Review: Ginseng Oolong - Loyal Tea

Type: Flavored Oolong
Producer: Loyal Tea
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 95-100°C (recommended); brewing with 6 g and gongfu style
Appearance: Medium sized balled leaves with a thick coating of dark green flavoring
Rating: B | 84/100
# of Brews: 5

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Personally, I think this tea is kind of gimmicky– with my experience with blue people ginseng oolong from Vital Tea Leaf, it's good at first but gets very old very quickly. If you're unaware of what ginseng oolong generally is, it's a roasted oolong rolled into balls and then coated in a ginseng and stevia mix. It's interesting because it tastes like a regular roasted oolong, but has a very sweet aftertaste that stays on the breath long after drinking.

First off, compared to Vital Tea Leaf's, this oolong has larger leaves with more powder/flavoring. When I washed the tea (which I don't recommend), the liquid was somewhat of a bright green color; however, in every subsequent brew, it was a dark yellowish-gold color. The flavor itself is soupy and savory with some smoky coffee and sour notes. With the sweet taste of the flavoring, the sour taste is especially prevalent, coming in and leaving on the back end of the tongue quickly. This is no different from Vital Tea Leaf's; the trademark sweet aftertaste of ginseng oolong is prevalent on this one, too.

Overall, I think it's obvious what I think; while this particular brand is a good tea, ginseng oolong is nice as a once in a while drink. It's one of those teas that I would give to someone if they were knew to tea, because it's interesting and drunk more for the experience than the actual flavor.


Other Notes

Today's album is Lungs by Florence + the Machine. It's a bit old now, but I mainly chose it for the song Dog Days are Over (which I feel is pretty fitting, now that high school is over). The whole album is great, though; I wish I actually did a full listen a while ago.

I graduated on Friday. A lot has happened since then, but I'll save it for its own post. I don't really have much planned for the next few weeks, but I need to catch up on my writing and do some stuff for Berkeley.