12 Days of Chris-Tea-Mas - Day 4: Nepal First Flush Oolong - What-Cha

Nepal First Flush Oolong - What-Cha
Type: Oolong (unflavored)
Appearance (dry): Rolled, brown, white, and olive drab leaves of medium to small size
Recommended Brewing Parameters: 85°C, 2 tsps, 60-90 sec
Rating: B- | 80/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes:
Hey! Short review today because I just got home from Mock Trial (oh hey, I need to give an update on that sometime) and have 4 tests to study for. Today's album is Sounds of System Breakdown's self-titled album. In my opinion, an average album (SOSB has some other good albums/singles), but some of the songs in it make up for the rest: namely, Underneath the Floorboards and Love's Only Chemicals.

Anyway, just from looking at this tea, I could notice quite a few similarities to Oriental Beauty. The leaves had similar colors, albeit smaller, and the first brews had a very similar aroma. It had the citrus notes of Oriental Beauty, but seemed much more malty or earthy (similar to a black tea). The flavor was interesting, to say the least. It was in the middle between a roasted oolong and a black tea, with notes such as malt, citrus, and muscatel; it also dried my throat and coated my mouth after drinking, similar to other black teas. The liquid was a light gold color, but as brews went on, it changed to a darker, more amber color. Over time, it began to become much more drying, but more and more fruity (in fact, it tasted almost the same as Muscat tea from Lupicia, which is flavored; this is not). There were also light smoky undertones, which complemented the muscatel flavor. I ended up stopping at the 5th brew because of time, but it looked like the tea could go for a few more brews (it had begun to lose its color, however). Overall, it's an average tea, but it's not really my cup, especially because it became really astringent/dry over time.

Misc. Notes:

Nothing much to say, really. School was alright, but after school was pretty fun. The girlfriend bought me pizza (not my choice; she insisted), and we studied SAT math. I'm actually feeling pretty confident about the math now, since it looks like most of my issues come from not focusing hard enough/not reading closely. As for tomorrow, I just need to study for quite a few tests– English (essay, vocab, and possibly a reading test), Biotechnology (DNA!), Statistics (sample proportions and means, not too hard but still), and Precalculus (not sure how I feel about this considering how I've been doing on my homework, but I've been doing pretty well on tests so far so not too worried)– so I'm going to be staying up a bit late tonight. Wish me luck! Once I'm done, I can finally relax for winter break. Oh, and also, I've started applications to summer internships (mainly Stanford and the Arthritis Foundation), so wish me luck on those too!

PS: Also, I've finally figured out my schedule for next year after talking to a few people; I'll be taking (or applying to) Comp Civics, Science Research, AP Chem, Video Production, AP Literature, and AP Gov/Macro.