Supreme Monkey Pick Oolong - Aroma Tea Shop

Tea

Dec 13

Written By Christian Lee

Notes of milk, hazelnut, and butterscotch.

*Supreme Monkey Pick Oolong dry tea leaf*

Name: Supreme Monkey Pick Oolong

Source: Aroma Tea Shop

Price: $40 / 2 oz

Harvest: Unknown

Origin: Unknown

Varietal: Unknown

Tea Quantity: 7g

Brew Temperature: 90ºC

Water Quantity: 100 mL

Brew Time: 30s

Wash: Yes

Scent Notes

The scent produces a very rich and warm smokey aroma, but it is not smokey in the same way as wood or bbq, or even puerh. The scent has a nice earthy richness to it.

Tasting Notes

The color of the first brew is a light dandelion yellow. The taste is rather quite mellow, rich smokey notes up front, a slight milkiness on the finish. I am using a large quantity of leaves, with short brews, so I expect this tea to take some time to open up to its true flavors.
The tea leaves are starting to uncurl now, and the scent is quite strong. The color is ever so slightly more brown. The scent has a sweet milkiness to it which makes it very inviting. The taste is much stronger on the tongue now, roasted notes up front, and some nutty notes. Hazelnut maybe. Little bit fruity on the back of mouth, and a creamy finish. Very slight astringency on the back of throat. Very delicious flavor, and warming finish.
Same rich scent, a slightly less pungent roasted note on the tongue. Slightly silky in texture, but still partially rough. More warm milk notes on the side of the tongue, and a sweetness on the finish. Increasing astringency, now mild. Overall flavor is still good. Some unidentifiable nutty notes on the center of the tongue, and a hint of floral notes as well.
Tea leaves are now fully open, and give off a rich sweet almost butterscotch like scent. Roasted sweet notes, like brown sugar, caramel, or butterscotch. The scent of the tea is a bit more dry and mineral like. The roasted notes of the taste have started to diminish. Still ever slightly sweet on the taste, still not much bitterness, but building astringency.
I’m gonna increase the brew strength on this. Brew 90 sec, 100 mL. The color is a bit more saturated yellow. Scent is similar to 4. Toasty roasted notes are mostly gone, the slightly sweet, slightly savory nuttiness is the main flavor, followed quickly by an increasing bitterness and astringency. The texture is still slightly creamy or silky, but the astringency is quite strong and drying now. Has some fruitiness around the edges of the tongue. The roasted finish is not as strong anymore.
Brew 2.5 min. This tea has given all it can. The roasted notes are gone, and the flavor is mostly gone. Can still be identified as some kind of oolong, but is rather unpleasant. Strong astringency, the rich and tasty flavors are dulled out, and the sweetness is gone as well. The finish is nothing but dry mouth.

Rating: 4.5/5

Overall, I like the initial flavor of this tea. It is a nice smokey, rich, and slightly milky creamy Tie Guan Yin oolong. However, my main disappointment comes with how quickly it loses potency and gains astringency on multiple brews. I do agree with the tasting notes, strong aroma with rich roasted notes on the tongue, with notes of nuttiness, and hints of fruits and flowers. The finish is warming and inviting, leaving that toasted note on the mouth, with a sweet taste as well. I think if I were to brew this tea again, I would use a longer initial brew time. Maybe 1 min with this amount of tea leaves. Give the leaf time to fully open on the first and second brew, and release all the good flavor then. The first few infusions will be great, but the latter ones will taper quicker.

Tea Seller’s Description

Our “Supreme” graded Monkey Pick Oolong is definitely more complex in both the aroma and body, making the legend of the monkey picked tea leaves come to life! Created by using a high quality Tie Guan Yin Iron Goddess cultivar, the aroma is very fragrant, toasty, followed with a much more complex fruit-like body and lingering mildly sweet and toasty aftertaste.

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