Country of Origin: Kenya
Leaf Appearance: dark, long and twisted
Ingredients: oolong tea
Steep time: 3 minutes
Water Temperature: 175 degrees
Preparation Method: Teavana Perfect Tea Maker
Liquor: amber
What-Cha seems to have a knack for finding unusual teas from unusual places. Some of you might remember my review of their purple Kenyan green tea from earlier this year. Having enjoyed that selection I was excited to dig into this oolong. The leaves were fairly dark in appearance but took on a greenish-purple hue after brewing. Hand rolling produces a much prettier end result than machines ever could and the effort put in was obvious here. The taste was floral and somewhat sweet with hints of fruitiness. What-Cha likens it to plum. I can see the comparison but it’s been so long since I taste a plum that I really don’t have a reference point for it. My second cup was just as enjoyable as the first. There was very little astringency, even when accidentally steeped for too long. I have a tiny bit of leaf left so I just might try experimenting with a gaiwan to see how this tea does. There’s a lot of buzz about purple tea but a lot of it seems to misguided marketing. For more about that, check out my article Purple Tea: Innovation or Hype? on +The Daily Tea.
Kenyan Hand Rolled Purple Oolong sample provided by What-Cha.