It’s February! Time for a short month with both Lunar New Year and Valentines Day! Because of the short month, I feel my monthly boxes are coming so fast and with less time to sample them.
This month for the Simple Loose Leaf Tea Coop Club – Lapsang Souchong, Lemon Grass Herbal, Gyokuro Green Tea, Sheng Cha Oolong and Mint Chamomile Rooibus (probably mean rooibos).
They also included more of those cloth infusers. The Tea Owls have been doing their potato sack racings, so they have plenty of cloth infusers. Since the salad spinner has been put away (the salad spinner being the ultimate Stegosaurus item), my new Stegosaurus has been pretending to be a Dimetrodon. Rawr?
I’ve been getting Simple Loose Leaf for awhile now, so here’s the info spiel:
The Simple Loose Leaf Tea Co-op Club gets you 4 to 6 loose leaf tea samples (1/4oz size) of different teas including straight teas, blends and herbals. Being in the Tea Co-op gives you a membership ID which gives you 50% off their Simple Loose Leaf Tea Shop.
You can enter the coupon code OolongOwl for a 50% off your first Simple Loose Leaf’s Tea co-op box!
Tasting of February’s Simple Loose Leaf Tea Coop Club
I’m going to sample the two prized teas in the box – Gyokuro and Sheng Cha Oolong.
Gyokuro Green Tea
I steeped mine in 115F for 2 minutes. I did a really unusual method of infusion that I will touch on in another blog post.
I found Simple Loose Leaf’s gyokuro had plenty of straw notes, some fresh grassy notes with a creamy texture. The second infusion the unami savory came out, with a steamed leaf flavor. The third infusion was quite light, and mostly straw/hay notes. Very nice!
Sheng Cha Oolong
Admittedly, I’ve never heard of Sheng Cha Oolong before. It seems not too many tea sellers have it. Sheng Cha oolong is basically a wild-grown tea.
I decided to steep the entire sample (7 grams) in a gaiwan using 200F water.
Early infusions of Sheng Cha Oolong are creamy sweet with a grassy floral flavor, I’m thinking tulips and wheat grass. The oolong has a moderate level of flavor, so this isn’t a delicate green oolong! The colour is a light yellow.
Middle infusions the color shifts to a light orange. I get a sesame flavor in this tea, which is quite nice. I love sesame flavor, so this oolong was a treat! The more I steep, the more savory the oolong gots – sesame and bready wheat in flavor and less grassy.
I got about 6 infusions, with the final infusions tasting savory, like an unsalted cracker and sesame. The leaf was quite thick feeling. The leaf is large, but a frayed at the edges.
Comments
February’s Simple Loose Leaf Coop was one of the best months, for me, so far, especially since this month included expensive (Gyokuro) and uncommon tea (Sheng Cha Oolong). I will have to acquire more Sheng Cha Oolong!
Sheng Cha Oolong is a very interesting oolong that I think a black tea drinker may be interested in. I think it was neat to have Gyokuro and Sheng Cha Oolong together in the same box, as both are savory. Actually, Lapsang Souchong is another savory tea too!
(tea provided for review)
