Rui Feng Jin Xuan

Thank you Tea from Taiwan for this lovely sample.
Its not my all time favorite oolong but it is quite lovely.
A good beginner oolong perhaps or more suited for those who appreciate a lighter oolong.
It has a lightly milky flavor, a slight floral note, very light on the buttery aspect.
There is a nice refreshing floral after taste.
I can’t wait to try the other two samples.
Look for the review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on November 15th.

The aroma from this packet was vegetal in much the same way as the Tai Xing Jin Xuan, however the sweetness wasn’t as present, making the aroma less appealing to me. Likewise, the aroma from the brewed cup was less creamy, but still vegetal. Drinking a sip of this and comparing it to the Tai Xing Jin Xuan, I much prefer the latter tea as it has a sweetness and creaminess that is absent here. As well, the vegetal note is less rich boiled veggie, and more of a green veggie… if that makes sense. It’s not as pleasing, either way. This is not a bad tea, but it’s much more like a regular green oolong, in my opinion. Thanks again to Tea from Taiwan for sending me a sample of this tea :)

ETA: Re-steep was akin to any green oolong. Tasty but unremarkable.

Mmm, smells nice – sweet and like a light floral. There’s also a buttery smell to it. So flower butter maybe. Brewed up, the scent is more solid green floral oolong base but there is still some creamy butter laid over top.

The company’s note says that this tea has slight astringency and I can kind of see that. It’s not what I would normally peg as astringent since it isn’t that strong but it definitely has a sharper edge than I’m used to in green oolongs. But it’s very pleasant. On the first part of the sip I’m getting sweetness and soft floral, then I get the rougher taste of green bushes (or something) – fresh and solid but not heavy. As it cools it becomes creamier like butter heavily flavored with bushes. Why bushes? The taste isn’t sweet enough to be grass or not heavy enough to be tree but it is something green and fresh. And that’s the only thing I could think of to compare.

Anyway, it makes it nice. Simultaneously light and solid, this is a softer tea that isn’t delicate but nor is it heavy. So I’m grooving on the bush butter tea so far.

Second steep, also @ 2:30, the bush taste is a little softer, the butter taste more milky aftertaste. Quite nice. As it cools, the milky tastes almost gets a little toasty hint and I’m reminded of Samovar’s Ryokucha which is never a bad thing.

All in all, a milder milk oolong (I’m guessing because there is no artificial flavors) that I find very nice.

ETA:
Third steep @ 3:30. Not overly special or distinctive but has a sweet, floral, milky note that fills my mouth and makes it attractive. Almost tastes a little sugared.

Fourth steep @ 4:30. The taste is milder now, softer. The milky is fading into a general smoothness along with a more generic green oolong taste.
^3g/6oz

I awoke at around 5 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Tired. :( I got up around 7 and set about searching for a tea that would satisfy my craving for something sweet and creamy. This is the last of my milk oolong samples from Tea from Taiwan. It’s taken me forever to get through them, but I like variety.

Steep 1: Lightly flavored. Vegetal and buttery. I’m getting bok choy. It seems the oolongs from Tea from Taiwan are often like bok choy and cooked watercress. Which is ok, since these are some of my favorite vegetables.

Steep 2: Buttery vegetables are more upfront now. A hint of flowers of some sort. There’s a drying effect on my tongue.

Odd, I’m not really enjoying this. I don’t really want to go for steep 3 even though the leaves have plenty more to give. Perhaps my recent fascination with dancongs is ruining me for other oolongs. I also can’t really discern the difference between this and many of the other oolongs from this vendor. I do think a couple stood out as really tasty, but this is not one of them.

ah well, maybe I’m in a hot chocolate kind of mood. Or chai.

Tea #2 of the Tea from Taiwan Jin Xuan (milk oolong) sampler. This is an all natural, no flavoring whatsoever milk oolong, although based on my experiences with the “flavored” one of this pack I am not really expecting this to remind me of a milk oolong.

This time I threw the entire package in my mug, which is a little more leaf than I would normally use, but I realized I wouldn’t really be able to get another cup out of the sample with the leftovers. To compensate I steeped it for 2 minutes instead of my usual 3, and I don’t think it came out too strong. It does have a slightly milky, slightly buttery aroma to it, but that definitely doesn’t come through in the flavor. The first thing I think of when I take a sip is a big pile of sauted spinach. It’s very vegetal, and some florals come out in the tail end of the sip, but not many. Honestly, this is really not the oolong for me. But they can’t all be the tea for me, otherwise my cupboard would explode!

A delicate and soft light oolong which is reminiscent of a white tea. Slight floral aroma with a hint of butter in the finish, it’s nice. Does not seem like a flavor enhanced tea if it is a milk oolong. Good for a contemplative moment of peace.

TY to Tea from Taiwan for offering free samples!

All my teas came kinda vacuumed sealed, about 3tsp or so.

I follow these steeping instructions from their site http://www.teafromtaiwan.com/Brewing_Tea
doing short steepings x lots of steepings.

DRY: Hard to see, but the tea is in tight grassy balls.

STEEPED: light yellow tea – the more steepings, the tea unfurls. Interestingly it looks like the tea is still attached to stems.

TASTE:
First steeping – Very light, naturally sweet, slightly milky and buttery.
Second steeping – more milky, vegetal and buttery. Trying to pick out the vegetal flavor that is now coming out. Green bean?
Third steeping – best steeping, yum! Full flavor, buttery, mellowy sweet and lightly vegetal. Very fresh and refreshing taste here.
Fourth steeping – starting to get dryness here. The flavor is pretty similar, slightly buttery.
Fifth steeping – The leaves are huge now. The tea is taking sweeter, no milky or buttery taste this time. Moreso reminds me of green tea here as it’s more grassy vegetal now. Dry aftertaste.
Six steeping – more astringent / dry taste for the whole sip.

COMMENTS:
I’ve had a milky oolong before purchased off a farmers market in LA. This milky oolong is less astringent, more milky and quite fresh tasting. I like the butteryness and sweetness. The milkyness is light and present in the early steepings – overall pretty nice. Though, I’d love more floral, but that’s just personal taste. A good tea for someone who wants a light milky oolong.

Seems a bit “richer” than the Tai Xing. Steeps darker. Tastes more savory and floral. Not detecting much butter or milkiness. Very smooth, to me. Cooldown seems a little “starchy” like a white tea. And there’s this almost jasmine-like scent—just a hint.

For me, this is good but somehow “meh” overall? It’s just very very mild.

Next sample. The leaves in the little packet are so lovely. Big, dark, and all rolled up. They smelled nice and lightly creamy but very fresh.

The only thing I have to compare this to is DavidsTea’s milk oolong, the only other milk oolong I’ve had. It’s not a huge departure taste-wise as far as I can tell, but it has a different body/texture. It’s not as creamy, and it’s milder, though I steeped it far less, and a bit lighter. It’s nice and soft.

My first milk oolong. I having a hard time tasting the milk aspect of this time. It really comes off as a green oolong to me.

Out of the three in my Tea from Taiwan sampler, this is my least favorite. I didn’t detect any buttery/milky tones. I tasted more floral, toasty & astringent notes. It wasn’t terrible, but compared to the other two I received, I wasn’t too impressed.

Thank you @Tea from Taiwan for this sample! I definitely enjoyed it.

The tea had a beautiful delicate yellow colour, and smooth milk oolong flavor. I found the more I steeped it the more the sweetness came out. I was able to do it 6 times, and could have probably kept going but then my leaves would have been a few days old. I am looking forward to trying the other samples you gave me.

I will admit I am a barbarian. I have to have a tea come up and kick me in the butt for me to appreciate it and buy it again. I used 195F water tried for 1 minute, tried for 2 minutes, tried for 3 minutes with the sample size in a 10 ounce Yixing pot. I am sure someone with a more refined palate than mine could appreciate this tea, but to me, it seems weak and tasteless. Maybe I didn’t use enough tea? Glad this was just a sample!