At my last visit to Floating Leaves Tea, I tried their Honey Oolong and Black Honey teas. I liked them both and the prices were great, so I purchased an ounce of each to play with at my own tea table. Let’s go!
Floating Leaves Tea’s Honey Oolong
Honey Oolong is actually Guifei Meiren (or Mixiang Oolong), the Oriental Beauty of Dong Ding oolongs.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Infusions: The rolled balls of oolong smell like dried fruits.
I used around 1 gram of leaf to 15ml of vessel size. Floating Leaves Tea’s oolongs love boiling water, so I used that. The hot leaf smells like honey and coconuts.
First, Second, and Third Infusion: Honey Oolong is light, sweet, and friendly. The initial sip is sweet, light honey with a bit of tree sap. As the sip goes on, it gets creamy thick at the end. Give it a few moments, and the taste comes back as a nectar sweetness. There is zero bitterness or astringency.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Infusion: I am starting to cook Honey Oolong’s goose. It is slightly astringent, giving my tongue a dry tickle, but has more flavor. It is also slightly bitter, with a honey, tree sap, milk, bitter underripe persimmon note. The aftertaste is fruity tangy and slightly dry. Just like the other Floating Leaves Tea’s teas, Honey Oolong drinks like a thick soup. Each infusion gets a bit more bitter, but it is still easily drinkable due to the thickness, honey, and tangy fruity aftertaste.
Eighth and Ninth Infusion: I did 15 minute infusions here. The final infusions are very light in flavor, it is mostly the bitter sticky notes carrying the tangy fruity aftertaste. These infusions are moderately dry, hitting the throat a bit. I am surprised this tea lasted this long.
Grandpa: I did this grandpa session much later and forgot to photo it. I threw in 5 grams in my cup and have been sipping on it for awhile. It’s blooming honey and floral and melted butter thick. The longer this steeps, the more floral shows up, but it does get dry after 20 minutes. It’s not as complex as the gongfu session but seems more honey and buttery with the extended infusion.
Comments
Honey Oolong is a light Guifei Meiren. It’s not too green, but just green enough to get a little bitter at the end. It has a soft honey and fruity taste, making this for an easy session. I’d say this would be a nice work tea as it is fairly easy going as gongfu or grandpa style. It would also attract new tea drinkers due to the soft sweet taste and easy brewing. It isn’t an overly complex tea but does the job of making a satisfying session.
Floating Leaves Tea’s Black Honey
Black Honey is a Taiwanese black tea and that is all the information I can find off the website.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Method: Black Honey tea smells like eggy baked goods. The leaf is tightly rolled and petite.
The hot leaf smells like stronger eggy bake goods with a hint of mineral.
First and Second Infusion: Black Honey steeps up surprisingly light in colour at first. You can see in the pitcher that the next infusion is a jump darker. Examining the leaf and they still feel dry to the core, so the tight leaf is delaying flavor release.
Black Honey is brightly licorice sweet, leaning again to baked goods with a sweet trying to be tomato at end of sip.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusion: I steeped it a bit longer than normal which helped a lot in producing a richer flavor, but still quite light compared to most black teas. Black Honey is darker, with a clean licorice sweetness, baked goods, mineral, and a caramelized note to it. Some sips I get a honey element. The tea feels slightly slick in the mouth.
Sixth Infusion: I power steeped Black Honey for 10 minutes. Not a lick of dryness or bitterness. It is stronger than the other steeps, leaning a touch dark woodsy, but also very similar notes as earlier. It is quite a sweet tasting black.
Grandpa Style: I wasn’t that satisfied with gongfu Black Honey so I threw in some leaves in a cup and let it steep and sipped at it while I was in between infusions.
Grandpa style with Black Honey is much better and most optimal. It isn’t complex, but it’s a mellow chocolate honey flavor. It is much richer in flavor than gongfu style, and the meld of all the flavors worked better together than apart. As I add more hot water to top it off, the more baked goods it tasted. I almost wanted to abandon the gongfu session as the grandpa cup was going great.
Black Honey is also foolproof to grandpa as all the leaves sit on the bottom. I generally use my The Wall mug, but I didn’t need it at all with Honey Black.
Comments
Black Honey is a sweet tea without the sugar. I personally enjoyed Honey Black grandpa’d as the flavored united were stronger and more well rounded. Gongfu was overly sweet (and I dont’ like licorice). Either way Honey Black is a sweet and light black tea that doesn’t go bitter or dry on you. It is a perfect candidate for shoving into a thermos to let it steep forever, and a tea that doesn’t require much attention to get right. This is a mind shift for any tea drinker who thinks black tea is brisk strong kind of tea. You likely could blend or pair Black Honey with many sweet snacks with excellent results.
