Mangoes are associated with melting hot summers. This Lupicia Ripe Mango Oolong gave us an opportunity to enjoy its sweet, tropical and juicy flavour during the cooler months.
The tea scents high-quality Taiwanese pouchong (a light oolong) with the flavour of mangoes. Tiny cubes of mango and marigold petals are mixed throughout the loose leaf.
Steeping 3 g of tea leaf in 200 mL of water at 85°C for 3 minutes, the tea was a clear straw colour with a fresh floral and sweet tropical nose that recalled the ripe mangoes and the soft centres of ripe melons. Served hot, the rich sweetness of soft, ripe mangoes – much like the flavour of good quality dried mango – appears briefly before the rich, yet mild notes of the pouchong emerged in the body. The flavour of the pouchong retains some of the vegetal notes of a green tea and is a step down from the toasted sweet notes of a true oolong. The ripe mango flavour returns in the finish, with the pouchong rounding out the sweetness from the mango, to leave a fresh aftertaste of oolong lightly scented with mango.
This Lupicia Ripe Mango Oolong contained 50 g. The tea was sourced from Taiwan, packaged in Japan and purchased in Tōkyō, Japan in 2014.