Blue People Ginseng Oolong - Vital Tea Leaf

Notes of stevia, berries, and sweet licorice.

Visual Notes

Visually, it looks like the first infusion grabbed most of the ginseng coating from the tea leaves, but the rolled tea leaves themself have not started to open. The color is a nice golden yellow.

Scent Notes

The tea leaf has a very characteristic sweetness, due to the Ginseng. The leaves give off a rich buttery sweetness, similar to popcorn. Then there is a fruity sweetness like a fruit tea. The scent is creamy, fruity, and sweet. You really can smell that sweetness that you are about to experience.

Tasting Notes

Visually, it looks like the first infusion grabbed most of the ginseng coating from the tea leaves, but the rolled tea leaves themself have not started to open. The color is a nice golden yellow. The tea is soft and mild on the first sips. It is warming on the tongue, without much tea flavor. Then after you swallow, the characteristic sweetness of this tea really coats the back of your throat. That is what makes this tea so unique. To me, this reminds me of a stevia like artificial sweetness. It isn’t a candy, fruity, or cane sugar like sweetness. It is also interesting how the tea does not reveal its sweetness until after you swallow. The finish of this tea is really something that wows, as it lingers quite a bit. Still not a strong tea flavor on this first infusion. The overall flavor has very small hints of creaminess, and a small amount of fruity notes.
The color of the tea has darkened slightly, and the tea leaves are just staring to unroll. You can see that there is a tightly rolled oolong underneath all the powdered coating. The taste is still mild, some root like vegetable notes, some berry fruits in the middle, a smooth texture, and still a strong sweet finish. This is quite a sweet tea, and zero detectable bitterness, and zero astringency either. I guess these three qualities make a very friendly tea. Still not much tea flavor in my opinion.
The tea leaves are now mostly fully open at this point. I expect this infusion to have more oolong tea flavor. The scent still has creamy milky notes, a slight floral candy sweetness, and a very feint licorice like sweetness. The flavor is more round and whole, thanks to the tea opening up. Texture is slightly smooth, mostly neutral. The tea is welcoming on the tongue, coating the mouth with an even warmness. Mostly freight cream notes, some floral notes on the taste, and then the sweetness that kicks in at the end. The sweetness has reduced in potency, but it is still very detectable since it builds after each sip. The empty tea cup leaves a very sweet character behind. A rich creaminess like fresh popcorn, a sweetness like a hard sugar candy, and a small amount of spices like a sweet licorice from a spice cabinet.
The scent still does maintain its milky sweetness, but has started to lose the rich popcorn note. The flavor is very mild now. Not much tea flavor or ginseng flavor either. There is a small spice note that hits the edges of the tongue, and a slight nutty fruitiness on the back of the tongue that is much shorter than the first few infusions. The sweetness on the finish is much less intense, and not a big effect at this point. I don’t think that the base tea was very strong or potent, as it didn’t really have much meaningful flavor to give at all.
Fading sweetness to the scent, that now has a tinge of stale notes. Texture is staring to turn rough. The creamy notes are lacking, and is slightly nutty, like a nutty broth. Floral notes are there, but are very weak, and masked by the other flavors. The sweetness is gone, and bitterness is starting to show itself towards the end of the sip. The finish now has low astringency that I assume will continue to grow after more infusions. I would personally prefer not to brew this any further, as the tea isn’t even that great.

Rating: 4/5

This is such a unique tea, and I admire it for being unique. The first time I ever tried this kind of ginseng blue people tea was long before I was in to tea. At the time, I was put off by the type of sweetness this carried, as it reminded me too much of artificial sweeteners, and I strongly dislike the taste of artificial sweeteners. Giving this tea some more tastes recently, I have come to grow an appreciation for it. I admire the unique quality of a strong sweetness on the finish more than anything else. I think that this is a tea that would strongly benefit from mixing the first two or three infusion together, to get a more well balanced ginseng and tea note. The ginseng and licorice flavors in this tea are well done. They are sweet, contribute most of the flavor, and nothing seems to unbalanced. However, I think the biggest knock I have on this tea is the tea itself. The oolong leaf underneath seemed really boring, and might just be some random cheap oolong. It didn’t seem like it had any unique characteristic flavors to add after the sweet ginseng flavors wore off. So the tea is good for the first few main infusions, which might go good blended together, and then that is it.

I don’t think I would ever choose to buy this tea, or pick it up as a choice, but I love serving this tea to others due to the unique qualities that it may offer different than traditional style teas.

Tea Seller’s Description

Taiwanese high mountain oolong tea blended with premium ginseng powder and licorice root. The combination creates a tropical fruit like aroma that ends with a complex honey like sweet flavor that promotes natural energy, focus, and concentration.

Ginseng is derived from the Chinese term "Ren Shen" which refers to "Man Herb" as this herb takes the shape of a human body. "Lan Gui Ren" also can be translated to Lady Orchid or Blue Royalty. Blue people takes it's original name and adds a newfound twist in this hip modern age.

A blend destined to find it's way to provide sustainable energy that even coffee drinkers may find enjoyable. Taiwanese high mountain oolong tea with panax ginseng powder and licorice root. Ginseng is known in traditional Chinese medicine to promote yang energy while licorice root can help to alleviate those with sore throats. The triple blend result is a mellow flavor that is complex and sweet on the palate with a lingering effect. Perfect for those individuals who are seeking to transition from coffee to tea as this tea promotes natural physical energy, sustainable focus, and improved cognitive concentration.

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