In an effort to destash and make some room for new teas, I’ve been doing some spring cleaning. This weekend I came across a delicious sample I’d forgotten about…

A few months ago, putting away the coffee order, I found a small, vaguely-labelled bag tucked into one of the boxes: Marissa, light fragrance TKY.

Uh, okay? I mean, I’m not one to turn down free tea, but there was no other indication as to who sent it or what, precisely, it was. A Ti Kuan Yin, obviously, from the look of the leaves. A much greener (less oxidized) Ti Kuan Yin than our standard offering. Hm. I didn’t sit thinking about it for too long, I started a kettle boiling.

Later, after some sleuthing emails to the Roasting Plant, I found out that a stray bag of this lighter TKY found its way into a big shipment from Fujian, and one of the trainers sent out some samples to folks he knew appreciated oolongs. Happy to be one of the chosen, I spent a few days tasting and re-tasting before the sample disappeared into my oolong drawer.

Oolongs are awesome, and anyone who has ever tasted with me knows how much I love them. Of the thousands of varieties of tea in the world, oolongs demand the most time and skill to make and can be the most involved to drink…but I don’t intend to get sidetracked by the virtues of oolongs. That’s a whole ‘nother post.

Anyway, I spent the weekend rediscovering this particular tea. A beautiful, light and vividly green dry leaf, opening enormously and able to withstand 4-5 steepings. Intense stone-fruit aroma, slightly toasty, getting sweeter with each infusion.