Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea

Last night when I got home from work I was very pleased to see a big box of tea waiting for me from Teavivre! My next round of samples arrived, yippee! (Also pleased to see: a packaged with new boots in it!)

This one was high on my list of teas I wanted to try from Teavivre because I love oolongs, and I especially love milk oolong, and I was disappointed that it appeared on the site after my first sample batch came. But lucky for me Angel Chen and Teavivre are exceedingly generous and they sent me another box of samples, this time including this tea. Thanks so much!

The steep parameters were pretty different than any other oolong I’ve come across, mainly steeping in boiling water. But I used those parameters anyway, because that’s what was called for. One of the other grad students came into my office right after I steeped it and remarked that this tea smelled good, and I would agree. It smells floral and creamy and buttery and vegetal.

This jin xuan definitely has great flavor. It’s buttery, it’s creamy, it’s floral, and it’s slightly sweet at the end. Really delicious. I will say that I think my concept of a milk oolong was a little warped by having ATR’s first… that is a fantastic tea, and indeed very milky, but it is a tieguanyin varietal not a jin xuan, which gives it a pretty distinct taste that’s different than other jin xuan oolongs I tried. For a while I would try milk oolongs and nothing could quite live up to ATR’s, but that’s because they weren’t playing with the same rules. When I adjust my expectations to what jin xuan milk oolongs usually taste like, which this seems to be a great of, I think I’ll be a lot more pleased with the other ones I’ve tried.

Thank you Teavivre for this sample!

This is my first time with a milk oolong and I’m very glad I get to try it after reading so many good reviews about it. I like green oolongs and was afraid of following the directions by using boiling water on this tea, but I did and the results were surprising good!

Little green balls that smell creamy and floral. Wet they smell very very rich and creamy. The infusion was pale yellow-gold with hints of creamy vegetables. I brewed this gaiwan style. I was too afraid to do it western style with boiling water.

Taste: Cream, creamy, creamy! Creamy taste with a nice creamy texture with some sweetness. Hints of floral notes of orchid taking a backseat to the creaminess but letting themselves be known. There was a slight hint of juiciness, of what I couldn’t pinpoint. The aftertaste was creamy at first then had a sort of drying effect in the mouth.

In later steepings the creamy notes waned a little, and vegetal notes started appearing. The drying effect became a little stronger in the aftertaste as well. It reminds me of a tiequanyin without the heavy mouthfeel and lasting aftertaste. I prefer this over tiequanyin simple because this lacks that super thick, heavy mouthfeel and aftertaste.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre! I tried this today and I must say, I am impressed. Steeped Gongfu style, it provided a much needed calmness to my morning.
Dry the leaves give faint notes of cream. The liquid color is pale yellow. I went 5 steeps on this and only the 5th was noticeably less in flavor. Still good, the 5th steep was just lighter. As Dinosara noted, it lacks the intensity of ATR, owing mostly to the stated fact that ATR uses TQY. I hadint known that before but it makes sense now.
I have been a devoted fan of ATR’s Milk oolong but I think for the price, I have a new favorite.

An order will be following.

This is my first milk oolong. I’ve tried black milk teas before, but this is almost entirely different. While in black teas with milk flavoring, I felt like the milk was there to soften the bitterness of it… but with this oolong, there is no bitterness or harshness to hide. It’s only there to add a subtle creaminess.

Last night, I made it hot, and enjoyed it greatly. I decided to have it again as my take-to-work tea, over ice since it was already in the 90’s when I left. It was wonderful iced. The Teavivre oolongs I’ve tried before were on the floral side, but this one is fruity! The flavor reminds me of peaches! It’s like a light peaches and cream oolong! I absolutely love it. Best oolong I’ve ever tried; will order.

I’m trying out my first milk oolong thanks to the most generous staff at Teavivre. Thanks! I have actually had this a couple of times now and I keep coming back to it – there is just something special about it. I feel very lucky to be able to play with the steeping times with this tea – thanks to the generous sized samples that were sent. I have to say that Teavivre has great customer service in my experience.

On to the tea! The dry leaf is tightly rolled and smells both sweet, floral, and just a tiny bit vegetal.
1st infusion (1.5 minutes)- The tea is a medium golden color and smells lightly floral. The taste is also light and slightly sweet. There is just a hint of vegetation, but to me it isn’t actual vegetables – more like a lush plant. The taste is very smooth and the tea itself feels as thick as a broth. There is a heavy feeling on the tongue – almost like the feeling of drinking something creamy but without the flavor. The aftertaste is clean and neutral.
2nd infusion (2.5 minutes) – The tea is still light, slightly more on the vegetation side of things, but it isn’t off-putting. The tea still feels very smooth and the texture of a creamy drink is a bit more prominent. I’m still not actually tasting a creamy flavor, but that may be because this is the first unflavored green oolong I’ve had and my mouth is a bit overwhelmed at the novelty.

I’m looking forward to trying more infusions with this tea! I’ll be updating this later. Thanks again to the very generous staff at Teavivre! I’m so looking forward to trying the other samples that I received.

There was some mix-up with Teavivre’s manufacturer because the sample I received was “flavoured” when Teavivre’s intention was to sell the unflavoured stuff. (Old notes have been deleted because they don’t apply to the same tea) Anyway, I ordered it and received the proper natural Jin Xuan tea. So it’s like I am getting to know this tea for the first time now! ;)

First steep is slightly floral, fruity (apricot), sweet, and vegetal. There is also a slight creamy aftertaste. Seems like a nice balanced tea, nothing seems out of place.

Third to third steeps were consistent, with the third being a bit sweeter and fruity.

Taking a break and sniffing inside the teapot, the leaves do smell sweet and almost creamy. But it’s not a heavy cream scent. It also made me think of apricots

Four to fifth were more vegetal and less fruity. I kept resteeping but eventually stopped on the ninth when I could hardly taste any tea.

If you are looking for a flavoured Milk Oolong with heavy cream and fruit flavour, try somewhere else. Apparently that stuff is not natural and is flavoured to achieve that result. However this Jin Xuan Milk Oolong tastes very natural, and for me is a lovely tea with a good price. Sometimes less expensive oolongs do not satisfy my palate, but this one is tasty and cheap enough that I can drink it very often in my yixing teapot.

The leaves are quite big, and the 1 1/2 tsp I put in looks about right.
125ml yixing teapot, 1 1/2 tsp, (rinse, 10s, 15s, +10s resteeps)

Loose
Appearance: green brown oolong kernel
Aroma when Dry: deeply milky creamy, nutty, hints of floral
After water is first poured: warm, milky, nutty, floral
At end of first steep: honeyed cream
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: clear
Staple? Type yes, would buy brand
Preferred time of day: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first ?: honey cream then nutty notes, closing on buttery cream finish
As it cools?: tea gets sour, brothy, slight salt notes, stays buttery
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? bearly, buttery cream notes

Second Steep (4 min):
At first: buttery, nutty
As it cools?: bodied, salty, brothy

Third Steep (5min):
Salty, bodied broth, fruit notes

This is quite tasty! This is also my first milk oolong since the DT version which I didn’t like (although I may have screwed that one up as it was my very first oolong ever)

Free sample from Teavivre

Opening the packet I am met with a milky. slightly floral aroma and the sight of beautiful dark green nuggets of tea highlighted by lighter yellowish green elements and some browns. Already I am excited by this tea. It looks great and the aroma is intriguing.

The first cup is creamy and smooth with a strong milky flavour, which seemed to dominate the cup. I’m not sure what else there was in there because I was distracted by the strength of the milkiness.

The second cup has a less overpowering milkiness to it. It is there in the background more as a silky, smooth highlighter for the more vegetal taste that is now coming forward.

I don’t really have enough reference points to describe this tea, I think, but I can say that I have really enjoyed it. I doubt I would drink it every day though. It seems more like a tea to be enjoyed when the mood comes upon me. Thank you, Teavivre, for another great and different tea.

So a fair bit back, I just so happened to be the lucky winner of Teavivre’s Facebook contest. The timing was amazing because I had been planning on placing an order for this tea and a few others, but the day I was going to do so just happened to be the day I got a call that my debit card had been stolen. A day or two after was when Angel informed me of my good luck.

The dry leaves are amazingly tight little balls of dark green goodness stripped with the occasional bit of light green, just waiting to explode. There’s a very clear vegetal scent here. Once brewed though, the only thought that comes to mind when I smell the leaves is good, sugary, sweet southern greens. I’d like to pick out specifics for you, but that’s the total package, and you just have to know that taste/scent to know what I mean. Delish.

The tea is super smooth with a nice heavy mouth feel. This is one of those teas that I (literally) end up chewing. As many have stated, the milkiness isn’t super pronounced, but as a lifelong skim drinker, I tend to prefer a more subtle taste when it comes to milk. I’m loving the buttery vegetal taste with hints of sweetness coming through.

This tea is wonderful, and certainly warrants a purchase.

I have to thank Teavivre for this very generous sample! I asked for this tea specifically and I’m so glad I did! The dry leaves are beautiful and fragrant. Today I’ve been mostly sleeping as I guess I am coming down with something; so I’m pretty lucky to even be awake for this!
The liquor is so fresh! It does have that kind of Botan candy flavor, some vegetal sides, some fruit (easily peachy) and just is wonderful. This was my first experience with milk oolong and I think it has risen to the #1 spot! :) I’m very impressed by this tea’s ability with flavor. It really stands out and is not weak at all.
I could easily see myself recommending this to oolong lovers and new commers to more traditional teas alike; excellent!
edit I’m now on my 3rd infusion of this tea. The flavor on this is very long lasting. I did this infusion at boiling/2min and it’s still very robust and I am going to keep going! I’m noticing that this tea is especially fruity alongside the milky-ness. This adds a lot to the flavor profile. love
final opinion: after 5 infusions (semi Western style here) at 2-3min/boiling/extra leaf 7oz ceramic teapot
Very solid, almost sweet, peachy, milky awesomeness! This also has HUGE leaves!

so this tea i got free from Teavivre They gave me like 5 teas and this is the 2nd one i have gotten to try.. Also this is my First Milk Oolong!
The color is such a pail green i had to Look at other peoples tasting notes to see that this was how this tea was suppose to look. the smell i cant place its such a nice sweet smell but i cant place the other notes its too hot for me to Drink at this moment in time so we must wait as to not burn my mouth and kill the Beauty of this tea…jeopardy Song plays i can not even tell you or put into words now wonderful this tea is… its making me speechless… the sweet notes are wonderful and there is that hint of warm milk with the smell of the beauty of earth in a little leaf… how can one put into words such a wonderful tea! i love this tea! And will be searching for more Oolongs!!

Very delicious. I get a little floral/sweetness that’s silky smooth on the nose. The liquid is nice and sweet and the smoothness carries through on the tongue. The creamy, milky-ness is really enjoyable. This seems like a really solid milk oolong favoring fewer powerful flavors over several subtle, deeper notes.

Interestingly, I get a little spice at the end of each sip. Not sure what’s going on there but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Setup:

Glass teapot (250 ml)
Leaf – 7 grams (2 tsp.)
Water – 100 Celsius 250 ml
Time – 1 min, 2 min, 3 min

Leaf & Infusion:

Dry leaf – Leaf is tightly rolled with distinctive, fat stalks with medium to dark emerald green tone and an impression of oversized Dong Ding oolong. Aroma is similar to TGY with its orchid-flower notes. Aside that, there can be sensed some subtle buttery aroma in the background.

Wet leaf – Wet leaf is big and fat, airing with flowery freshness. There are up to three leafs on a stalk with various thickness ranging up to the wooden texture. Some of the leaves are slightly oxidized on the edges and there are some that are wrinkled.

Infusion(1st) – First steep results in clear light golden liquor that airs of condensed milk with flowery notes in the background. With light body and refreshing mouthfeel it has an initial dash of astringency that quickly disperses under the adaptation of palate. Buttery and milky notes appear after swallowing in upper palate, moving through the nostrils. Halfway in the cup some vegetal and grassy aspect starts to appear. Milky profile settles down and entwines with refreshing orchid notes as the liquor cools , making it more enjoyable.

Infusion(2nd) – Liquor color shifts to a green hue with consistent milky and less notable flowery notes. At this point vegetal note shifts to grassy aspect.

Infusion(3rd) – With third steep milky notes seem to have already reached their climax in previous steep and leaving space for grassy aspect to take the lead. Aside that, there’s some bitterness involved, but still in the pleasant range, with a hint of astringency that lingers for a short time

Conclusion – I got this tea some three months ago and drank it in slow progression. It reminds me of other Taiwanese rolled oolongs with similar buttery notes and less stable liquor output when compared to Jin Xuan. I could complain that it’s instructed to use 7 grams of tea per 8 Oz pot, which is too much for my routine (and pocket), but then I can use 3 grams and enjoy two consistent brews (3 min, 5 min).
All in all I’m satisfied with this tea, but I don’t drink it often and keep it for my occasional undesired rice pudding craves.

P.S.

Here is a blog review for two of Teavivre’s Jin Xuan Milk Oolongs. Just copy-paste the link on Google Translate using Croatian to English setting.

http://bit.ly/N7HPjZ

Thanks to Teavivre for this sample!

I’m really liking this one. The dry leaves are so consistent in color, size, and shape, it really leaves a great first impression. They actually remind me a lot of a gunpowder green tea, just lighter in color and a bit larger on average. The leaves smell very clean and fragrant, of dried fruits, flowers, and grasses.

I also get a great deal of complexity from this one. It starts off pretty common, with flavors of florals, grass, and a tiny bit of a milky taste. Yet it develops a great number of nuances including parsley, kelp, grass, cream, and vegetal flavors. The flavor is lingering and “blossoms” over the tongue and through the mouth with each sip. The milk tastes become stronger throughout steeps and with later flavors of vanilla bean, artichoke, asparagus, and green beans, this tea really becomes quite savory. The mouthfeel began like the smooth, creamy, and thick goodness I was expecting, but really faded into the eighth steep, becoming more drying and “woolly.” However, the balance and interesting flavors remained through to the final steep, unlike the other Jin Xuan I have had previously, even becoming earthy with notes of tapioca in the twelfth steep.

The liquor’s aroma has a very subtle aroma, and is difficult to detect in the first steeps. The appearance is a light, but vibrant yellow-green. The wet leaves were also in great shape. It was quite a hodge podge of shapes and sizes, but their were few, if any, loose stems and the coloration was a healthy deep forest green. They were, however, quite thin and fragile, tearing easily. The aroma was of pungent greens, spinach, green beans, and maybe a little kelp. This tea really had that cross between a tieguanyin and a gyokuro that I had noticed in the last Jin Xuan I had.

Overall, a very nice tea that I’ll be drinking slowly.

Tea Vivre Free Samples Round #3

This Jin Xuan is not entirely unlike a Tie Guanyin, which is perhaps not too surprising as they are both Taiwanese mountain oolongs. By this I mean that there is that slight floral quality to the brew which I used to so often mistake for a scented process but is, in fact, merely the floral bouquet of camellia sinensis itself.

Although, these two teas do grow at very different altitudes, so maybe it isn’t as obvious as one would think.

The “milk flavor” does add an interesting creamy texture to the cup, but if I’m entirely honest, there is a bit of grittiness as a result at the end of my first steep (which I assume is the milk flavor treatment, perhaps it isn’t), and you can get a similarly thick, soft mouth feel simply by purchasing and steeping exceptionally good tea.

Second steeping is more floral and less milky. If you are fond of light, Formosan oolong, this would be a solid choice.

Of course, we can’t always justify the expense of exceptional tea, and under those circumstances this certainly produces a very pleasant cup.

Free sample generously provided to me by Teavivre. Thanks so much! From what I’ve tried of oolongs so far, my favorites are the milk oolong and dan cong varietals – so I was really excited to give this tea a try!

Preparation notes: 2 of the 4 enclosed red packets in 500 ml. water in my Breville at the below parameters.

Dry leaf: The dry leaf is typical of milk oolongs I’ve seen – small, tightly rolled dark green leaves that give off a grassy smell with a slight creamy hint.

Steeped tea: The steeped liquor is a greenish yellow with a predominantly creamy scent and underlying grass notes. A slight floral aroma seems to become more evident as it cools.

The tea itself is quite smooth – I don’t pick up on any bitterness. I feel like I’m getting hints of milk or caramel towards the beginning of the sip before it fades into more of a green, buttery taste (with some floral accents) typical of a ti kwan yin. Towards the end of the cup I did notice that it seemed to be drying out my mouth, but this wasn’t unpleasant, just something I picked up on.

This is yet another solid offering from Teavivre – while it’s not my favorite milk oolong, it is still very good and an affordable option for what can be a pricey tea.

A long rainy day of studying and anxiously preparing for a job interview deserves an oolong. This was an excellent choice! Thank you to Teavivre for the sample!

I can basically describe this tea in one word: sweet. It was extremely sweet, almost like honey. I didn’t really get a milky flavour on the first steep, but it started to come out stronger with every steep. The smell was like raspberries mixed with honey, and the smell alone was quite the treat.

Overall, delicious and its going to keep on going (4 steeps and counting)!

The second of my Teavivre samples, and I’m going to try to get all the steeps I can and that the kids will let me. Based on how the day’s been so far, I’m a fool for trying to do this now.

I’ve only had any oolong once before, and I steeped that in my Breville One-Touch because I was making some for my husband as well. This I’m doing in my glass gaiwan and at 95C even though the sample says boiling. But for the sake of my fingers alone, I may make this in a small teapot with infuser next time. It’s hot! Otherwise, I’m basically following the gongfu times suggested (25sec, 35, 45, etc.)
1st steep Buttery with rose and grassy notes
2nd steep Still buttery and rosy, but there’s a strong bitterness that takes my attention away from everything else after that. I’ll steep it at 90C next time.
3rd steep That’s better, but perhaps the damage has been done. The notes in the 1st steep are fully back, but after a couple of sips I’m sensing the bitterness rising again. Pushing through…. Wait, maybe some caramel coming now? Floral notes really hanging around.
4th steep Yes, I am getting some caramel now. I must be getting past the bitterness now as I’m finally noticing a sweeter finish.

I’m going to finish here because I’ve got to get back to my day and I also think I’m just not in the right frame of mind for this. A little disappointed, but I’m not blaming that on the tea. There are far too many glowing praises of this tea, so I’m going to cop it myself. I’ll try it next time in a teapot with more familiar timings. At the very least, my fingers will thank me!

This tea actually tasted much better in my sample pouch. That was why I ordered 100g of this tea, but the floral and fruity qualities have quite diminished in this large portion. The leaves are tightly curled and they smell of smoke with a pinch of floral scent. The sample tea was actually pretty sweet, but that too has diminished. So after a first disappointment, right now I’m drinking this tea on the rocks and with honey and it is fine. It reminds me of the original taste. I have steeped 3 mins with 100 Celsius water and then poured it in a cup half-full of ice cubes and a small spoon of honey. Now it’s a dessert. It has the milky aroma, it’s not bitter, and it feels like honeydew on the palate. I shall continue experimenting with hot vs. cold steeping and brewing.