Twinings- Tie Guan Yin Oolong

I was really lucky to win a 6 month tea tasters membership in February, I love getting my monthly tea from Twinings, although sometimes I struggle to review them in good time. Here is a good example- Tie Guan Yin is May's tea.

Tie Guan Yin is an oolong tea. Neither green nor black, the leaves are left out for just long enough to lightly oxidise- you can actually see that the leaves have a brown tint around the edges where oxidation has occurred. The leaves have been rolled, according to my tasting notes, up to 100 times. This is a real artisan tea. Translated literally oolong means "black dragon" and as you look at the tiny pellets of tea you can imagine a dragon curled up with it's tail sticking out. As you add the tea to the infuser, you can hear a chink as they hit the glass.
I used water at about 90', and infused for 2-3 minutes. As the leaves are infused, they begin to unfurl, rising into the water like tiny flying dragons. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the tea infusing- I had nothing to do with the positioning of the leaves here! The leaves unfurl to become surprisingly large. The leaves can be used with several infusions.

I do think it is quite difficult to describe the taste of an oolong. It's similar to both green and black teas, but different. Less grassy than a green, it is almost floral in taste, a bit nutty and buttery too.  I am struggling to get acquainted with green tea, but like with white tea, I have enjoyed sampling this tea. It's another tea for a day when you want something special and different. Of course, being a Twining's tea, the quality is superb.