Sweet Assamica Red Oolong
Sweet Assamica Red
Formerly 'The Converter'
**The 2024 Winter Pick of this classic tea has the easy to brew rich sweet 'black tea' that harkens back to this tea's original name. It is the perfect tea to introduce high quality tea to those who have never had it before!**
We named this tea for its unique upfront fruity sweetness that is rare in a Taiwanese Assamica cultivar tea. So rare in fact, that we have never tasted it before! Made by our friends at an organic, lower elevation garden in Luye in the Southeast of this beautiful island, the 2024 spring production got just the right amount of bug bites to bring out a fun and unique softly sweet and slightly stone fruity upfront flavor, before the classic strength of the Assamica cultivar takes over. It has the familiar strong malty kick of Lipton tea bags in the backend, but without any of the bitterness or astringency so common in low quality tea.
If you ever choose to try to 'convert' a heavy teabag drinker to some higher quality loose leaf, agrochemical-free stuff this is a great one to try. It might even be OK to add a little milk and honey to this one in the name of 'conversion'...
Elevation: 300m
Status: Certified Organic
Cultivar: Assamica
Oxidization: 85%
Season: December 2024
Method: Hand picked, processed on site, very small batch
Region: Luye, Taidong
Recommend Brewing Style:
Gong Fu Style: 3-5g per 100ml, ~100C water, 30, 45, 60 then add 5-10 seconds steeps in gaiwan. Lasts 4-5 steeps.
Western Style: 3g per 100ml, ~100c water for 3 minutes. Lasts 2-3 steeps.
Has the smell, and taste of malty, sweet/savory vegetables..maybe roasted pumpkin? Very nice red color, pretty full body, full flavor, and not much bitterness, nice lingering after taste.. Nice long leaves, great flavor. 6 gms in 12 oz H2O @200F for 3 mins then strained. Subsequent steeps, 3 in all, yielded very nice cups, with the same aroma and flavor profile, although mellowing out as we progressed along. I like this tea. . If this tea is representative of roasted Oolongs, I just might have to try more of these.
Matt's description is on point. So much so that I did a side by side comparison with Lipton and the converter is indeed the premium, refined and incredibly satisfying counterpart. An absolute must have for anyone who enjoys a good black tea.
What a wonderful surprise! Quickly became my daily go-to tea during these final weeks of the school year. Impressive flavor that lasts over many steepings throughout the day. Highly recommended.
I remember my reaction when I first had this tea, "Tastes like Lipton? But... good?". Very different from other Taiwanese black teas, where this has an incredibly strong body, while still having plenty of subtle notes that linger. Highly suggest this for any black tea fan.
If you enjoy full-flavored teas, this one is for you. I love the toasted, malty profile of this tea. It's my cool weather favorite. But I can be found drinking this year-round when the mood strikes!