Exceptional! This tea is madness and makes me want to hoard it like a crazy person. Since I have purchased Mandala’s Milk Oolong, I have had no less than 4 cups a day, every day… sometimes more. I think about this tea when I’m not near it. I bring it to and from work in my best air-tight container and coddle it as if contained within lie the answers to mankind’s deepest questions… I think I have a problem.
While not my first foray into the world of oolongs, this was my first experience with a milk oolong and I cannot believe how good this tea is. This hurts my manhood to say, but the aroma and taste is pure butter cream frosting with sweet magical notes of milky carmel taffy and a subtle hint of buttered popcorn. Underlying all this buttery goodness is an exceptionally well balanced oolong base with sweet musky vegetal and floral notes that deliver consistent greatness for a seemingly endless amount of steeps. The first time I brewed this tea, I could smell it on myself for a good 30 minutes after I had finished.
The mouth feel is just perfect and somehow not unlike milk, triggered no doubt by a bit of synesthesia. It almost reminds me of sneaking a bowl of some super awesome sugary kid’s cereal at a friends house that I was otherwise forbidden to have as a young child. Yes, this tea elicits an emotive response.
I will generally do a hybrid (read: less-skilled) gong fu style in a brew cup starting with 30 second infusions and adding roughly 15 seconds. I have yet to reach the end of this tea with up to 8 infusions, which for me is a lot as I tend to prefer longer brew times.
As of right now, this is the best tea I have ever tasted. Easy 100, I cannot stop drinking it! Don’t order too much because I’ll probably panic when the supply gets low.
