Today’s review is Tea From Vietnam’s Gui Fei Oolong! I’ve had a few Gui Fei Oolongs before, all of them more on the greener side of oolong. Years ago before I was using gaiwans, a Steepster friend discovered if you western steep Gui Fei for over 8 minutes you get something really crazy sweet like drinking tea ice wine. Now I have gaiwans and I can leaf this oolong hard and steep it like a boss. Hold onto your leaf hoppers folks, let’s go!
Dry Leaf
The Gui Fei leaf here is tightly coiled and dark. Some pieces have a hint of silver and gold tips, others with a bit of green.
Steeping Instructions
I steeped my Gui Fei Oolong in a ratio of 6 grams for a 120ml gaiwan. I used 200F water and I did longer 30 second infusions intended to pull as much sweetness as I could.
Tasting of Tea From Vietnam’s Gui Fei Oolong
First Infusion: The first sips I am getting strong fruity notes with that mystery super floral yet peachy taste. The tea is buttery with hints of lemongrass. The tea colour is a pretty clear pale yellow tint.
Second, Third, and Fourth Infusion: The colour of the tea has gotten darker, whoa!
The taste is super floral and buttery with a sticky sweetness lingering in my mouth. The texture is smooth and leaves a lip balm thickness on the lips. There are some woodsy like pine notes and some leafy taste. The finish is strongly of peaches and thick flowers. Four steeps in and my mouth is like a perfume bomb.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: Super sweet mode! There are notes of honey, clover, peaches floral bomb with a hint of woodsy bark. No bitterness, though a hint of dryness that makes the floral fragrance never end after each sip. Gui Fei oolong got even more darker here.
Seventh and Eighth Infusion: Gui Fei Oolong crashed and burned here. The floral notes wilted leaving mostly a tart woodsy bark taste. The dryness increased greatly, especially since I was doing 10 minute steepings here to milk out all whatever flavor I could. Either way, I got six really good infusions!
Comments
Tea From Vietnam’s Gui Fei Oolong is more oxidized than other gui fei oolongs I’ve personally had. If you love floral teas and more darker tasting Oriental Beauty oolongs you will enjoy this tea. The price point is pretty fair too, and Tea from Vietnam has a good shipping price with a low free shipping price point.
Darn, I wished I bought more of this oolong during Tea From Vietnam’s Thanksgiving sale, they had 30% off!
(tea provided for review)
