Plum Oolong is a fruit enhanced wuyi oolong blend. This tea is from New Mexico Tea Company.
I do love my dark oolongs and I was pleasantly surprised to see a roasty oolong used in a fruit blend. More often I see green oolong blends as the buttery and floral elements make a great base for fruit. However, I love variety!
By the way, love the 2oz packaging of New Mexico Tea Company teas. They have neat photos or artwork with each tea which I’m a sucker for.
I’m slightly worried this Plum Oolong will be tart. I’ve tried a few plum teas, but often they are tart with hibiscus use. Let’s see how New Mexico Tea Company‘s take on plum tea goes.
Dry Leaf: Without being able to smell this oolong, appearance wise Plum Oolong looks like a roasted oolong. Deep brown black leaves that are long and slightly twisted.
Plum Oolong smells candy sweet fruit, despite its traditional oolong appearance.
Steeping Instructions: The package states 180F for 3 minutes. I used 185F water due to kettle restrictions.
My cup of Plum Oolong has a deep red colour tinted with brown. Very much reminds me of a plum! The tea lightly smells like plums with a hint of floral.
Taste: Plum Oolong sips down smooth but with quite a bit of interest. The flavors of the tea are light to moderate in level with some nutty walnut notes with hint of roast. The sip perks into a fruity plum flavor accented with a teeny floral perfume and roastyness that all intensifies as an aftertaste. The aftertaste is fantastic, but fleeting. No tart or bitterness at all! Wow!
To expand on the plum flavoring – Plum Oolong does taste a bit flat, but still convincingly plummy and tasty. Plums do kind of range in flavor. My personal favorite plums are the pluot plum (I know, they aren’t 100% plums, but they are tasty!). The plum flavoring here is similar to these plums:
Resteep: I resteeped the leaves for 4 minutes. This steeping’s flavor drops about 25%, so overall light in flavor. The second steeping has the same flavor notes as the first, but with a creamy silky texture to the lips, which is quite nice! End of sip has a slight astringency with the plum notes – very similar to that dry taste of eating plum skin.
Resteep #2: 7 minute steeping. The fleeting plum flavor is gone! I’m left with a light flavored, roasty, nutty, creamy oolong – very smooth and no dryness. I could probably resteep at least one more time, but I’m wanting more plum flavoring. Though, blends like this don’t typically hold onto their flavorings, so I’m happy I did get one good resteep.
Iced: Wow, the flavor changes when Plum Oolong is iced! I steeped Plum Oolong strong with a little german rock sugar. I poured the tea over ice. The plum flavor is throughout the sip with a stronger floral presence but a light 2/10 Floral-o-meter rating. The iced tea also has a honey like flavor, without honey added. I am surprised how sweet this tea tastes with adding just a little bit of sweetener. The base adds a slight earthy vibe in the background, which would appeal to a black iced tea drinker.
Comments: New Mexico Tea Company‘s Plum Oolong is a lovely treat – good roasty oolong base with a tasty plum flavor. I highly suggest trying Plum Oolong both hot and cold!
I can see Plum Oolong being a great tea to serve for guests as it is easy to drink and flexible to serve hot or iced.
Bonus:
Purple Owl admiring my watermelon nails!
