Wenshan Baozhong

This is a really nice oolong. Very well balanced and understated. Although I did detect slight floral aromas while brewing, the taste is more vegetal and buttery. Very enjoyable.

The last of the Harney oolong sample tins. The tea inside smells lovely; floral, buttery, lightly vegetal.

I rinsed and then started with 15 seconds in the gaiwan increasing in 5 second increments.

The tea is a clear lemony-yellow color and has a strong creamy, buttery, aroma with floral component. Gardenia, more than anything else.

The flavor reminds me of everything I love about green oolongs. It may be my favorite kind of tea overall, though I hesitate to go out on that limb because the minute I do, some wonderful green or black tea comes along and makes me rethink myself.

The problem with tasting so many teas over such a long period of time is — I forget what the things I love in each genre taste like over time. I can’t remember the others in the category well enough to say how this stacks up against them. I can just say that I’m getting a cup of wonderful here and now.

The tea becomes crisper with subsequent steeps but otherwise remains deliciously buttery and floral. The vegetal note is juicy and sweet, but not distracting.

This is an excellent oolong. Very floral scent, with a hint of sweetness. The flavor is very smooth and buttery, but oddly lacks the floral qualities of the scent.

A satisfying tea to enjoy on its own, or paired with a good book or conversation. I would have rated it a bit higher if the floral scent carried over to the taste.

I began my (tea)day yesterday with this oolong from Harney & Sons, having ordered a selection of samples in order to find out whether or not I like this genre, after years of laboring under the (now known to be false) belief that I have an “oolong issue”.

In the Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, author Michael Harney ranks this tea at the near green end of the oolong spectrum, so I figured that it would work as my obligatory green of the early afternoon—and it did. In truth, however, the flavor of the pale gold veering green liquor is very creamy and floral and not at all vegetal. I brewed 4 grams for 2 glasses at 79C for about two minutes, and the leaves had barely begun to untwist.

They do look (as the company states) like pieces of twisted rope—not at all like gnarled nuggets, although the dark green color is similar to some of the gnarled nugget oolongs I’ve seen. Whenever I see that leaves have hardly begun the realization of their full potential, I know that further quality infusions lie on the horizon…

second infusion: just as good as the first. Rich, creamy, still floral.

third infusion: still very tasty and smooth, somewhat less creamy and floral, but just as good as some first infusion oolongs. I rarely do a fourth infusion, because often they taste too close to water to me, but this third infusion was so good…

fourth infusion: the liquor is now bright yellow—similar to many second infusions of China green teas. The flavor is weaker but still enjoyable

Another review said that it tasted like warm bread out of the oven. They were right!

It was very smooth and buttery tasting. I added a little sugar and it tasted even better. Will definitely try this one again!

Beautiful. The leaves smell almost spicy, and when steeped give off a pale green liquor, with a flowery character and a buttery smoothness. The first oolong that really impressed me.