Bai Hao Oolong (Oriental Beauty)

Thanks to LiberTEAS for this sample, which I randomly picked from my box tonight.

Oh man, is this ever sweet and smooth! I’m reminded of autumn leaves and jumping in a leaf pile – some other tea I had recently reminded me of this as well. Oooh, so smooth! Aftertaste is just barely of oolong, but as I’m less familiar with darker oolongs, perhaps that’s what one gets when they move away from tieguanyins. The sweetness is delicious. Almost makes me think of raisin water, i.e. the water left after plumping up raisins for baking. It’s also kind of toasty; makes me think of genmaicha for some reason.

Ok. That was a massive jumble of random thoughts. Too lazy to organize (and still teas to try!)

This one’s pretty impressive! I definitely need to try more dark oolongs. I’m excited to see what the next infusions bring!

Ah… my sweet Oolong! This is delightful.

Rich, nutty, sweet and almost creamy. A silky mouthfeel that lasts only a few moments because the light astringency leaves the palate feeling clean.

I love Oriental Beauty (Bai Hao) Oolong teas because they have such an autumnal feel to them – warm and inviting and beautiful.

This is a fantastic Oriental Beauty. Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending it my way!

Gentle and Beautiful…lovely taste. Smooth and semi juicy. A Delight!

(superior grade)

Sweet and fresh, like a Darjeeing without the haute aire and sharp looks. What this tea trades in wit it makes up for in humor as the finish rolls softly downward and really lingers outdoing the relatively thin taste of the body.

http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/brookswithumor.htm

The infused leaves have a slight sweet smell while the brew leans more towards a black tea taste rather than green. Pleasant and not bitter but as I dont drink black tea I would give a pass on this as a daily drink.

A very smooth oolong.

Sipdown no. 181. Another Life In Teacup oolong sample.

This one is pretty special. Unfortunately I’m not seeing it on the Life In Teacup site now. The dry leaves are dark brown and delicate looking, and they smell like your basic roasty highly oxidized oolong, including the sharp darjeeling-y note.

Steeped, they produce a clear, amber colored liquor, with a roasty, nutty (mostly hazelnut, I think, but also suggesting almond), stonefruit (peach, maybe?) aroma.

The flavor is, however, pleasantly unexpected. It’s not the usual roasty dark oolong flavor. It’s remarkably smooth and soft tasting, with an unusual sweetness to it, but not overly sweet.

I am not sure have had a Bai Hao before, but I am now a fan. This is one of the better, if not the best, Taiwan dark oolongs I’ve had.

I steeped this in the gaiwan at 195F for short steeps after rinsing, starting at 15 seconds and adding 5 second increments.

The first two steeps had the lovely sweet, rounded softness to them.

The third and fourth were a bit less sweet and more hazel-nutty tasting but still very smooth.

By the fifth, the softness was still there but there was also a little sharpening around the edges beginning, which I think heralded the leaves being about to reach their limit.

I went ahead and did one more steep after that, by which this was still flavorful but starting to taste more ordinary, for lack of a better word.

Still probably the best Taiwan oolong I’ve tasted to this point, as its rating reflects.