Organic Medium Oolong is a 50% oxidized oolong sold by Arum Tea. This oolong is grown in a single estate tea plantation located in Halimun Mountain, West Java Indonesia.
This is another tea I got from the World Tea Expo! Indonesian teas are very good, and I got pretty crazy over this medium roast oolong, as with the name sake of Oolong Owl, I love a good dark oolong. Arum Tea also has a light roast oolong, black and green tea – I’ll review those at another time.
Dry Leaf
These oolong wads are huge! Organic Medium Oolong has a bread crust toasty scent.
Steeping Instructions
The instructions on the package says 1 tablespoon of tea steeped at 195F for . For a tasty oolong like this, I decided to go with my trusty oolong devoted yixing pot with my go to oolong steeping using 200 f water and 8 grams of tea (1 tablespoon). I did 30 second infusions, adding an additional 30 seconds for each further infusion. For the last 2 steepings I added an additional minute instead.
Tasting of Arum Tea’s Organic Medium Oolong
First Infusion: Mega roast scent coming from a pale yellow tea. Organic Medium Oolong sips in sweet light, yet creamy body. The tea finishes off with a roasty nut and honey flavor. A light first steeping but tasty.
Second Infusion: Time to ramp it up! Organic Medium Oolong came out a richer dark golden caramel colour! Smells so good and rich. Taste? Droooooool. Organic Medium Oolong has a silky texture, with a dark roasty taste featuring notes of roasted chestnut, walnuts and honey. End of sip there is a hint of astringency 2/10 and a brief linger of roasty flavor.
Third, Fourth, and Fifth Infusions: Best steepings as the flavors have come together to one smooth roasty sweet sip but with lots going on! Organic Medium Oolong sips in sweet roasty nutty. I got notes of cooked yellow squash, milk bread crust, with lots of sweet almost floral honey flavor. Organic Medium Oolong now has a lightly abrasive toasty nut finish. It’s like I put my tea under the broiler to give it a nice crust. Still a bit of astringency to keep the sipper on their toes.
Sixth and Seventh Infusions: The flavor of Organic Medium Oolong dropped quite a bit, with the final steeping being pretty light. The flavor has soft, sweet light caramel & honey notes that peaks end of sip. There is a background of that roasty nut flavor and plenty of gritty texture adding dryness to the top of my cheeks, 4/10 on the Astringency meter.
To take a look at the steeped leaves, we got pretty large stemmy bits with some equally large scalloped-edged large tea leaves.
Comments
Drinking Arum Tea‘s Organic Medium Oolong gives me such a comforting feeling, like I’m eating honey nut cheerios on a crisp fall morning. Organic Medium Oolong has more roasty richness and a bit more dry compared to a Dong Ding oolong but similar in flavor intensity.
I link the tin for this review, but Arum Tea also has 2 oz bags if you want a smaller package. If you are an oolong lover you need to try Indonesian oolongs!
(tea provided for review)
