it's because I was relaxed or because of the tea).

As for what I'm going to do over break, I'm not entirely sure. I am going to fill out a few applications for summer internships and write the essays (for both those internships and for a homestay in Japan over summer), work on my science fair project (the one with slime mold), read some books (When Marnie was There probably), drink tea, study/prepare for finals, work on writing that story with my girlfriend, hang out with people or just go outside, and just relax. I'll give updates on how that goes. Wish me luck!