Milk Oolong

Wow. I’ve only had one other milk oolong but this one just puts it to shame, no contest. I’ve been brewing it gongfu cha style and I’m on the 6th steep but it keeps on giving.

The last milk oolong I had tasted more like a tie guan yin with heavy florals and not so much creaminess, but this one possesses an extremely rich sweet cream scent and flavor. I would almost swear it was flavored if I didn’t know better. There are also notes of spinach and mint. This tea feels like a sublime dessert.

Thanks for the sample, Garret.

This is a free sample that I got from Garret when I ordered some of his wonderful Puers! Thanks Garret! There’s been a discussion on the quality of customer service & the personal treatment we get from some of the tea companies, & Garret is definitely one of the people on the top of that list, in my mind. I’ve only ordered from him once (so far), but I can tell that he’s good people. One of the things I love about Steepster is all of the good people, sippers & sellers alike.

I’m not a huge oolong fan. I admit it. I was at one time, & a cup here or there is delightful, but then it seems to become redundant. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s the way I roll! I’ve avoided milk oolong, because apparently some companies actually spike it with milk (?), or so I’ve been told. Since I’m allergic, when in doubt, don’t drink the water (or the tea)!

Of course, this tea is pure tea. Dry, it smells wonderful! Like a sweet flan. I warmed the leaf in my preheated Gaiwan, & the aroma blossomed into flan with flambeed brown sugar & toasted coconut on top. There was also a bright fruity aroma that I just couldn’t pinpoint.

Did I drink the 10 second rinse? Well, hell yeah! It tasted like movie theater butter popcorn with a light Mango brightness. Nice!
The wet leaf smells of that buttery sugary flan, with pureed mango drizzle. I can’t believe how sugary sweet this tea smells, both wet & dry.

Over the next several steepings the movie theater popcorn gave way to floral greens, a thick throat feel, & a delightful tingle on the tip of my tongue. I have a lot of houseplant, on all 3 floors, so for the last hour or so, I’ve been alternating between watering plants & drinking cups of tea. I watered everything in the sun room (there are pink flowers!), then sat for a few cups & relaxed. Then it was the rest of the downstairs plants, a few more cups of tea, etc. During that time a coconut flavor has emerged, the butterness is back, but in the back of my throat, lingering. The tingliness & thickness has embodied more of my tongue. It’s all very nice.

Will I buy this tea? Probably not. The quality is wonderful, & it is tasty, & although I like the novelty of an excellent oolong here & there, I wouldn’t want to drink it every day.

Oh My… I’ve been spending the past hour brewing multiple infusions of a little sample bag that was included with my first order from Mandala Tea. It said simply, “Milk Oolong” so I really had no idea what joy was in store. I had not read anything about it, had simply eyed the nice dark green rolled leaves, smelled the aroma of sweet grass, and thought I would use my little 100 ml glass oolong pot to do a quick tasting.

1st steep: quick 5 second rinse of the leaves, followed by 205 F water for 25 seconds. Nice Green/Gold infusion. Aroma is pure melted butter, with just a hint of coconut. Wow! Not super sweet, but just a pleasing creamy feeling in my mouth. And an aftertaste of passion fruit?

Ok, I am fascinated. I go for a second steep, thinking this is just a really nice Taiwan style oolong.

2nd steep: 205 F for 40 seconds. Big change! The color is now pure gold, no green. Aroma: butter, coconut and a hint more of floral tones. The flavor is even more intense. There is still that buttery creaminess, but the coconut is even more prominent, and I definitely taste tropical fruits at the sides of my mouth.

I am so impressed, I go to Mandala tea’s website to see what it is I am drinking. Sure enough, this is one great quality tea, and the flavor profiles match pretty close to what I was tasting. I start looking for the other flavors described in the next few steepings, and I have to say I am really pleased. This one is definitely going on my shopping list!

This is one of the BEST Milk Oolongs I have ever had. Everything seems to be going right for this milk oolong and it offers a little something extra that others seemed to have been lacking (and I didn’t even know it until I had this one, it seems!)

It’s creamy and buttery, mostly, but it DOES have slight sweet and buttery grass notes and a spec of natural saltiness, too! There are hints of coconut, flowers, and maybe even celery. It’s very clean and lovely!

It’s also pretty apparent it wants me to do multiple infusions…so…I’m going to listen to my tea leaves and do that :)

Wonderful!

Sample sipdown – FAIL!
Had a sample of this that smelled SOOO good. I thought it’d be a good one to drink now, as I’m highly stressed and milk oolongs always seem to comfort me (they’re just so creamy and delicious!).

Unfortunately I oversteeped it. =(
It smelled nice and creamy, with the vegetal notes poking through here or there. Taste-wise, though, I was just getting bitterness with slight hints of vegetal/earthy oolong.

This is on my list of teas to buy. I think this one would’ve been really awesome.

Leave it to me to mess up a sample serving… sigh

I have been drinking tea for a while but I never had a straight oolong tea and I have only had 1 or 2 flavored ones. Oolong could very well become another tea obsession because this was amazing. And by amazing, I mean that I want to hoard it like a crazy person.

1st Steep-15 seconds
A bit grassy but with a strong almost brown butter type of sweet nuttiness. Also a bit of coconut. So good.

2nd Steep-18 seconds
Oh my word is this tea amazing. Tasted like a toffee candy. Sweet and buttery. There is also a nice peachy note that I love.

3rd Steep-20 seconds
It tastes like peaches and cream. I am kind of flummoxed as to how this tea can get any better. And I’m not usually a fan of lighter teas.

4th Steep-40 seconds
It reminds me of vanilla buttercream. Pure sweet vanilla with a nice buttery bite. There is still that note of fruitiness but it’s faded. It’s almost lemony. Come to think about it, I always add lemon zest to my vanilla buttercream so it makes sense. The tea gods make sense.

5th Steep-1 minute
Starting to smell like jasmine tea which has never been one of my favorites but it works for me here. But the taste is like heavy cream with a bit of a floral finish.

6th Steep-1.20 minutes
The floral note is really taking over in the scent and taste. There is still a buttery note but it’s fading.

7th Steep-1.40 minutes
I couldn’t resist saving this tea for the morning because I loved it too much to throw away. I had this right after I drank my morning coffee. It was a lovely contrast to the bitter roast of the coffee. Reminded me of a jasmine green tea. Very floral. Very calming. Lovely.

I really was expecting to be all “meh” about this one because I am not a fan of lighter teas. I like my tea dark and roasty. But this was just lovely. It was creamy and fruity and I even liked the floral notes. So my first oolong was a success. I would be interested in trying a more roasty one.

P.S. Team is now on a 5 game losing streak.

Received this as a free sample a while back, and wrote out a lengthy review on paper. However, said paper went MIA. I waited a while for it to turn back up, but well… it didn’t. (Nothing escapes the gaping maw known as my desk! MWAHAHAHAHAAH!!!) So, here’s what I remember:

It was delicious! Very sweet and creamy with fruit and pastry flavors. what it reminded me of most were the “pasteles de guayaba” that I used to get with my grandparents in downtown Tampa. It’s hard to believe that this tea is unflavored! I love milk oolongs, and this one was very unique. :)

Got this as a sample. Thanks!
It’s deliciously sweet and floral and VERY creamy. Creaminess and smoothness are too qualities that I really enjoy in my tea. I would definitely consider buying a larger amount. So far everything from Mandala Tea has been fantastic!

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.

Pfff, a green Oolong that tastes like cream and candy? I wish! But hey, I may as well give it a try and see what all this is about.

That smell from my cup on the first steeping is floral and a bit fruity as I’d expect but there’s something else coming up underneath that I’ve never smelled in a tea before, it’s too covered up by the other smells, but it just might be that milky smell this tea is known for.

First and second sips are fruity with a little bit of woodiness to it. It’s good and has a creamy texture, but I’m really not getting that milky flavor — I knew it wasn’t possible! But then on the third sip, right when I was feeling comfortable with the average oolong flavors, it hits me. Toffee? No way, it can’t be! I had to take another sip to be sure, and when I got that same toffee note I just about jumped out of my chair with joy (I’m a huge toffee fan if you couldn’t guess at this point :P ). Every sip from here on is incredibly creamy and sweet, like a really smooth toffee. I can’t believe I didn’t taste it at first, because this tea is dessert level sweet!

Second steeping is more toffee but with notes of vanilla and white chocolate. I’m sure after enough steepings this oolong will evolve into something else, as most do, but I honestly couldn’t care less. The sweet toffee flavor of these first two steepings is enough to make this a staple that I’ll always want to have on hand no matter what kind of flavor it takes on later.

I read the reviews here, and decided that Mandala’s milk oolong would be my first foray into this type of oolong tea. I am convinced I made the right choice.

I prepared this tea gongfu style in a 130ml porcelain gaiwan.
Water temperature: 195 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rinse: 10 seconds, with about 50ml of water. … I drank it. It smelled too good! Tasted like buttery corn on the cob.

1st steep: 15 seconds. The liquor was clear and a very pale shade of yellow. It tasted grassy/vegetal, with a nuttiness and a slight floral note. I can see where it gets the name “milk” from; its mouthfeel was very creamy from the start. Breathing in after the cup was finished, I felt very refreshed.

2nd steep: 20 seconds. Yellow liquor; smelled of butter, grass, and some kind of nut. It tasted… yellow. Grassy, with almost a pineapple-y fruitiness. The tea had a very creamy texture. On the in-breath after the cup was done, I tasted a minty spinach, or maybe kale.

3rd steep: 25 seconds. Wow, those leaves opened up! The liquor looked like liquid gold! It was thick and creamy, and tasted of butter cream, with something else… citrus? The in-breath was minty, and lingered for a while.

4th steep: 30 seconds. Somewhere, there is a man, woman, or family, who grew this for my enjoyment. The liquor was still golden, and it smelled like a cross between cookies baking and brown-sugar-and-butter frosting. The taste was heavenly – the best yet. At first, vanilla, with milk at the back. After swallowing, there was a light vegetal taste on the sides, but with no astringency. This… this is like drinking a cloud.

I’ll spare the details of steeps 5 through 9, but I will say that this tea would not give up! After nine steeps and about a liter of water, I decided to steep for four minutes, to see what the leaves had left in them. All that was good and glorious about this tea, all of the flavors, smells, and after-tastes came back in one delicious cup. The six-minute steep has not been disappointing, either.

If you’re on the fence about this tea, buy it. You won’t regret it.

I ordered a few of the more popular teas that I found on this site, and end up with some good teas. The taiwanese do Oolong best…somehow.

I thought that the Chinese started this…well its a nice tea even though it has some sweetness that I am not used to in it. I would drink it with newcomers or folks not used to Oolong yet, as it is easy to like but not the finest.