When I opened the packet I received of this tea, I realized I was going to have to dig out a different infuser from the one I had planned – because the leaves of this tea are so long, they wouldn’t fit in my usual little infuser! Many of the leaves were well over an inch long! So I got out a 3-inch mesh infuser, the kind I use for a whole pot rather than one cup, to hold one serving of these leaves without breaking them.

The aroma of the dried leaves is not extraordinary – and the aroma of the brewed tea is not very strong – but the taste is surprising: it is somewhat smoky. Not tarry smoky the way, say, Lapsang Souchong is, but nonetheless smoky. It has a sort of smoke note that reminds me of mesquite wood used for smoking brisket the Texas way. The taste is quite woody – not vegetal, but woody. I like this smoky and woody flavor – but if you are expecting the peachy note and complete smoothness that many people associate with Oolong, you might find this one a little too dark at first – you’d have to get used to it.

The instructions say to brew the tea for 4 minutes. I wondered whether the smoky taste was due perhaps to steeping it that long, but I found that even with a steeping time of only two and a half minutes, the flavor was that smoky, woody, dark taste.

KTeas describes this tea as:

This delicious organic dark oolong has deep, warm, woody tones with a hint of chocolate and fruit. A smooth, well balanced tea from that is traditionally grown and processed in the lovely Wuyi Mountains in China’s Fujian Province.

This is, indeed, a very dark Oolong – I think that many people who like black tea best would like this Oolong, while those who usually like lighter Oolongs would want to try a small sample first, to get used to it.

As with most Oolongs, this is good for a second steeping, and still has that very dark taste on the second steeping. I haven’t yet had time to try steeping some leaves a third time, but judging by how much flavor was left in second steepings, the tea should be good for a third steeping.