When I took a look at the Naivetea website, I was really interested. Naivetea specializes in Taiwanese oolong teas. That's all they sell. They offer both scented and traditional oolongs, and quite a fair number of each at that. Naivetea takes pains to search out organically and traditionally grown teas, believing them to be the cream of the crop, so to speak. Their simple but thoughtful website is interesting to peruse. It's a bit lean on specific brewing directions, but that seems a common enough situation and certainly not one that can't be gotten around.

What I really like about Naivetea, though, is that all of their flavored offerings are created using traditional scenting processes, or traditional scenting processes using essential oils. This is appealing to me as I don't find that I have to be concerned about "flavoring" or "natural flavoring" being the real reason my tea tastes the way it does. Here is an excerpt from the website explaining a bit about the methods by which they achieve the scents and flavors they offer: "Tea leaves are spread evenly on flat surface in a temperature controlled cellar or room. Fresh flowers or fruits are then layered on top. If fresh flowers or fruits are not readily available, then all natural essence or extract are placed in very close proximity to simulate the layering. Tea leaves then undergo infusion process through meticulously monitored temperature and time to allow the fragrance and flavor of the flowers or fruits to be fully blended into the tea leaves."

This oolong is a sensory glory. The leaves are balled up tightly, and possess a lovely deep jade coloring. The lychee scenting is prominent. It's wonderfully heavy and has a substantial fruitiness that somehow reminds me of chocolate dipped fruit in the dry leaf. This particular offering won Naivetea an award at this year's World Tea Championship and if first impressions are anything to go by, it's not surprising why. I heated my water to 195 degrees and allowed a three and a half minute steep. A super fruity and intensely floral fragrance emanates from the infuser and the wonderful swelling of the leaves is positively bodacious. The scent is incredible, very potent, and distinctly un-chocolate-y now. After steeping, the liquor is pale golden green and dripping with scent. Wow.

The flavor in this tea thoroughly saturates the senses. The tea leaves a lingering taste of sweet fresh flowery fruitiness in the mouth. While lychee is a fruit, the tasting is also thoroughly floral and really sweeps the drinker away. The intensity of the scenting is really quite unlike anything I've ever sampled before and to be honest, I spent several minutes just feeling a little stunned. Wonderfully stunned. This richly fragrant brew is meant to be savored, and it seems like it would be ideal for a starry night...perfect just this changing time of year, when the winds are starting to pick up and fall is coming on.

Yes, this tea is pretty well magnificent. Even an excessively wordy person like myself can't come up with much better to say than that. The body of the oolong seems delicate to start but as your cup matures and cools a bit, it rounds out and the flavors seem to meld together and grow in character. The cup is a changing one, and each infusion changes as well. The first is so heady and floral and perfumey that my breath was taken away in the sheer joy of savoring it. The second infusion was sturdier and richer, still heavy with scent and reminding me of the fullness of late summer in its more mature depth. I'm working on a third infusion now with great deepening body and still further maturity and most remarkably - still that truly incredible scent and flavor. I don't plan to stop infusing here. At all times the tea carries the lychee scenting beautifully. I'm just stunned by it!

This tea is definitely to be tried if you are a lover of either fruit scented or floral scented teas. I think one not liking any perfume or fragrance should try this anyway, though perhaps one of the other scentings would be preferable. The lychee is definitely on the high floral end of the fragrance spectrum for fruits and that might not be everyone's cuppa. Naivetea offers other fruit scented oolongs as well, strawberry and yuzu (chinese grapefruit) sound very interesting and perhaps appealing in a different way than lychee. They are scented in the same traditional manner, regardless of what option you choose. The flavors yielded give one pause to consider more fully the merits and skills exemplified by a method of scenting that has been in practice for a very very long time, and the cup is of a quality that really shouldn't be missed. Naivetea describes their fragrance infused oolongs as a harmonious union between natural fragrance and elegant oolong and really little more need be said. The best thing to do would be to sample some for yourself. What a wonderful treat. At $28.50 for a three ounce bag, this tea seems more than reasonably priced, particularly considering the nearly miraculous infusion capabilities of an oolong.

— To purchase Naivetea Lychee Oolong, or for more specific information on ingredients or the story behind this particular blend, click here to go directly to the manufacturer's web site.

Jamie Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Jamie's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Jamie.

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