Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea

Revised note;
Dropped the temp to 185. I had this tea AGAIN tonight yet didn’t remember that I had it before until I saw my score on the Steepster reviews page. It’s funny to go back and see what I was writing my first few days of being on here. I don’t see anything that I think is wrong, just not enough of it. I shall correct…
Normally I like to do my tasting withn a fresh palate before eating (not sure if it makes a difference), but today I could not help myself. I made my wife scrambled eggs with sweet onions, sweet banana peppers, jalepeno, and tomatoes (Mr Stripey/Ruckers) all pulled fresh from the garden. Wow fresh is good. Only wish I woulda grabbed the brown eggs I considered stopping for the other day.
On with the tea. Pale green color. Unfurling brought good sized leaves. Nice aroma that I soon found hinted at taste to follow. Initially I was impressioned with a green, but not grassy, slightly minty flavor. There were delicate notes of floral sweetness and little to no astringency. The buttery creaminess was so good and it hung with me for a little bit, coating my mouth and leaving a pleasant aftertaste indeed.
Second steeping the sweet remained though not as sharp or minty. The creaminess was still present too. The flavor became bolder but the astrigency remained nuetral. It’s very refreshing and, truthfully, hard to put down. I ended up steeping this one maybe 7 times, backing off the amount of water and bumping up the duration a little each time. I found it to change slightly each time with the final cup leaving me with a salty soup like flavor that was still holding on to a touch of the sweet notes. A splendid drink I would suggest to anyone.
Tune;The Glorious 9th,by Ludwig Van
I did not listen to this tonight, we were actually playing the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy Edition of-Risk, though I left it to see if anyone knows what I meant by it…

First, and most importantly, I apologize for my brief absence. I have had to deal with doggy issues, solving problems at work, dealing with family issues, but now, finally, everything has worked out for the best and I am able to sit down and have my first cup of tea while I finally relax. It is amazing how tension builds up and once everything over, you just suddenly feel like you are a balloon full of stale air that desperately needed to be popped. I am so happy to be back!

I love Ooolongs, and Milk Oolongs have always had a soft spot in my taste-buds. Just thinking about them my mouth waters… So, after all the hype that Teavivre has had on Steepster, I had to try their Milk Oolong. I placed and order, that took forever to get to me (all customs fault, Teavivre service was wonderful. Sometimes shipping to Ecuador is a hassle…). It finally arrived, and being in the middle of all the problems I was having, I didn’t really feel up to trying new teas. So, finally, the storm has passed and I will indulge.

The leaves are nicely rolled and a very enticing green. The scent was fresh, creamy and a tad bit mineral. Not quite as sweet scented as other milk oolongs I have tried, but very creamy and inviting.

I steeped it for 2mins and ended up with a delicate golden liquor. The scent was intensified and the creaminess started prancing about tempting me o gulp the entire glass down. Yuuuummm…

First sip, unsweetened, delicious. All of the creamy smoothness that a milk oolong promises. The first sensation in the sip is creaminess with a tad of creamy sweet flavor, followed by brief mineral savoriness and an ending of sweet aftertaste, all oolong goodness.

The second brew was just as good, but different. The creamy sensation/flavor became stronger and the mineral flavor was played down a bit. The sweet aftertaste was still there and making me smile.

Third brew I lost a bit of the creamy and found a bit of the mineral, but, still delicious.

I never sweetened it, but somehow, Oolongs never seem to need sweetening. The delicate sweet aftertaste gets lost under sugar, honey, Splenda, or any sweetener I have ever tried. So, I don’t think I will be writing about this one sweetened any time soon… It is sooo good plain.

Once again, it feels great to be back in the tea world with fellow Steepters! : ) Also, this tea is really worth a try! : )

Thank you Teavivre for this lovely tea sample!

It has been quite a day!
Schey (granddaughter) and I went to Algiers Hookah bar (first time for her) and had a good time together. Her mom (my daughter) looked at us as though we were misbehaving teen’s. Harrumph! (She used to shave her hair on the sides so what can she say to me now!) We tried a Melon blend…too harsh. Then a Mint Vanilla blend that was just right. There we were…on our pillows with a pot of sweetened mint tea, lounging with our hookah. So relaxed.

I took Schey home…and Micah (7) ran to the car with a DVD for me to watch tonight. One of his favorites…Puss and Boots. ;)

I had my camera and since my daughter lives 10 miles from me and close to Douglas Lake (great views of the Frontrange Rocky Mountains)I went down the road and took a few pictures just to get an idea of how big the current Hill Park Fire is. (If you look at the picture, I live under the black smoke on the left…up against the mountains).

By the time I got home I was hungry! I made a smoked salmon pizza and waited for the right time to start tea.

I’d been waiting for this Milk Oolong!

The perfect ending to a lovely day would be this tea.

The Pour:
Elegant and light, full of the most beautiful luscious flavor on my first tenuous sip.
(I had no idea what the meaning of the milk part would be. Creaminess? Milk flavor? I still don’t know what that means. I didn’t taste anything like milk.)

If you took the most fragrant flowers (gardenia, vanilla, jasmine, orchid) and made them into a light and creamy dessert without any perfumey harshness, that would be the taste in this tea. There was a flavor surge, right after the first liquor passed my lips… a wave… almost immediately followed by endless creaminess and richness.
As the tea cooled the thickness and creaminess increased making me lick my lips and look to the bottom of my cup anxious for more, needing more like a tea addict.(Oh yes we all know about this!)

No way would I want to share this pot of tea with anyone tonight(but maybe with you). I want it all to myself(really). Every drop was dripping heavily with nectar-like creamy goodness. As smooth as fine silk sheets…a luxury tea to dream with.

No,no I was not tea drunk…wish I was with this tea though…
It was delightful.

Thank you Teavivre for the perfect tea for completing my day!

Fire Photo from Douglas Lake today…http://flic.kr/p/ceWazy

This is the second Milk oolong that I’ve ever tried – Another lovely Christmas gift from my Dad (that I bought and gave to him to give to me, but still, it’s a gift. I love doing that – I am sure to get perfect gifts every time). It starts off light, fresh, and grassy. With subsequent steeps it develops a greater depth of flavor with a subtle buttery smoothness. Although this tea leans towards the grassy side, it somehow balances perfectly to provide flavor without ever pushing over into bitterness. I was hoping that the light buttery notes in the subsequent steeps would eventually emerge into nuttiness, but it never quite got there. Still, it’s a lovely tea, which re-steeps very well.

Thank you LiberTEAS for this great sample!

This is one fine Milk Oolong! It is a lighter creamy oolong, with faint fruity notes. Very smooth and relaxing. Plenty of depth and substance in flavor.

The color is a light yellowish color, and almost has hints of a fresh ripe honeydew melon in the end of the sip. There is not a noticeable bitterness with this tea, even with a longer steeping. This tea also takes a higher water temperature very well.

This is definitely an oolong that’s in a class of its own. Very delightful and delicious!

Thanks for this one Liberteas!

I may just be the LAST person on steepster to try this! LOL – It seems like many have beat me to it! Regardless – I’m super excited!!!!

I agree with Liberteas saying this is more subtle than other milkly oolongs – it has a more gentle milk texture and taste and not that more intense sour-sweet type flavor that others seem to. I appreciate that difference!

I love how the flavor lingers! It’s FAB!

Awesome!!!

This is absolutely lovely. The milk tones are subtle compared to a manipulated (flavored) milk Oolong, but, I like that. It allows the natural tones of flower and nut to come forward, and gives it a subtle “warm milk” kind of flavor in the background that is remarkably soothing.

Truly a delicious Oolong. I’m on the combination of infusions three and four as I type this, and I think I’ll take it for a couple more.

Angel and Teavivre were very kind to include a sample of this tea in my last sample box that arrived from them! They noticed I had mentioned in one review wanting to try an unflavored since their flavored sample was my first mik oolong.

I had my bestie over today for Japanese Lettuce Wraps. I was really in the mood for some Teavivre Monkey Picked Oolong, but only had enough of my sample left for a small pot. I ordered a full pouch but it hasn’t arrived yet, so I went ahead and made a small pot of Monkey Picked and a bigger pot of this. It is a great opportunity to compare both.

Sniffing both of these made me giddy. The Monkey Picked was just what I was looking forward to – baked, rich aroma and ultra smooth. I sniffed this one and was surprised at the great difference! It smelled so green, so floral, and the baked aroma was very much in the background, not right in front like Monkey Picked.

I sipped this one first and wondered if I was losing my mind. This unflavored milk oolong has more of a milky taste and feel to me than I remember the flavored one having! Oh so smooth, lightly floral, deliciously milky. My guest loved it and drank a lot more tea today than she usually has at my house!

Both of these were excellent teas! We finished both pots, and I am so glad I have a Teavivre order on the way! Thank you, Teavivre, for expanding my horizons and letting me try this, I think between the unflavored and flavored milk oolong, I would buy the unflavored!

Another sample from my box from LiberTEAS! I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while so I was thrilled when I saw it in there. I have a sample of the flavored version of this in the mail because I wanted to try something extra milky, so it will be fun to compare it to this once it comes.

The dry leaves are a lovely green and smell so creamy, and they open beautifully—tons of whole, undamaged leaves unfurled! This tea is also a water hog, and the first steep sucked up nearly half of the water I put in there. I was a bit conflicted on what temp I should brew it at, some instructions say boiling but my sample said 170 so that’s what I did for the first steep! It was creamy, silky heaven—floral, sweet, and buttery. It’s a bit apricoty but not really fruity at all if that makes sense, and it’s floral without having a specific flower taste. Very mildly floral, but it’s there. There’s also a bit of grassiness going on, which I love! It’s not milky in an overt sense, but there’s a distinct smoothness here that I associate with milk oolongs. I think the milk part is more mouthfeel than taste.

For the second steep I tried hotter water (190) which I don’t think is ideal for this tea. There was no bitterness or astringency, but the creamy flavors fell away and the grassiness was pushed to the forefront. I liked it, but it didn’t seem much like a milk oolong—in fact this steep read as more of a green (i.e. less complex).

Steep 3 at 170 again was back to creamy goodness, with a more pronounced and distinct floral note than the first steep. It’s similar to the Mermaid’s Kiss, so it’s maybe magnolia? So far this is the most refreshing steep, and the grassy-milky-creamy-floral-apricoty notes seem the most balanced.

For the 4th steep I decided to get a bit crazy—you might have guessed from some of my previous notes that I like to experiment with my tea, and I certainly did something a bit risky with this cup! I wanted a bit more milky flavor, and I have these chewy milk candies from Japan sitting on my counter, so I chopped half of one up and put it in my IngenuiTEA as it brewed. It certainly looks milky now, and tastes more… well, milky! And sweet too, since there’s sugar in it now. It’s surprisingly natural tasting, probably because they are pretty small candies and I only used half of one.

I’m sure there are more steeps left in this so I’ll probably play around with it later tonight. Either way, given the reasonable pricing and how tasty this is I’ll definitely be adding it to the next order I place at Teavivre!

Thank you Alysha for a sample of this!!

Over the last month or so I’ve become slightly obsessed with oolongs. I want ALL the oolongs.

I had recently fallen for Davidstea’s Quangzhou Milk Oolong and wanted to try another milk oolong! Actually I want to try ALL the milk oolongs!

Since the Davidstea one is the only comparison I have, that’s what I did. First I drank some of this alone, then I made them both side by side and did a little taste test!

My conclusion was that to my mostly untrained taste buds, this one is slightly more vegetal, where the Davidstea one is a bit creamier and slightly sweeter. It makes me wonder if the Davidstea one is flavoured?? Regardless I prefer the Davidstea version, but if they’re sneaking flavouring in there that would be an unfair advantage for sure. This one was really good though and I’d buy some in the future! Brewed at like 85 degrees for 3 min or so.

So I’m trying this awesome sample from Azzrian in my brand new glass mug with strainer and lid. I can drink tea at work without those paper filters now! Awesome! I also love how lovely the tea looks through the glass. I want to just look out the window and drink tea for the rest of the day.

I’m quite enjoying this one. It’s not as creamy and milky as other milk oolongs I’ve tried. I think I’ve only had David’s and the three from Tea from Taiwan. It’s also quite it bit more drying on the tongue, though not unpleasantly. This may be because I’ve always brewed my oolongs with below recommended temperatures. I tend to prefer them that way, but I followed directions this time. Hmm… I guess I’ll try a cooler temp next time and see how it goes.

As it is, this oolong is very nice for a daily brew. The first steep was sweet and floral with a light milkiness. This second brew is more vegetal with an aftertaste of unripe melon. There’s a heaviness in the mouthfeel but the lightly floral scent in the back of the sip keeps things balanced.

Not my favorite to be honest, but it makes a good everyday tea. I wonder if I’ll like the flavored one more. :D

Thank you again, Azzrian, for the chance to taste this!

Thank you so much for this sample, Teavivre!

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! I’m telling you, this is going on my shopping list right next to their Blueberry tea. Yuuuuum.

Okay, I’ll try to use better words >.s just something I noticed.

And oh! This tea opened up beautifully. Beautifully! Might pour the leaves into my steeper to just watch it go! Next packet will definitely be done in the glass gaiwan. And the fact that the temperature is foolproof only makes me love it all the more.

One packet in 10oz of water, 100C, 2 minutes in my Perfect Mug from DavidsTea.

Phew, I am sore! I’ve been the exemplary sedentary American. I know I need to get more, or rather I should say any, exercise. My fiancé bought me the Zumba 2 Wii game for Christmas, and I finally broke it out yesterday. Holy crap! That game is WAAAAY harder than I anticipated! I couldn’t even finish a medium intensity full length class. I kept thinking, this has to be the last song, and then another one would play. Rinse and repeat. Ugh, I literally hurt in the weirdest places, like my lower back and love handles. Hopefully, that means I’ll lose fat from those areas, but it remains to be seen how effective of a workout it will be. I even have rug burn on my toes. :( Tip: Don’t dance barefoot on carpet for an hour. I also think it would be more fun as a live class. Still, there are some benefits to being alone in my apartment, such as no one has to witness my incredibly uncoordinated dance skills, or lack thereof.

Anyway, get on to the tea already! This is my first milk oolong experience, courtesy of Teavivre and their generous free samples!

The dry leaves smell really good! The aroma is like regular oolong but richer somehow and maybe a little darker. Woodsy definitely isn’t the correct description because that’s reserved for the dark Formosa oolongs. But there’s definitely an added component here than what’s in a regular green oolong.

I did a quick 1 minute steep. The tightly rolled balls unfurled into huge, whole leaves with long stems attached to the ends. The brewed tea aroma is luscious. This is definitely a green oolong but again, somehow richer and more distinctive than non-milk oolongs. It’s like the difference between milk chocolate and dark chocolate. This tea is definitely the dark chocolate.

I really want to drink it, but I know I’ll burn all the taste buds off my tongue if I do. A few patient minutes later and…Wow, from that build up of aroma I didn’t expect the taste to be so subtle. It’s definitely flavorful, but a lot of the flavor is in the aftertaste. It does have a certain creaminess to it, but I wouldn’t describe it as milky.

From experience, I know that the second or third steep is usually better than the first. So, I’m hopeful that the next cup will be better. That’s not to say this cup was bad, not by any means. It just wasn’t fully developed, akin to unripened fruit.

Second steep for 2 minutes and now the leaves have fully unfurled. Ah yes, and there’s a much more developed oolong flavor now too. It’s buttery and floral, but honestly I can’t tell that much difference between this and a Tie Guan Yin. Hmm, that second cup disappeared rather quickly…time to brew a third! I’ll try 3.5 minutes this time.

The flavor is still going strong. It’s a little less creamy but still enjoyable. I don’t have much to add so I think I’ll end the tasting note here. But I plan to keep steeping these leaves until there’s no flavor left or until my belly is sloshing with tea, whichever comes first. ;)

EDIT: I completely forgot about the fourth cup and let it steep for what must have been an hour or two. But it’s still delicious! No bitterness or astringency whatsoever. This is an amazing tea!

WOW. I received the samples I had requested from Teavivre today, and I am blown away by their generosity! Samples of five different teas, each sample looking to be enough to brew 4 cups. I am so excited to get going on these!

My roommate has never tried a milk oolong (or straight oolong, for that matter) before, and requested we try this one first.

The dry tea definitely doesn’t smell as creamy as DavidsTea’s Quangzhou Milk Oolong, the only other one that I really have experience with, but it does smell good and a bit floral. I’ll have to take better notes next time; I’m not opening up a second packet just to write about how the dry tea smells (and I just don’t remember the details right now).

I used one packet in 250ml of water in my little steeper.

First infusion (~95C, ~2min)
Smells floral and orchidy, with perhaps a hint of creaminess. The taste is delicate and lightly floral, with just a touch of creaminess. I’m getting some vegetal classic “oolong flavour”, particularly lingering at the end of the sip, which is really tasty.

Second infusion (~96C, ~2min)
Mostly a fresh orchidy oolong smell this time. Really not getting any creaminess, just a touch of floral notes back by the delicious oolong flavour.

Third infusion (~96C, ~3min)
Very little aroma this time, and the taste is clean and a bit astringent. No creaminess and barely anything floral left, but still a good infusion because I can taste oolong! Actually, I’m getting a bit of something fruity or sweet in the finish as well. Yum.

Fourth infusion (~98C, ~3min)
Again, pretty much no aroma. The flavour is now somewhat like a fruity, astringent wood, but in the best possible way I can mean that! I’m actually getting a bit of a resurgence of creaminess although it’s a bit different this time. Perhaps buttery instead of creamy.

Probably could have gone for a fifth infusion, but I’m exhausted.

Overall, a good oolong, but the difference between this milk oolong and DT’s is quite striking, so much so that I would have assumed that this one was just a regular tieguanyin. I’ll have to do some direct comparisons to really get my head around it. If I’m looking for a tea that’s very creamy though, I probably wouldn’t pick this one. Next time I plan to keep to stricter infusion times and temperatures, perhaps trying the boiling temperature that they recommend, as it seems people have had success with it? I also should mention that my tastebuds seemed a little off today, so that could account for flavours not tasting as they should as well.

I apologize for the abbreviated tasting note on this one, but it was two days ago and I wasn’t terribly impressed. It’s a good green oolong mind you, slightly floral (my friend had a hard time placing it, not orchid, not jasmine, oramanthus, I doubt she’s had oramanthus but I have once), a slight cooling note at the end but creamy? no. buttery? no. I’ve had two other unflavored milk oolongs from Taiwan and this I’m afraid just didn’t measure up, which is unfortunate as I had high hopes for this. Now I suppose there could have been brewing factors or that the sample I got passed on from Michelle, was older or something, but it simply didn’t resemble the other milk oolongs in anyway. ::shrug:: Thanks for letting me try it Michelle

This was another of the samples that Angel from Teavivre sent along (thank you!).
I toyed with the directions a tiny bit. I did use boiling water for this oolong (I usually use just under boiling) and steeped it for 2 minutes. The leaves didn’t smell too distinctive – mostly just very vegetal and… chalky perhaps? In a good way :)
Brewed up though this smells mind blowing. Buttered greens. I freaking love the scent of oolongs.
This is very thick with a little bit of astringency. I can sense the creaminess here… it goes nicely with the buttery flavor.
A few seconds go by… ummm yum. It is doing the “oolong throat coating” that I love. Oh! And a surprise! There is a salty sweet aftertaste at the finish with… I don’t even know what the flavor is. Something great and “back of the throat sweet”, if you know what I mean. Artichokes maybe, if artichokes were actually sweet (and lightly salty).
This is great – it keeps unfolding. Not super complex, but super tasty :)

Thank you Angel at Teavivre for the sample. I’ve had a few milk oolongs before. But this one was a little different, more milky and that is awesome. There is a sweet note to this tea too. Really all kinds of great flavors are coming out of this tea and I really love it! So much that I made a small pot of it for myself. I’m hoping to get another infusion out of it later tonight!

After sitting with it and enjoying it a little more (MIL was over offering her advice ‘sigh’) it has helped to calm me down a bit and center myself so I can enjoy the rest of my day.

This is actually Dylan’s sample from the facebook contest. Thanks Teavivre!

I’ll be sipping this one through out the day but so far, I’m getting just a hint of a green taste, like cooked vegetables. It’s fleeting as the sweet apricot flavor takes over almost immediately. I assume the reason this is a milk oolong, is the creamy, buttery flavor that rides the tail end of the apricot flavor. I does have a decadent mouth feel to it for not being flavored. In the end of my sip, resides the floral taste. It’s rather interesting because I thought I really disliked flowery flavors, but this one is good. It’s sweet and mellow, not as heavy as jasmine. This is an excellent tea. I’m not sure it’s the oolong that will get to live in my cupboard because right now I favor the big red robe. I’d totally recommend it to others wanting to explore oolongs.

I believe this is my first non flavoured milk oolong.
The flavour is definitely subtle, but very smooth and just the right amount of sweetness.
Vegetal and buttery, light but full bodied. All of this from the first one minute steep!

Thank to you Teavivre for the samples – this is a delicious and high quality tea that is on my list. :)

Full review later! I have many steeps to go :)

(Wooow what an amazing aftertaste. It lingers. I like that.)

My second batch of samples from Teavivre arrived today! I was very surprised when my mail lady knocked on my door as I didn’t think I would have to sign for this package (I didn’t have to last time, which is weird). Regardless, I was very excited when I took it inside and opened it up! Again, I was at a loss for what to try because I’ve been eyeing all the samples they sent me this time. So, I flipped them over so the label was facing the table and lined them up and shuffled the order around and asked my little sister (I’m babysitting) to pick a number between 1 and 5. She chose 3, and this was the third one in the lineup, so I decided to brew this up. I specifically asked for this one when I asked if I could get another box of samples (thank you again Teavivre!) and so I’m super excited to try this! I’ve also never had a milk oolong before, but I’ve heard wonderful things about them so I’m so excited to try this one.

So.
Dry Leaf: Again, the packaging is wonderful. For this tea (and two or three of the others I got), there are 4 individual baggies with tea in them inside one bigger bag. I don’t know how much is in each because the little baggies are in Chinese (further proof of the high quality of this tea) and it doesn’t say on the bigger bag they’re all in. I assumed that one package would be enough for 10 oz of water, so I threw one in. The dry leaf is pretty green and it smells very fresh and vegetal, a little salty, actually.

First Infusion: About 200 degrees (it says boiling but a.) I think that’s a little too high and b.) my kettle boiled and I wasn’t right there so it cooled for about a minute and a half and I was too lazy to put it back on :P) for 2 minutes in my Noble Mug from DAVIDsTEA. The resulting brew is fairly light. It still smells a little vegetal. Again, I’ve never had a milk oolong so I don’t really know what to expect. It tastes very fresh and slightly vegetal but not in a savory way. Usually when I think of vegetal I think of the opposite of sweet, but this is different. It’s like fresh garden picked veggies. Aasdklfjdaslk this is so hard for me to put into words, but the best I can say is sweet veggies. Definitely not as sweet as a fruit but still slightly sweet. There’s a very distinct heaviness left in my mouth afterword, which I’m assuming is the milk part coming through. As this infusion cools, the sweetness comes out more and more. This is a pretty good, but based on this infusion I wouldn’t repurchase.

Second Infusion: Boiling water for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It’s times like this when I really wish I had a gaiwan. The leaves have opened up so much and it’s hard to brew them in a basket like I do. I’ll try to find one around here (though finding tea supplies is not-so-surprisingly hard here in Vermont). This infusion is much creamier. I can definitely sense the milkiness of this. It’s smooth and heavy in your mouth. This time it’s a bit sweeter. Not a lot, but it definitely got sweeter. Still vegetal though. I think the main difference in this infusion is the way the creaminess came out. Like the first infusion, as this one cools the sweetness comes out more. It’s starting to turn more fruity than vegetal. I don’t think the leaves have it in them to make a third infusion, so for now this is my review. Not phenomenal (I don’t think I prepared it exactly as I should’ve, so I’m going to try it differently next time.

On somewhat of a side note, I have a good idea for my TeaTrade blog (it’s still a little confusing to me so I don’t really use it). I was thinking about making a tea review blog that connects teas to the arts. Like taking whatever tea I choose to review and then say music that compliments it or art that it makes me think of. It sounds kind of weird now, but what do you guys think? Any comments/suggestions would be great!