How can I tell if some oolong is artificially flavored?

[Serg]

Hello teachatters
I know it's going to be a tough question but every opinion is much appreciated. So how can I tell if some oolong tea is artificially flavored? And I am curious about all types of oolong -- TGY, WuYi and Dan Cong. Please share your knowledge Thank you very much!

[tsverrir]

I don't have much experience with artificially flavored tea, but the ones I have known all have in common a sweet, strong smell of the dry leaf that gave a promise that the flavor of the soup did not fulfill.

[jktea]

The artificial aroma means that the maocha have been scented with the same aroma flower to copy the top quality Oolong tea(especially Dancong Oolong teas).
My personal experience on the artifical aroma is: the aroma is very strong, not delicate or exquisite; Again, after 2 or 3 times of infusion, the aroma has disappeared quite a lot; For the natural flower aroma in tea, it will exisit there after many infusions.

[bsteele]

Have you tried asking the leaves?

[cindyt]

I recently read this somewhere on the internet.. When the tea is artificially flavored, the water will smell unusually fragrant when you first "rinse" the tea leaves.

[Serg]

Thanks for your replies! Well, I have two dan congs from Jing (xin ren and jiang mu). Just don't know if they are correspond to yours explanations. They have a very strong fragrance. But it's pleasant And the first wash is very fragrant but the brew retains the flavor and some part of the fragrance after 5-6 infusions. So I am not sure

[sriracha]

I remember being suspicious about TeaCuppa's Barley oolong-the flavour was just too in your face to be natural, also it disappeared very quickly. All but gone by infusion #3.

Anyone else tried that one?

[ABx]

Artificially scented teas will drop off suddenly, but if the dry leaf smells like the aroma then that's a dead giveaway.

[Shihali]

Has anyone tried the Harney and Sons "Ti Quan Yin, Spring Floral"? I ordered a sample a while back and noticed that while the first cup had a tremendous and very floral aroma, it faded to nothing by the third or fourth cup. Also, the tea in the package had a good aroma, although I don't recall if it was the same as the brewed tea.

I have my suspicions, but I don't have the knowledge to tell if it is artifically scented or not.

[debunix]

I bought a sample of that tea last fall, and found it tasty and pleasant, not the best of several ti quan yins that I compared together (the one from Norbu was the best compared to samples from Harney, Chado, and another that I can't remember but I can't find my tasting notes at the moment), but not particularly deficient compared to the others either.

[Shihali]

Thank you. I wasn't sure if something was up with the tea, or I was abusing it, or it just isn't made to last a large number of English-style steeps.

[debunix]

Found my tasting notes from the Harney Spring Floral Ti Kuan Yin, and the first infusion (about 1 minute at 195°F, 2g leaf to 2 oz in a porcelain gaiwan) was a bit astringent and vegetal, not so interesting; a 2nd infusion also didn't grab me; but then I set it aside, and and a half hour later infused several times more, and it had opened up brilliantly into a sweet, floral, gorgeous tea.

The odd thing was that it seemed to need to sit, with the leaves wetted, for a while before it showed its stuff, longer than the other TGYs that were brighter right away, which is rather in contrast to your experience.