Aude and Dominique from Terre de Ciel sent me some samples a few months ago and I was too busy to try any of the teas earlier. When I got up this morning, the sun was shining and I wanted to try something I haven’t drunk in a very long time: a Dong Ding oolong tea. They included one in the package so that is the tea I brewed today.
Dong Ding
Dong Ding is a famous kind of oolong tea from the Dong Ding mountain area in Taiwan; Lugu town to be specific. I’ve had pleasant experiences with Dong Ding teas in the past so I was pretty excited to drink this one.
Don’t know where to buy tea online? I made a list of over 300 online tea shops and I keep updating it regularly. You can check it over here
This particular one is from mid-October 2019 so it’s around 1.5 years old. It’s semi-oxidised (or at least no heavy oxidation) and the leaves have a green colour.
Tea Tasting
- 5g for a 100ml porcelain gaiwan
- 90°C water
The leaves have a uniform green colour and they consist of relatively big and medium-sized nuggets/balls. The aroma is amazing! It’s really buttery and floral. It smells like dong ding teas I’ve had in the past so it immediately reminds me of those teas. Once the leaves get wet, the aroma got a bit fresher and greener. It’s very refreshing.
Infusion 1 (15 sec): the liquor has a light yellow colour. It’s subtle, but some of the butteriness is already coming through. The undertone is buttery and floral notes are at the surface. The finish and aftertaste are a combination of the two and it lasts really long, especially for a first infusion.
Infusion 2 (20 sec): this one is more intense at the start and grips you right from the beginning. It’s less buttery and more floral. This slowly continuous into the finish and aftertaste. It’s really refreshing and the aftertaste lasts even longer than infusion 1.
Infusion 3 (25 sec): now it’s shifting more towards the greener side of the spectrum. Still floral in the undertone and in the aftertaste. After a couple of minutes, there is also a butteriness coming through in the aftertaste. It feels complex and the general impression is rather green.
Infusion 4 (30 sec): the colour is changing and it’s more yellow now. I boiled some fresh water for this one and the flavours are more noticeable again. I’m getting strong notes of orchids at the start. These continue for a while with a touch of butter in the finish. My overall impression is fresh and green.
Infusion 5 (40 sec): it feels similar to the previous infusion. I’m getting orchids with a green finish. The aftertaste is floral and a bit verdant. It doesn’t stay around for long. Still enjoyable though.
Infusion 6 (50 sec): it’s less green and more floral again. There are some traces of the greener flavours but the infusion is mostly about orchids. Some of the butteriness reappeared in the aftertaste.
Infusion 7 (long): slight traces of orchids. There is a faint hint of butter towards the finish and aftertaste. It’s still quite long-lasting.
Conclusion
For this price, this is a great tea. It was mainly about orchids and butter in most infusions. Towards the end, some of the green and fresher flavours were also coming through. The aftertaste was quite intense throughout the session.
It had been a while since I had a dong ding oolong, but this was a nice return to this famous tea.
If you want to buy it, you can do so over here.
