Orchid with a tailing scent of apples and nuts.
PALATE
Round with bold and pronounced character.
3066
Formosa, meaning “beautiful island,” is what Dutch traders called Taiwan. The teas grown in this land continue to be called as such. Oolong tea was a near-vital export for the island until the 1980s, when tea growers turned their focus inwards to those on the island who appreciated teas. Today, top oolongs mainly circulate around the island, and high-quality blends are extremely difficult to find outside of Taiwan.
This harvest is primarily sourced from the Omei area in Hsin Chu Hsien county. Our blenders tend to prefer summer harvests, which also reflects the status as halfway between green (unfermented) and black (fully fermented) teas. In the ancient Chinese grading system, “Super Fancy” refers to the best grade produced within the garden. The simplest way to understand this grade is to tune into the delicate "peach-like" character.
YIELD 50 cups
PRICE $28.95
The vast majority of oolongs are medium-grade and restaurant grade and tend to be "blacker" in fermentation with crude, short, and broken leaves. The appearance of tea, although not the primary component of flavour, will have a vital impact on pricing. For a proper characterization of the tea bush, our blenders want only the palate expression from leaves. We do not want to see broken leaves, short, or stubby leaf sections or worse, stems and other parts of the tea bush which should not contribute to flavour. In essence, you do not want your resulting infusion to come from any part of the tea bush except whole, tender leaves that are picked meticulously by hand and then "corrected" and "balanced" by artisan blending skill.
Restaurant and mainstream grades of tea proliferate in the industry – it is exceedingly difficult to find high-quality grades. The higher quality grades deliver tremendous value and most connoisseurs will make up to eight separate infusions.
Most of us in the company prefer oolongs, particularly with a short infusion (60 seconds with higher temperature than recommended - at 93°C (200°F)).
