Steeping globe amaranth oolong iced tea in the wok
This is about three-quarters the amount I made last time, so I was able to steep it in the wok with a lid. It’s easier to do a neat pour from the wok to the red pot, so later (when filtering out the leaves) this will probably turn out to have been a good idea. The only flaw here is that I don’t think the wok retains heat as well as the pot, even with the lid.
I’m going with:
Boiled in the pot
Steeped in the wok
Sieved back into the pot
Cooled in the snow outside
Served or refrigerated in the beverage dispenser
HHHAHAHAHAHAHHahahahahah
Now I can make an Oolong Highball! I’m using my favorite shochu, Towari, which is made with buckwheat. Kampai!
Steeping globe amaranth oolong iced tea in the wok
This is about three-quarters the amount I made last time, so I was able to steep it in the wok with a lid. It’s easier to do a neat pour from the wok to the red pot, so later (when filtering out the leaves) this will probably turn out to have been a good idea. The only flaw here is that I don’t think the wok retains heat as well as the pot, even with the lid.
Globe Amaranth Oolong Iced Tea. I made a gallon today.
Making this was kind of an… adventure. Sometimes, flying by the seat of your pants actually works out! I could have done without the impromptu game of curling, though.
Once I’d steeped my tea in my biggest pot, I had to strain it into a secondary vessel. The only one big enough that could handle the heat was a wok. But it fit! Once it was strained I put it back in the pot, which I then put outside in the snow to cool down. The snow underneath melted unevenly, and it almost slid right off my back steps, but I managed to retrieve it before it could go over the edge. I poured it all into my brand new gallon beverage dispenser and it all fit very nicely… which was slightly surprising, since I didn’t measure a single thing in this whole process using more than my eye.
The wild tea plants growing out of the rocks on the slope behind her family’s workshop are fed by deep spring water, brought down the mountain by a simple bamboo aqueduct.
Ever tried Ba Xian (eight Immortals) oolong from Anxi?Neither had we!
Ba Xian is best known as a Dancong oolong tea - the cultivar was pioneered from old rootstock in Fenghuang, Guangdong, and given the right soil and expert craftsmanship, the leaves yield beautiful textural depth, lingering sparkling complexity and rich aromatics.
Our partner Master Zhang is a colleague of famous Dancong pioneer Huang Ruiguang, and was able to transplant several old Ba XIan plants from Wudongshan to his own fields above Daping in Anxi. These plants have been left mostly unpicked and untrimmed for years, giving them a wild appearance.
Our partner, Master Zhang, cultivates this little-seen tea cultivar in his biodiverse tea fields in Daping. The light oxidation of this tea’s traditional finish complements the dessert-like flavors of Cai Cong with a buttery, creamy finish.
From his Traditional and Autumn Tieguanyin to his 30 Year Aged Tieguanyin, you’ll save an extra 16%onall of these Anxi oolong teas on top of the 10% pre-order discount when you use the coupon code TEAMONKEY3!
Gorgeous tea-tasting evening at Piacha, Islington, London. Run by the incredible Pia Ikkala, with unique blends and gorgeous classics. This is a nutty, rich black oolong, and the sandwiches all include some tea (here apple green with brie and genmaicha with salmon).
Afternoon tea at The Wellesley, Knightsbridge, London. We snaffled up the good too fast to photograph most of it. The Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong tea was bagged but whole leaf with a mild fragrance and light, sweet taste. The 2nd flush Darjeeling was pretty good too. A good value special treat in lovely surroundings.
Some lovely oolong at Shoryu in Soho, London; it’s served hot or cold and was quite a rich, strongly scented hot brew. The lovely musty smell hit me as soon as it was poured. Could over brew easily but they keep the hot water topped up. Bonus - delicious tonkotsu in the background…
Well now, this IS interesting. It’s quite a golden oolong, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it was oolong at all - it’s almost light enough to be white tea. The “milky” flavouring is caramel-scented, with a fudgy, dairy, buttery taste that leaves a slightly sweet aftertaste.
I might have spent more time sniffing it than drinking it. Definitely to be brewed as suggested at 80 degrees and not 100.
Finally got to the UK T2 store. Incredibly helpful staff, and I stocked up on the lovely London Breakfast (80% Assam, 10% Lapsang and I forget what the rest is - but the staff stay it blends well with Melbourne Breakfast too), as well as filling our empty tins of the light, sweet Darjeeling and my favourite evening cuppa, low-caffeine Daintree. I look forward to trying the Milky Oolong.
We also sampled Strawberries & Cream ice tea in store - the colour and flavour of boiled sweets, but no less refreshing for that.
[Disc: I understand T2 is being acquired by Unilever Aus; I work with some Unilever UK/IRE brands but T2 is not a client of the agency I work for.]
The Manatea is rather charming - and also useful, here seen brewing my morning Oolong at the office. It’s not a good choice for powdery loose-leaf offerings, as it does not offer the close filtering of a mesh- and somehow it seems to allow for faster brewing (though I might just be a poorer judge of time at work). Classy? Perhaps not. But I love it.
Yellow gold Oolong at Ping Pong on Great Marlborough Street, London.
A very subtle tea which didn’t really develop any scent or clear flavour until after a good 5 minutes of brewing. Thereafter it was a very light drink that lived up to its name. I prefer them slightly gutsier and would brew for longer next time.
A golden brown tea with a gently musky scent and a full flavour. A relatively low-cost option (bought in London’s Chinatown for £6.50 / 100g) but no less satisfying for it. A great everyday drink now kept on my desk at work.
Totealy contacted me about reviewing their tea and they sent some delectable samples!
I steeped this lightly roasted oolong at 195F starting with 15 sec infusions, working my way up.
Zushan Spring is a lightly roasted oolong from Taiwan, a spring harvest tea from a garden at 1700ft. This tea starts off with a strong bold flavor of toasted nut, bark and misted grass transitioning to a delicately sweet floral flavor reminiscent of honeysuckle. The combination of these flavors contrast but provide a beautiful story as you resteep and drink in all the angles this leaf has to offer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tea and I just love how different oolongs can range depending on their processing. If you are looking for a roasted oolong but not something that is too smokey, I highly recommend this which you can find here.
If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to send me a PM! Want to decide which tea I review next? Don’t hesitate to ask!
They sent me one of my favorite kinds of tea which is milk oolong. I was confused by the name when I saw it but once I smelled the tea I instantly knew it was milk oolong and google helped confirm that.
I heated up my kettle to 195F - using 5.5g of leaf I steeped it for 15 seconds initially.
I love watching the leaf unfurl in my pot. BTW This is a brand new tea pot from Bitter leaf teas. it’s 110ml and it pours really fast! Absolutely love it.
Look at that golden color! Beautiful <3
Time for my thoughts. This tea has a light buttery flavor kind of like popcorn mixed with some hints of caramel. It really starts to shine around the 3rd steeping and around the 6th it tapers off. I always love milk oolongs for their creamy-ness and overall sweetness they can bring, it’s like having desert without the calories! My only gripe about this tea is when it steeped there was quite a bit of sediment sitting at the bottom of the cup so I strongly recommend using a fine filter with it. Some of the leaves were broken and I found a few stems but overall it didn’t affect the taste of this tea. If you are looking to try milk oolong but don’t want to pay the steep price a lot of companies have this one is very affordable! Almost 8$ for 50g (2~ ounces) AND SURPRISE! They sent me a discount code for my followers which is like OMG? Hello? Why don’t more companies do this? For 20% off of their teas be sure to use the code Jordan20 !!! Or don’t, I do not get anything out of it, I just find it awesome that you have the chance to get a 20% discount if you liked this review and want some of the tea! In Nature teas is a UK based company so I highly recommend getting some if you are in the UK especially!
ALSO! I launched my blogger website for dedicated tea reviews! If you prefer that platform - be sure to check it out here!
Mad Monk Tea is an adorable tea shop in San Diego, it’s right next to the coast and the owners are super knowledgeable!
While my ship was docked in SD, I managed to get time to go over there and I stayed for hours! The owner taught me so many things (like proper pronunciation of certain tea works, like yixing, it’s pronounced like yee sheing), he also taught me about grandpa style brewing - I left that shop with about 70$ worth of tea.
Moving on to this tea. Dong Ding is a Taiwanese oolong - as you can see, it’s rolled - but the rolled leaf is so big! The aroma is sweet and hay like but the taste is nutty with hints of pear. I’ve tried a handful of other dong ding oolongs, but this one packs the biggest punch. I still savor this - steeping it with a 60ml gaiwan. Unfortunately they don’t sell this tea on their website, but they don’t sell much of anything online. If you are in San Diego, California, I super recommend visiting them!
Year of the monkey gives off a lovely sweet scent.
This pot - the panda pot is 95ml and also from Bitter Leaf Teas!
I steep this tea at 205F starting with a rinse - to 15sec+ infusions
Just look at those leaves!
Year of the Monkey Sheng puerh is deliciously sweet with a nice mineral finish. It’s light and drinkable all day. I kicked off the spring semester with this tea because I knew it would put my mind at ease. Everything I’ve gotten from Bitter Leaf Teas so far has been wonderful, and of course this tea doesn’t let me down! 3-6 infusions, YotM continues to deliver, with tastes of winter berry and some wheat notes. This tea lasted me about 15 infusions before I was tea’d out! You can find their shop here. I’ve yet to be disappointed with anything I get from them!
