Milk Oolong

My first MILK OOLONG.

Dun dun dun!

Actually, more of a wheeeee!

I am so super-caffeinated right now. Seriously. BWAHAAAA.

Anyway, I bought this at the Coffee & Tea Festival (for those that didn’t read, I did a huge write-up of the funness: http://steepster.com/teaplz/posts/29743 and yay!) from SerendipiTea on a bit discount. They were so nice at the booth! I didn’t taste this one there, but I couldn’t resist a milk oolong for $9 (special price for the festival) that wasn’t artificially flavored.

Anyway, the leaves are very pretty, green nubby things. Very rolled oolong. The smell coming off of the leaves isn’t very special. A bit green/floral maybe? But nothing super-interesting.

Anyway, the packaging didn’t have any steeping parameters, so I went by what other people have done on other milk oolongs on Steepster. I only did 1 tsp of this in 8 oz. I’ll have to try SerendipiTea’s recommendation on their website when I can… I’ve got 4 oz. of this, so there’s plenty to play around with!

Anyway, the infusion steeps up to a beautiful creamy yellow color that makes me want to eat it all up. And the smell. Homygawd can we talk about the aroma here for a second. Deliciously buttery and creamy and floral and wonderful. Seriously heavenly.

The taste… mmmmm. So light, but packed full of flavor! It’s mostly a floral flavor, very soft but assertive and inviting. Sort of light a tight hug. And then there’s this wonderful milky/creamy note that lingers on the tongue for a bit, enveloped in the floralness. It’s really smooth and nice and mmmmm. It’s definitely more floral than I thought it would be, but not in a rose-like way. More of in a general pollen-y way.

It tastes like spring in a cup, which is awesome, because I’m just about ready to see it coming. I’m sick of this snow.

My mom did not get this tea. She said it smelled like cabbage. WAT. And she said it tasted gross. Whatever, Mom. You are wrong about this.

Anyway, I’m off to make a second steep!

Annnnd the Second Steep (4:00, 190 degrees) was pretty much a success! It was definitely not as wonderful as the first cup, but…

Can I pause for a second to talk about how absolutely gorgeous the leaves are when unfurled? Beautiful. They’re some of the broadest leaves I’ve seen in any tea. SerendipiTea, I love your quality. I love that you’re local. You are awesome.

The color was a bit darker than before, with some rogue sediment on the bottom. At peak, the taste here was kind of “hai, I don’t want to be made into tea anymore.” Once it cooled down a bit, the tea got into more of a happy groove. The milkiness is still there, but it’s a bit subdued. The floral tastes are still very much in the forefront of the flavor. It still tastes pretty damn awesome, and the cup is as fragrant as the first.

YUM! Maybe I’ll do a third steep, we shall see…

Ahhh, Wednesday. I find myself with the day off today [yes, the glories of retail are numerous and boundless] and have been sipping on this sucka for the majority of the morning. Here is what I have discovered:

1. I like this tea hot better than I like it cooled. Cooled, it gets a bit astringent. Sometimes, I like astringency; it can work to contrast with the flavors the tea has to offer and heightens its better aspects. But in the case of this particular one, the astringency is a bit too close to its profile and it’s kind of unpleasant.

2. That being said, hot, it is rather tasty.

3. The creamy, milky notes are deep, soft, and billowy, however…

4. The floral notes are loud and somewhat overwhelm everything. It pervades both the scent and the taste.

5. On the tongue, I find it difficult to concentrate on other flavors past the floral taste. It’s like…one part gardenia, one part hyacinth, one part roses, one part lilies. I love every single one of those flowers in their own right, but if you put them all together it’s overwhelming in more ways that one.

6. When the creamy aspects of the tea shine, it’s brilliant. They are always there, lending a rounded, opaque sense to the overall flavor of the tea, but I wish that it was more consistently dominant. This could have everything to do with how I brewed it, though, so I’m curious to see what happens in consequent steepings.

7. On the nose, the florals blend with a nearly-just-as-loud fruity component. I’m on the fence as to whether I really like it, or it makes me just a teensy bit queasy. In whole, the scent is strong, young Skywalker.

8. The aftertaste is sweet, and, again, floral. Maybe with a light hint of fruit. Like…an apricot, perhaps.

To round this up, my verdict is positive. It’s a nice tea, and from what I’ve seen thus far I think I’ll be brewing it in smallish quantities so I can enjoy it hot. And next time, I’ll have to remember to use le sorapot.

Slightly saturated but mostly accurate picture from this A.M. | http://bit.ly/a5p6yD

My standards for milk oolong may be a bit high. This is a natural milk oolong (JIN Xuan) but I still wanted a bit more creaminess from it. I personally would spend my oolong dollars on a different milk oolong or SerendipiTea’s Forever Spring.

Received this as a surprise gift from teaplz the other day. YAY.

The water was probably too hot in preparation, because I was too busy looking up how long to steep this for and forgot I had the kettle on. Whoops.

Regardless… this stuff is pretty awesome. It’s smooth and light, and it’s taking a lot of willpower not to gulp it all down at once. There’s something in there that I can’t quite place—not exactly floral, but something nature-y. After three cups, you’d think I could get it (though let’s be honest here—I’m probably using that as an excuse to drink yet another cup of tea). It’s both comforting and delicious.

Though if I don’t stop drinking tea now, I’ll never be able to fall asleep tonight.