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“I have been so bad about tasting notes the last two days! Just super busy I guess, and a feeling of not knowing what to write. Continuing with the cupboard chronology, I finally picked up a few...” Read full tasting note
“I have been reserving this for a special occasion, so I declared tonight “special” :) After a fine meal of grilled shrimp and cheese grits, a cup of this, from my gaiwan, on a nice fall evening is...” Read full tasting note
“Thank you so so so much again to Will Work For Tea for this wonderful surprise! What I really wanted to do this morning was go swimming, but of course it started raining around 7am and not this...” Read full tasting note
“This is one of the samples from Quiltguppy that I was most eager to try. I had never heard anything called a milk oolong until not long ago and I was curious about them, especially since hubby just...” Read full tasting note
This exquisite oolong is a high-elevation Chinese Ti Kwan Yin (“Iron Goddess of Mercy”) variation that was hand-processed with six unique methods to create a one-of-a-kind flavor. It is made in small batches and is extremely limited.
The beautiful leaves are blue-green, tightly rolled and lightly oxidized, but their appearance gives no indication of the flavors they generate. Despite the fact that the leaves contain no actual milk, their aroma is similar to the milky sweetness of Chinese milk candies (like White Rabbit). They brew into a clear, pale, canary-yellow infusion with the unmistakable aroma of pure lactose sugar. Astounding notes of evaporated milk, dulce de leche and vanilla-infused cream fade into a lingering, sweet-green aftertaste, a bit like a lightly spiced Kashmiri Chai.
Like other tightly rolled oolongs (such as our Dong Ding, for example), our Milk Oolong withstands multiple infusions. The second infusion is more verdant and less sweet than the first, with an intriguing mineral complexity.
At American Tea Room, David (our CEO) and Roshni (in sales) consider Milk Oolong to be one of their very favorite teas.
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I have been so bad about tasting notes the last two days! Just super busy I guess, and a feeling of not knowing what to write.
Continuing with the cupboard chronology, I finally picked up a few ounces of this tea last fall. I’ve only ever had it in my cupboard as random samples before, but I finally got to add a substantial amount. This tea is kind of amazingly expensive, but it’s also kind of amazingly good. Getting it at one of ATR’s many 20% off sales was key.
This is sweet and creamy, and it has a distinctly fruity character as well. It’s a tieguanyin, not a jin xuan or one of those quangzhou milk oolongs, so it’s really quite unlike other milk oolongs. I’ve never come across another oolong like it, which is kind of amazing. Happy I have some more, and I will probably hoard it a fair bit due to the price.
I have been reserving this for a special occasion, so I declared tonight “special” :) After a fine meal of grilled shrimp and cheese grits, a cup of this, from my gaiwan, on a nice fall evening is just about as good as it can get. Temp here on the front porch, 78, with a light westerly breeze. I have reviewed this tea before, nothing else to say except the right external conditions can make an excellent cup of tea into a tea memory. Did I mention the gorgeous sunset?
As is the case for many of us, QuiltGuppy is responsible for all of this.
UPDATE
One cup was not enough to see the sun disappear, I went four steeps, and like the sun, the Milk oolong faded slightly, until it was gone.
I’m beginning to suspect she actually keeps a separate stash to share with people…
Actually, I don’t. :) I usually send teas that I enjoy to see what other people think of them, too. I think of teas and people in terms of personalities. Like you, Ang, you’re a smoky black tea person in my head. Teawing is an open to anything, but tends to like blacks more tea person. As I read the reviews, I remember details about people. Of course, I know people aren’t so limited. (I love oolongs as my preferred tea, but some of my favorites are white and green, too.) I still throw everything into my tea boxes, though. Speaking of which, I have to write a review about the Smoky Earl Grey you sent me that I didn’t think I’d care for and ended up steeping three times!
I think we do have tea personalities, perhaps this could be grounds for some research…I have noticed for instance that many of us “former coffee people” do lean towards the black teas…is it flavor, aroma, color steeped? I don’t know.
Green teas seem to have an appeal to only some…As much as I like black tea, keep the peruh away please. I wouldn’t want to stereotype, but it seems there is something going on. It may not be that complicated, and perhaps a matter of taste. But I am as fascinated as to why someone likes a tea, as I am listening to the accent they have when they talk. To me, both are expressions of who we are, where we are from, and what has shaped us.
Thank you so so so much again to Will Work For Tea for this wonderful surprise!
What I really wanted to do this morning was go swimming, but of course it started raining around 7am and not this afternoon as advertised. Even if it wasn’t raining I’m not exactly in a good mood given the whole movie theatre shooting and the dumb things people have to say. (Like seriously you can cool it on worrying you’re going to see a spoiler somewhere on the internet, people.)
So oolong time it is.
On the first steep alone this tea tastes worth its price. And the first steep isn’t even the best one when it comes to milk oolongs. Woooow. Condensed milk candy, that is the only way to describe it. Creamy, buttery, just a slight touch of the green taste of the oolong. Wow. It even leaves that feeling on your tongue that cream generally leaves. Normally I HATE that feeling but with this tea, oooh yes, do like.
Second steep is butter butter butter. Smooth and creamy and buttery.
I oolong’d myself out after the third steep, which had a bit of a spice to it compared to the others. I’d keep going with these leaves but man this tea is so rich and intoxicating, I don’t want to take another 90 minute nap.
This is going on my “if you love me and want to buy me a present” list. It’ll just be this tea on the list. I have enough to steep it again using my gaiwan and I will be holding off on that for another rainy day. This stuff is ridiculous. When I get my first real job next year, I’m buying myself 2 ounces as a self congratulatory gift.
… there’s a massacre and people are worried about movie spoilers? WTF people.
And it was on Twitter I saw this, twice, of all places, where nearly every other tweet was about what happened. I don’t get some people.
The internet is full of trolls, ain’t it the truth. x_x
This is one of the samples from Quiltguppy that I was most eager to try. I had never heard anything called a milk oolong until not long ago and I was curious about them, especially since hubby just gave me a tetsubin and warmer last week! I researched milk oolongs a bit so I would be ready to try this.
The leaves have a very nice scent and if you can tell by looking, I would say they look like a high quality leaf. I am just getting to know oolongs gradually so bear with me!
The aroma of the freshly brewed tea is lightly floral, just right for me. It is a very natural floral scent, not a scented tea type of scent. There is a definite creaminess or milkiness to the tea texture and taste-wise. I can see how it got its name! Unfortunately, i just brushed my teeth anticipating the arrival of my student, and it is interfering with my ability to fully taste this. Swishing it, I get a lightly buttery, slightly nutty flavor. YUM! I am glad I have a whole pot to sip on through the evening. Thank you, Quiltguppy for this lovely tea experience!
Now, does anyone know how to make sliders behave on an iPad?
Now that the toothpaste has faded, I am smelling flowers and tasting walnuts! And the tetsubin warmer is keeping the tea at a nice warm temperature, not too hot to taste, warm enough to be good!
The slider is tempermental on my iPad as well. Sometimes I have to tap on a previous rating and go up or down from there :)
I don’t know about the iPad, but the sliders have never worked on my iPhone, unfortunately! They don’t play nice with touch screens, or mobile Safari, or both.
A few years ago, when I first got bitten by the tea bug, I purchased a few oolongs from LifeinTeacup. They were so good that I fell in love with the light oolongs.
But somehow I let the whole oolong range fall to the side this past year. Maybe it’s the few less remarkable oolongs that I subsequently purchased from other vendors or maybe it’s the chinese black tea kick I’ve been on this past year. At any rate, I forgot how much I love a good oolong, how light and sweet they are, how refreshing.
Then this tea came along and reminded of me of all that I love in an oolong. I ordered it because of all the great reviews. It did not disappont!
I don’t really get the milky aspect, but that might be because my oolong tasting skills are a bit rusty. Either way, this tea is delightful. Buttery and vegetal.
The first infusion disappeared way too fast. I think I need another.
What a treat!
Do you ever have those teas that you keep coming back to despite them not actually mixing well with your tastebuds? This tea and I have have a bit of a strange relationship because it was the first milk oolong I ever tried, it inspired me to try other milk oolongs and because it carries quite the high reviews and ratings. Despite all this, I haven’t been able to really taste what everyone else tastes with this tea. I have actually moved on to other milk oolongs since first trying this tea, but still… this one always creeps back up in my mind and grabs my attention and I think, “maybe THIS time I’ll make that cup everyone else has loved!” I know that tea tasting is very subjective, but with so many wonderful reviews, you would think there would be a large chance that I would follow suit. I’m not necessarily broken up about it, just curious!
Moraiwe was kind enough to share some of this tea with me in a recent swap (Thank You!) and I’m giving it another shot. Giving this tea a sniff, it seems much more like a regular green oolong than other milk oolongs I’ve had. There isn’t much of that buttery/milky scent that usually hits you in the face. Sipping… hmm… I am getting a nice milky note. It’s not as “obvious” as other teas, but it’s not bad. There is also a lovely sugary sweet finish that blossoms into something lightly floral. In the background is that leafy oolong flavor that ties everything together. Quite nice indeed! I suppose when you aren’t looking for the explicit milky notes that they slowly come out anyway.
This is a very nice oolong and if it weren’t so expensive, I would definitely add some to my collection. I don’t think it’s my favorite milk oolong, but it is one of my top oolongs to have in the cupboard now. Happy to have tried, retried and tried this tea again!
Third steeping: I tried it with four ounces water and two ounces hemp milk, and a teaspoon vanilla sugar as dessert. Just that little bit of sugar and milk made it so sweet and rich I had to leave half the cup for a while just to finish it. But it was too good to leave at a thrid steeping, so I poured some milk and water in with the leaves and tucked it in the fridged to try iced tomorrow. Yep, nothing like iced oolong for the sweltering 28 F snow day ahead!
As amazing as this oolong is I don’t see myself needing this one on hand all the time. Just frequently. Perhaps it’s just not the milk oolong for me or perhaps I need to brew it a little stronger for my tastes or in a way that adds some of Ti Kuan Yin greeness.
Either way Meghann deserves a pot of gold, three wishes and the keys to the city.
why thank you for the high praise. I thought this was the oolong of all oolong when I first tried some, but knew I could pass it one for someone else to experience when I hadn’t thought or craved it in over a month.
That’s my impression too- that this is an amazing tea that I’m glad to have tried and will always enjoy, but I’m not sure I’ll ever crave this oolong. Which, after looking up the price, is a relief. I’ll probably follow suit and give it a new home in a few weeks. Certainly no end to potential lodgings.
My first milk oolong and one of my favorites. A subtle taste of sweetened condensed milk matched w/creamy oolong. I have heard about some milk oolongs that are adulterated. I have no clue if this one is – hard to believe that this is natural? But regardless, a great tea.
This is the first and best milk oolong I have tried to date. I will probably have to keep ordering just the sample size (which does go a LONG way) until I get a bonus at work or something, but it is a nice special treat I can drink all day. I love this tea!
@Meghann — if you become our facebook fan you can always find out when we are having special promotions!
@ATR-thanks for the tip, I will go do that!
This was a great Milk Oolong to experience as my first milk oolong. The leaves are so dark and tightly rolled, the aroma is very sweet and creamy. The leaves brewed up a nice pale yellow with an exquisite taste. I love how creamy this is. I didn’t think I enjoyed it much at first, but then the sweet, almost peachy taste hits my tongue and I NEED more. This was a great way to start my day this morning.
I enjoyed the rich sweetness of the first steep more than the milky creamy second steep. Thank you LauraR for the opportunity to try this tea! I can see it becoming a favorite!
My love for this tea has not dissipated. Today I was making breakfast and brewing tea at the same time. I forgot I had a cup of Milk Oolong brewing, and wound up accidentally steeping it for 10 minutes. Cursing myself, I figured I’d have to dump the overbrewed liquor, but I took a sip just for the heck of it — and it was fine. More than fine, in fact — it tasted good. Maybe just a wee bit of astringency, but I added a pinch of sweetener and was rewarded with a delicious and flavorful cup! Who would have thought this would be a tea that is not fussy about brew times? A very pleasant discovery, indeed!
