Vietnam Oolong – Camellia’s Tea House

Today I’m trying another tea that was in the free goody bag from Camellia’s Tea House, the Vietnam Oolong.

This was one of the loose teas, lovingly packaged in a small clear bag with a nice bright yellow ribbon and a handwritten label, which contained enough tea for three mugs.

Initially, I had trouble tracking it down on their website until I realised that it is one of their special edition teas, which come in pretty, small, clear jars with cork stoppers (60g), which are really quite cute.

They describe it thus:

'A gentle oolong tea, with a fragrant and flavourful cup. This particular oolong is plucked a few times during the year  from 25 year old tea bushes, originally brought back from Taiwan.'

I will start by saying that I now realise I am rather fond of Oolong tea. I only discovered it a short while ago when I tried the China Milky Oolong at the Corinthia Hotel. This, therefore, is the second Oolong I’ve tried and it’s very pleasant and has, what I would call that classic Oolong smell and taste.

The first mug I made was quite bitter although not undrinkable by any means, even though I had been careful to ensure the temperature of the water was not too hot – Oolongs brew best at about 80 degrees.

I suspected that I had left it to brew for too long, as I have a tendency to forget about it when I’m doing other things and this was given a full five minutes at least. However, a teaspoon of demerara sugar helped to decrease the bitterness and made for a lovely drinkable cup of tea (which will no doubt horrify the purists).

I then made a second mug, which I left for only three minutes (I actually timed it to make sure – go me!) and the bitterness was decreased considerably, although it was still detectable, so I once again added sugar. With the more delicate flavour of the shorter brewing time, the sweetness was somewhat overwhelming, even for me, so more experimentation was required.

The third mug ticked both boxes in terms of water temperature and brewing time and was a truly lovely cup of tea although the slight bitterness was still there, so I must conclude that it is part and parcel of the tea itself. I didn’t add sugar to this last cup, though, so I am clearly getting better at making it or becoming used to the taste.

The colour is a little darker than the China Milky Oolong

The Vietnam Oolong is a far more delicate and unforgiving tea than the China Milky Oolong and doesn’t have its natural sweetness. As someone with a sweet tooth, I need something to counteract the slight bitterness that seems to be an integral part of this tea.

Having said that, I have really enjoyed drinking this tea and will definitely buy some more at some point. It places at number two in my Oolong chart but to be fair, any tea is going to need to be pretty special to beat the China Milky Oolong.