A tea tasting experience gift from Umitea by My PersonaliTea

I received this beautiful gift of teas from Umitea which resulted in a wonderful tea tasting experience. It included three of my favorite types of tea, green tea, oolong and white tea. The light, refreshing taste of white tea; the slightly grassy “green” flavour of green; slightly earthy and smoky flavour of oolong tea. Below are the following teas in this wonderful gift:

Snow Water Cloud Green Tea
Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea
Dragon Well Lung Ching Green Tea
Wuyi Rock Oolong Tea
Bai Hao Oolong Tea
Tie Guan Yin Tea (Oolong)
Jasmine Silver Needle White Tea

You can learn more about Umi Tea Sets green teas on their site.

What makes each of these teas different?

All teas are all from the same plant but where they are grown, climate, when harvested, oxidation duration and method all play a factor into the final product.

Oolong teas are partially oxidized. This means, they are oxidized anywhere from 8% – 80%.

A black tea is fully oxidized and a barely oxidized tea is a green tea. This is why a black tea has a dark leaf colour and a green tea leaf has a more greenish colour, closer to the original tea leaf colour. Since oolong teas are oxidized on a spectrum, their flavour also ranges on a spectrum resembling that of a milder, light green tea to the rich, bold flavour of a black tea.

Now, where does white tea fall in oxidation level?

White teas don’t undergo a formal oxidation process but they do oxidize slightly during the drying process. As a result, they have a delicate, floral flavour.

What makes white tea “white”?

What makes white tea white is when it is harvested. This tea is harvested before the tea plant’s leaves are open fully. The buds are still young and covered in fine white hairs.

What are the optimal brewing times and water temperatures for tea?

When participating in a tea tasting experience, for optimal flavour from a from a tea, water temperature and steeping time play a significant role. When I first stated drinking tea I used boiling water for every tea and left the teas in the water forever! Big mistake!

Black teas can be brewed with boiling water and for 4-6 minutes for optimal flavour.
Since oolong tea is oxidized on a spectrum between green and black its optimal brewing temperature is also between green and black teas at around 190F. The optimal steeping time for oolong is 5-8 minutes.
Green tea, being less oxidized, requires a gentle touch and is brewed in water around 150-160F for 2-4 minutes only. You don’t want to burn the leaves.
White tea, another delicate tea, requires care with a slightly warmer water for brewing at 180F and for a bit longer to get that light flavour at 4-6 minutes.

To summarize brewing times we have,

Tea	Temperature	Steep time (mins)
Oolong	190F (87.8C)	5-8
Green	150-160F (65.6-71C)	2-4
White	180F (87.8C)	4-6

Tea and Food Pairings

Food and drink are always paired. Tea is no different. To add to that tea tasting experience, consider adding food to your tea. So, what foods go best with which teas?

Oolong teas have that nice smoky flavour profile and pair wonderfully with herby dishes, fruity desserts and smoky cheese and meats. Citrus fruits and flavours match and pair well with oolong teas as well. For more oxidized oolong teas, these pair well with chocolate.
The gentler, subtle, grassy flavour of green tea goes well with mild and subtler flavoured foods such as seafood, rice, salad, melon or chicken.
Black tea has that stronger more robust flavour which goes well with richer foods like roast beef, lamb, venison. It also goes well with heavy past dishes like lasagna. Other black tea pairing ideas are with fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, bananas and pears. An example of fruit pairings would be with desserts. Vegetable dishes including zucchini, eggplant, sweet potato and pumpkin also pair well with black tea.
Since white tea has a gentler flavour, you want to pair it with light foods so that it doesn’t seem tasteless if paired with very rich foods. A white fish or mild cheese or dessert are best paired with white tea.

What should you consider when tasting tea?

When tasting tea it more than just the flavour. There is so much to a tea besides the taste. Even before drinking the tea there is so much to consider. For example, the leaf. What is the colour and shape of the leaf when dry and after steeping when it’s wet. What is the colour of the liquid after the tea has steeped? Does it smell like anything? Now you don’t want to taste the tea when it’s too hot because then you just burn your mouth. Not fun. So you want to wait a bit until it’s cooled off and then taste it. Now, what is the flavour? Compare all these factors to other white teas or green teas or oolong teas. Not all are the same. A tea tasting wheel can be helping in describing the tastes, fragrances and appearance of tea.

A record of my tea tasting experience courtesy of Umiteas

Name	Wuyi rock	Bai Hao	Lie Guan Yin	Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green	Snow water cloud green tea	Dragon-well Lung Ching Green tea	Jasmine Silver Needle White tea
Type	Oolong	Oolong	Oolong	Green	Green	Green	White
Dry leaf appearance	Dark black and curled	Dark brown, grey long strands	Dull, dark green, curled and wrinkled	Round greyish, green balls	Thin, flat, grass-like, very dull and dark green	Flat, wide, grass-like, bright grey strands	Greyish-white long strands
Wet leaf appearance	Dark black, short, thin strands	Long strands; shiny, rich brown in colour	Big, flat, dark green; slightly wrinkled around the edges	Unravelled, yellowish green	Bright, grassy green	Bright, yellowish green	Light, dull brown
Infused liquor analysis	Dull brown	Reddish brown	Pale, golden brown	Bright, pale brown	Golden, yellowish green	Light, yellowish green	Light, pale, pinkish red
Flavour analysis	Light refreshing and slightly earthy	Earthy	Earthy and grassy	Strong and grassy	Refreshing	Grassy, light flavour	Light, faint floral flavour

To me tea is more than just a drink. It’s a tea tasting experience from beginning to end. This includes opening the packet of tea, viewing the tea leaves, waiting for the water to boil and then reach the correct temperature for steeping, waiting for the tea to steep, looking at the colour of the steeped tea, viewing the wet tea leaves and finally tasting the tea. Below is a selection of photos of the beautiful teas gifted to me by Umiteas.

References:

Snow Water Cloud Green tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/snow-water-cloud-green-tea
Wuyi Rock Oolong Tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/wuyi-rock-oolong-tea
Dragon pearl jasmine green tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/dragon-pearl-jasmine-green-tea
Bai Hao oolong tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/bai-hao-oolong-tea
Tie Guan Yin tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/tie-guan-yin-tea
Jasmine silver needle white tea, Colorfultea, Umi Tea Sets, URL: https://www.umiteasets.com/products/jasmine-silver-needle-white-tea
What is Oolong Tea?, Teatulia Organic Teas, URL: https://www.teatulia.com/tea-varieties/what-is-oolong-tea.htm
Tea Oxidation, April 2019, Artful Tea, URL: https://www.artfultea.com/tea-wisdom-1/2017/7/7/tea-oxidation
Tea Brewing Temperature Guide, S. Paajanen, Oct, 2020, The Spruce Eats, URL: https://www.thespruceeats.com/tea-brewing-temperature-guide-766367
Food Pairing with…Tea!, Twinings, URL: https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/food-pairing-with-tea
A Primer on Tea Pairings, foodpairing.com, URL: https://www.foodpairing.com/a-primer-on-tea-pairings/

Author
Recent Posts

Lani and Norm

I enjoy learning and sharing that knowledge.Sharing has been in many forms over the years, as a teaching assistant, university lecturer, Pilates instructor, math tutor and just sharing with friends and family.Throughout, summarizing what I have learnt in words has always been there and continues to through blog posts, articles, video and the ever growing forms of content out there!