Jade Oolong

Sip down! Yeah, finished all my adagio samples finally!

I cold steeped this one overnight, and accidentally grabbed my Tfree tumbler instead of my water bottle on my way to jiujitsu. Totally had some weird looks drinking tea – most people drink coconut water there, other than water, and I’m looking spiffy with my tea tumbler and nice yellow green splotch on my white gi! Yeah, I wouldn’t get this tea again – I’m not too happy with most of Adagio’s teas. Not as fresh as other companies.

This had a really nice fresh moist green scent. I love the little curled up tea leaves.
The leaves opened up into cute little Brussels sprout looking wrinkly leaves.
I like the color of the liquor – it’s a straw yellow green golden color.

Brewed up, this smells a-ma-zing. Buttery, toasty, and even, strangely, slightly jammy. Strawberry jam, I would say, if you pressed me.
Taste wise, it’s a little burnt and a little bitter, but it’s just the first infusion. I’ll do the same length for the next infusion and see if I like that better. I didn’t rinse the leaves first, either.

Second steep I did at 195 for 2 minutes. The leaves really unfolded and filled the entire cup (I have a cup sized strainer I used). The liquor was a little lighter and closer to a true straw color. The scent this time is much sweeter, in a toasty honey way.
The flavor still disappointed me. It’s too bitter. I must be oversteeping this.

I’m not giving up though! I’m going to throw adagio’s instructions out the window and try the :30, 1:00, 1:30 brewing instead.

I’m not sure how this one has escaped tasting for so long. I was looking for something appropriate to try out my new cast-iron tetsubin and this was perfect.

The leaves were tightly curled and bright jade colored. Unfortunately, they were somewhat cramped by the pot’s steeping basket so I didn’t get the full unfurling effect.

The tea was very pale green with a vegetative, buttery and nutty fragrance. The flavor was very light and delicate; it’s possible that my sample may be aging. However, subsequent steeps were for longer periods and the flavor deepened. It’s buttery, slightly saline and finished very sweet.

I don’t drink a lot of oolongs but every time I do, I really enjoy them. I drank an entire pot of this one. (And the tetsubin is awesome. However, I need to build up calluses to use the iron cups- ouch!)

Ok, I love green oolongs and I’ve never had this (or any Jade oolong) before so when this came up as May’s Roots Campaign featured tea I was pretty much suckered in instantly.

2.25g/6oz

This may sound odd… but the raw leaf smells like matcha in a lot of ways. The tightly scrunched green leaves smell sweet, and vegetal, and just plain green. After steeping the liquor is a bright canary yellow and the aroma is a much lighter version of the raw leaf.

Yummm… light- but not weak, clean, smooth, crisp, sweet. Just plain delicious.

With the name Oolong #18 I didn’t hold high hopes for this tea. It feels like Adagio didn’t care enough for it to give it a decent, meaningful name. The truth is this oolong is great and totally deserves some recognition.

It has all the qualities I appreciate in green oolongs – buttery, almost oily notes, flowery aroma and flavor with slightly dry aftertaste. It brews very light and gives away two tasty infusions, I found the third to be lacking though so I didn’t go beyond that.

I’m writing an article for my blog about green tea and thought I would cheat and have an Oolong. This is a green Oolong (hence Jade Oolong) so I don’t feel as though I have cheated too much. Still writing an article about one thing and drinking another will have it’s challenge.

Light green buds with a fresh green smell. Brewing creates a yellow coloured tea soup with a gentle flower smell.

Taste is floral, subtle, sweet and gentle with a refreshing grassy taste. Lovely light Oolong suitable for everyday drinking.

Yummy. (Shall do a better review soon).

Steeped greener than I expected, to a greenish gold, thus the name Jade Oolong? Smells of green, if green actually were a smell (no not Purple-ish grins at Angrboda). It definitely smells of greenery freshly washed by a spring rain (okay now I’m being silly, or maybe not so, it does smell fresh, clean and green!). It also has a slight spiciness in it tickling the deep recesses of my nose. As it cools the smell I’ve been calling a hint of licorice is being revealed, reminding me of Ti Kuan Yin.

Taste starts wet and ends dry…. (okay I admit the fey silliness will continue). The starting taste is slightly a pleasant wet hay, slightly greenery, and ends with a slight dryness that I typically like in many of the oolongs I’ve tried. It isn’t as complex as Ti Kuan Yin, but does not seem to suffer much with what flavors remain.

The leaves seemed to be rolled into little balls like the Ali Shan that I have typed about earlier, and seem to take about two steepings to fully unfurl. Not quite as good as the Ali Shan or the Ti Kuan Yin from Adagio but a pleasant green oolong this definitely is.

Ordered this because I saw a lot of people refer to it as their “favorite oolong”. Reading the description, it mentions that it is a green oolong (being a newbie, not sure the differences). Also the descriptions mentions fragrance again, and am not sure I’ll be a fan (after testing several jasmines).

This to me is bitter, or maybe this is what people mean by astringent (it’s different than when I say a black is bitter). I don’t like this because of that … totally assaulting my (sensitive) senses here. My immediate impression is bleh bleh bleh (going to go dump).

I don’t really have a whole lot to say about this one. It has a nice oolong flavor to it and produces a lovely scent and color. It tasted good, but wasn’t spectacular. I meant to write this yesterday, as that is when I drank this tea. I would save the note for the next time I make this, but my sample has been exhausted. I will say that with Adagio recommending two heaping teaspoons per cup, you’ll go through this tea very quickly…you can probably get by with a little less than that, depending on your personal preferences, but you’ll definitely want to try to get a few steepings out of it.

I love Adagio. I order this yesterday and it was at my door when I got back from work today. Amazing service (and super cheap shipping!). Anyway, I bought this to support their Roots Campaign for May (and bc I loveee oolongs), and it absolutely does not disappoint! I love the strong initial taste (still not so good at figuring out WHAT I’m tasting, but its deliciously oolong in any case) and the rest goes down smoothly. Smells great, and the tea leaves are beautiful both when dry (love the curly-knot look of these types of oolongs) and when wet (big, unfurled leaves). Glad that I made the leap to get the 5oz instead of the sampler.