Producer: Spice and Tea Exchange
Origin: Thailand
Brewing Parameters: 1 tbsp, 8 oz water, 195°F for 3-4 min. (recommended)
Appearance: Medium-sized ruby/dark amber colored balled oolong
Rating: B | 86/100
# of Brews: 7
Tasting Notes and Thoughts
It's been a long time since my last review, mostly because it's been a very busy past two months. I plan to catch all of you up on what's happened recently in a life update post (there's been a ton and I can't do it all in the Other Notes section). Anyway, I went to Portland for the first half of spring break and I got a couple of teas from Spice and Tea Exchange and Tea Chai Te that I plan to review.
So, the first tea I'm reviewing is ruby oolong, a "dark fermented oolong tea from Thailand known for its luminous infusion and rich, complex flavor." The price seems relatively normal for most loose leaf of his quality– $5.95 for 1 oz, or 28g. When I first brewed this tea, the leaves had a very strong roasted and smoky smell. The color of the brew was a light, yellow amber color which stayed relatively constant throughout the drinking session.
If I had to describe this tea, I'd say it's very similar to a Tie Guan Yin. The first few brews had a very strong roasted taste, with some nutty chocolate notes. It's smooth with a light cinnamon aftertaste. Interestingly, the flavor picked up more of a fruity taste as time went on, with a citrusy-raisin flavor (maybe like wine). Overall, it's a good tea, but again, I think I prefer fresh/greener oolongs. If you're into roasted oolongs, this might be for you.
Other Notes
Today's album is Yaeji EP by Yaeji. Found them from Likido (the music group in NY with Mark Redito) and there are some pretty good ambient songs in here. My favorite is Feel it Out; the music video for this song came out recently, so if you google it you should be able to watch it.
It's spring break right now, so I'll try to get a few reviews done before school starts up again on Monday. Here's what's planned for the other Portland teas:
Hazelnut Cookie black from Spice and Tea Exchange
Chocolate Chipotle Chai from Tea Chai Te
Caramel Creme Brulee from Tea Chai Te
Portland's a nice place, but personally I prefer San Francisco. It seems like a very white-washed SF– which isn't bad necessarily (love the food trucks there!), but I don't prefer it. I might need to spend more time there before I make a final decision, but the one day I spent there was just okay. We went to Powell's Books and Voodoo Donuts which was fun, and we also stopped at Tea Chai Te. Great selection of tea there, but I didn't think service was that great. The guy selling me the tea didn't seem like he knew a lot about it and was kind of a dick; he also overbrewed some velvet/milk oolong (which was deathly bitter and a bit hard to do).
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