Lately, GABA teas have been popping up a lot and are trying to be trendy. I don’t write about GABA oolong much these days, as the more I drank them, the more I disliked them as they all have a distinct bad sour taste to me.
Most recently I’ve discovered there are a few vendors that have found the good GABA teas. Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong is one of the special ones.
Leaf and Steeping Method
The leaf smells golden raisins. The rolls are dark browns and plums.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu steeped in boiling water. If you are familiar with Floating Leaves Tea and their live streams, they always boil their oolongs. The hot wet leaf smells like cinnamon egg tarts.
Tasting of Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong
First and Second Infusion: Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong sips in thick and raisin bread in flavour. The texture is custard thick and slick and satisfyingly easy to chug. I find this tea way too easy to drink and not pay attention to as it just easy comfort food drinking.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: I am thinking this tea tastes like a Portuguese egg tart, complete with that burnt caramel crust, but with a dash of cinnamon on top. There is a subtle background of that sourness I associate with GABA teas, but the tea hides it well in the flavour and thickness. The leaves on GABA also expanding at a crazy rate.
Sixth and Seventh Infusion: Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong starts to thin out here, the body is thinner feeling and the flavour is getting light and bit more on the sourdough side. There is a touch of astringency drying the roof of my mouth but it is slight. The flavour is an eggy raisin tart with some baked crust.
I did a 10 minute infusion for the final infusion. It had a lot of flavour of eggy caramel toast but also was drier in texture. The leaves smelled like nothing at this point so I guess the tea is done.
Hot hoot, look at these leaves! So pretty!
Comments
Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong is one of the best GABA Oolongs I’ve had. When I tried Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong in the shop I was like holy hoot this is GABA? What sets Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong apart is the high quality and lack of typical sour flavour. This tea is very easy drinking with tasty notes of baked goods and raisins. The texture is nicely thick too. If you love darker oolongs, softer black teas, or teas that scream that “baked goods” vibe, this particular GABA Oolong is it.
Floating Leaves Tea’s GABA Oolong is pitched as the much cheaper daily drinker version of Floating Leaves Tea’s Hong Shui if you are familiar with that tea. I haven’t reviewed it yet as I’ve been too busy squirrelling it away.
(I cannot remember whether I bought this GABA oolong in the shop or was gifted to review)
