Gunung Green

TOTEALY

$8.25USD for 1oz (28g)

This Gunung Green tea from TOTEALY was included in the samples I won during their Instagram giveaway. They sent me 4 “mystery teas” and even sent me a few extra samples to use in my weekly giveaways! If you are curious, join me on Tuesday’s for #teatriviatuesday.

Packaging

My teas from TOTEALY arrived in simple brown lightproof, airtight, resealable paper pouches. Very sturdy. Good Quality. There is no identification on the outside of the packages however, inside, was a little card telling me all about the tea! While this was difficult for me, since I had no idea what the company sent, it would not be as confusing if you knew what you ordered from them. It has been fun opening each tea and having no idea what I was going to find!

I opened the bag to a sweet almost honeylike aroma. It was an increadibly welcoming and pleasant smell. Very vegital with a haylike quality about it. I pulled out the card and was not surprised to find it is a green tea. Until I read further:

Gunung Green is grown high in Indoneasia’s Halimun Mountains on an organic farm in Java’s Banten province. Though Gunung Green is an oolong, its fall harvest and unique oxidation process lend it the best qualities of a green tea, resulting in an earthy mineral brew without bitterness.

I was very surprised to find that this tea is actually an oolong. I couldn’t wait to give it a try!

How to Brew

According to the brewing card, Gunung Green is best brewed at 190°F for 1.5 minutes. I love that it tells you what to expect if you shorten and lengthen the brewing times. Like any tea, steep times can be shortened or lengthened depending on personal preference to flavor. This is one of th few companies that acknowledges that and tells you what happens at each interval.  The card also states that, like any good quality oolong, this tea can be brewed multiple times.

The leaves were multiple shades of greens and browns. They were very dark and, by look, reminded me much more of an oolong than a green tea.

I followed the company’s instructions for this tea. I started by brewing at 1.5 minutes for the first steeping. This Gunung Green had zero astringency and had a pleasant honey butter flavor. It was very smooth while also having a strong umami presence. The more steepings I went through the lighter the tea got. The honey sweetness carried through and the umami, vegital flavor heightened.

The Experience

Totealy’s Gunung Green steeped to a sunny yellow color. You can see that with each steeping the tea lightened. The color reminded me much more of a nice green tea rather than an oolong.

I thoroughly enjoyed each steeping of this tea. The vegital characteristics makes it a nice all day tea. I could make a pot of this in the morning and sip on it all day while working at home. The sweet honey butter flavor makes this a perfect after dinner tea with a bread pudding or other breadlike dessert.

Gunung Green by Totealy is a tea that you can enjoy all day and not get tired of. Each brew was a little different making each sip a bit of a mystery. The basic characterisitics were consistent with each cup but I was kept on my toes throughout my entire session with this tea! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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