Osmanthus oolong is my favorite tea of all time. It was my "gateway" to Tiawanese oolongs and drinking better tea in general. The floral aroma is so perfectly luscious one wonders why anyone bothers with jasmine.
Quality varies from supplier to supplier, but the Gui Hua has been consistently good, at a very reasonable price. It truly is a champagne on a beer budget.
This might be the smoothest darker green type of oolong that I’ve tasted thus far. It reminds me a lot of the first oolong I drank which entered me into the world of tea slowly. I’m unsure what roman letters to align together in creation of English words to conclude remarks for this tea… I just really enjoy it.
This is a high quality, delicate Oolong tea scented with the incomparable peachy-apricot aroma of Osmanthus flowers. Absolutely delicious!
Surprisingly nice and drinkable tea. Non-tea-drinkers seem to like it too, because of the flowers.
Sascha Uncia
November 2024
Pretty good! A nice quality Oolong which brews a yellow-gold colour. Has a mild floral scent that reminds me of certain hand soaps (not a criticism). I brewed it semi-gung-fu style with shorter steeps and it came out pretty mellow, not too bitter or astringent.
There is a lot of stem in this oolong as it is rolled from whole sprigs (I mean the twig and attached leaves).
The colour of the tea doesn't match the image so I'm not sure if there is a consistency issue with suppliers. The flower aroma is present but very subtle, I blame Tealyra's new bags (foil was better at retaining delicate aromas like jasmine).
I decided to test a bunch of tea from TeaLyra so I ordered a set and brewed them all the same. For our test, 1 full teaspoon of tea was used and all were steeped for 3 minutes in a 50mL teacup. To test how well the smell and taste held up, I also included a second brew during our test.
The floral scent is pleasant, but the taste is on the bitter side. I am a fan of Osmanthus, so I rather enjoyed this, but my boyfriend said the taste of the oolong falls flat. I agree that the oolong is overpowered by the floral notes.
Boyfriend rated this tea 5/10
I rated this tea 7/10
Really taste like a floral peach. The flowers seem to get bitter with long steeps but it makes great iced tea.
A nice smooth tea with a light taste of osmanthus. Like any good green oolong leaf, this opens up nicely to overfill your gaiwan to the rim! However, there are quite a bit of stems in the batch I was given. Stems can impact the creamy sweetness of the leaf. This is also telling that the pickings are from further down the branch. Tea liquor is clear, but as a personal preference, I pick leaves of the stems once they unfurl. 6 were removed from just one serving. Flavor is good, just this one critique on the leaf quality. A good amount of leaves usually gets me 6 infusions.
Flo Shaffer
February 2024
My first bag of osmanthus tea had the wonderful aroma and great flavor. I have purchased a second bag, and there is almost no osmanthus aroma. I loved the first bag, but am very disappointed with the second one
