June 30, 2010

Da Guan Taiwan Oolong Tea's

Times are tough for everyone these days and trying to find affordable yet good quality tea's can be a challenge. The "Da Guan" brand I had never tried before, or seen on the shelves anywhere previously. I bought a selection of these Da Guan Oolongs from a local Asian Market. All of the tea's in the Da Guan product line are from Taiwan. Besides what's shown in the photo above they also offer a Bai Hao Oolong and a Green Jasmine Tea. Ive also got the Bai Hao but Jasmine tea has never appealed to me.

These are all fairly good quality tea's that accurately represent their given category. Mind you they are not the cream of the crop (and the price reflects that) but....they are darned good tea's that I have been enjoying for some time now. So, sometimes it pays to do a little browsing at the local markets. Granted the majority of tea's at these markets are not very good, and some are just garbage. I don't always have to have the new Wuyi, Dan Cong or whatever from the elite online vendors to be happy, sometimes a darned good cup is just around the corner.


Those leaves don't look bad, do they? A nice, vibrant healthy green color. They come packaged in vacuum sealed bags inside the canister. I think most of them are 150 gm.s  This particular tea is the King Hsuan Oolong, which is very aromatic. Candy sweet with a touch of spice residing in the background. The Mt. A Li Oolong is also quite tasty. Rich with the veggie protein flavor and aroma and a touch of the floral and spice thing that you would expect from an A Li Oolong. The Bai Hao is also a good representation, not bud heavy but just enough in there to sweeten the cup.


You can see in the picture that this tea has viscosity, to me that's what Taiwan Oolong's are supposed to be, almost thick and slightly sticky. The price range on these tea's range from about $10.00 up to $30.00 for a 150 gm. tin. All four tins of the Da Guan tea's that I bought cost about $70.00 or so. And Ive got enough tea to last a while. Hou De's, Seven Cups, etc. Nope! Not this time.

7 comments:

  1. Nice article about tea. I have a blog that talk about tea and health too. Check it out, please.

    http://findteaonline.com

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  2. I did not know about this brand, thanks for bringing it to my attention...I just added it to RateTea.net: Da Guan's page and listed these teas.

    Do you have any idea what the characters mean? I tried looking up the second character visible on the package--the first one is clearly da(大)--but I couldn't find anything that looked like the second one that was transliterated guan.

    Also, do you have these canisters still? Do they have any commercial description or more info? I can't find any information on these teas, and I'd be grateful if you could send me anything you know.

    I like letting people know about good, affordable brands like this. Often, it can be hard to know what to buy in an Asian market. =)

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  3. Hey Alex, www.hytea.com.tw This is the distributers site and you may be able to find what your looking for there. Da Guan makes good quality, affordable oolongs. With out a doubt they are machine harvested, mass produced teas but the price reflects that.

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  4. Hi all, My name is Rong. I am the sole distributor of DA GUAN (大观)oolong tea in the united states. If you have any question or would like to place an order please e-mail me at eteaproducts@gmail.com

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  5. I love Oolong Teas. Your article is very informative and has appealing pictures in which adds visual to what you write. Keep it up.

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