FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Specialteas Bai Hao Special Grade Formosa oolong

(Melinda) writes:

> Hi all,
>
> Well I got a sample of this oolong with an order several weeks ago and
> would like to know if others have tried it. I did do a group search
> and saw some older reviews. I have a storebought Tai Kwan Yin that is
> going south, so getting to try another oolong was good for my
> tastebuds. The leaves in this are different from anything I myself
> have seen before, in the dry form. They're very...angular. I want to
> say very crispy but I don't mean in texture or quality...they have a
> lot of sharp edges, defined edges. The leaves remind me of apple peels
> that have curled up when toasted or baked. Even though I am really a
> relative beginner to the world of tea, and though my tastebuds aren't
> refined much at all, there is one thing I can definitely say about
> this Bai Hao. After I drank it out of what passes as my
> smelling/reserve cup, I put the empty cup down and forgot about it for
> about thirty minutes. When I smelled it (the liquid had dried) I was
> amazed by the sweetness of the scent in the cup. The wet leaves have
> that scent but to me it's way way under woody smells, and the tea
> liquid itself doesn't have that pronounced sweet smell to me. But the
> dried smelling cup....wow! I've never experienced anything like that.
> I mean it was like dried apricot jam or something. So anyway, I
> thought I'd share. I know that my sensitivity to nuances in tea
> tasting aren't where others' are (based on some of the detailed
> descriptions I've read of various teas and then trying to pick out
> those qualities myself) but this was definite enough to even me to be
> worthy of comment.

Hey, you weren't hallucinating, and you have every right to expect to
similar experiences in the future. Welcome to the world of oolong
sniffing!

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html