My Cuppa: A taste of genuine Oolong!

For this past Christmas, I received a gift of tea from a co-worker. The tea is an oolong from Genuine Tea, one of my favourite tea brands. I know it’s going to be good, as I have tried their teas before, and have never been disappointed. This particular tea is called Ginseng Oolong. Here are my thoughts.

Genuine Tea for a change!

A spring harvest from the Fujian Province, this oolong has been partially oxidized and then rolled in Ginseng powder. According to the package, it’s “a sweet, creamy profile with a floral finish”. Sounds good to me!

I prepared the oolong as instructed, using a 1 tsp of the tightly balled tea leaves, and infusing them in 8 oz of water boiled to 90 °C, for 3 – 5 minutes. 

Yup.  That's tea.

My first cup did taste sweet and floral, but it was quite subtle. It was a nice golden colour but not much aroma. Still, an enjoyable cup. I prepared a second infusion with much better results. The flavour was stronger with a thicker coating on the tongue.

A perfect cupping!

Definitely felt the creaminess the second time around. I tried a third infusion, allowing the leaves to steep just over 5 minutes. I didn’t really detect much difference from round 2 though. There wasn’t any bitterness in any of the infusions either. I really liked this oolong. 

Genuine goodness!

Ginseng Oolong is yet another winner from Genuine Tea. I’ve sampled other teas from this wonderful company, and look forward to trying many more of their products.