Tea Review Tuesday - A Review of Canton Tea Co's Yu Lan Dan Cong Oolong

A Review of Canton Tea Co's Yu Lan Dan Cong Oolong

First impressions of this tea upon opening the package: It smells old, and it smells like lemon. Not a bad old but just...aged. There was also a bit of honey in the smell.
When I poured the water over the leaves, there was a really strong smell of flowers but not an overwhelming smell.
Steeped according to the directions on the website: 1 tbs of leaves per cup of water for about two minutes.
After a couple minutes, I started to notice a deeper oolong smell to the steeping tea. Deep and rich, it smelled wonderful.
My first of this tea was delightful. I felt like my mouth was filled with flowers but not in a bad way at all. Delicious and smooth, I enjoyed how light it felt on my tongue. Then I swallowed the tea and encountered a whole different side. The aftertaste was completely oolong, no more flowers. The oolong flavour was rich and deep, and perhaps even a tad rough (something I am sure that will smooth out after a few steepings).
I had to force myself to drink the first steeping slowly. It was so tasty that I wanted to continue drinking it without taking time to contemplate the tea.
The second steeping tasted much like the first, but sooo much smoother. There was a definite developed sweetness to the tea as well.
This is a great tea for people who want to start drinking oolongs, but are used to the light sweetness of floral green and white teas. I was a little disappointed that this tea did not live up to much of the hype I have heard surrounding Dan Cong oolongs. Regardless of this, I really enjoyed the experience of drinking this tea, and I give it a 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale.

Canton Tea Co's Yu Lan Dan Cong Oolong can be purchased from their website, here.
Photo credit to Canton Tea Co.
This review was unsolicited and uncompensated.