G’day, tea-ple! It’s time for another foray into the Land of Oolong — a lush valley between the mountains of Black and the rolling hills of Green. (Disclaimer: this is not literal.) Oolong is like Doctor Who: it can travel between green and black at will. You never know where it will be. It will always surprise you.
Today’s pick comes from Nunshen, which has a really chic Bauhaus-style logo.
The pouch that held the tea sachet was made of a fine matte plastic that felt like a high-end business card. The sachet itself was made of a nice cotton/linen sort of material and had the stitching turn into the string that held on the tag. (David’s Tea’s sachets have similar construction. I was always impressed by those, too.)
I’m sharing this because I LOVE good design. It shows, right from the get-go, that these people care. (Well-packaged tea might not always be delicious, but you know that they had some meetings and they WANTED your experience to be nice, at least.)
The oolong that came out of this hella-chic packaging is surprisingly earthy. It’s like I momentarily entered the world of Helvetica/Bauhaus and forgot that tea existed. All of this smooth black-and-white sans-serif typography is covering up… plants for me to drink. RIGHT. I WAS HERE FOR THE TEA.
More than anything, this tea tastes like healthy cereal. The descriptor on the bag uses the word “oats” and “long.” I’m absolutely getting the oats. When I ran out of my own cereal once, I tried substituting my mom’s, some kind of uber-fiber keep-you-regular comes-from-the-earth blend. This is that. If you love oats and earthiness, this is for you.
I do not, for the life of me, now what “taste: long” means. I actually opened up Dictionary.com and typed in “long” thinking there was some kind of secondary meaning. A Google search on “long taste” offered up a jumble of results, including one that mentioned aftertaste.
So I stopped sipping, and yes, I do still taste this in my mouth a moment later. So maybe they mean it’s a lasting flavor?
REGARDLESS, if you love some malty oat flavor, you’ve gotta get on board with this tea. And then report back to me on what you think “long” means. Please help.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: Nunshen
Description
Get closer to nature with fresh grassy flavors and scents that will remind you of an open meadow in the spring.This blend is guaranteed to cœrce your mind and body to feel at peace and one with the Earth.
