Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea

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

woops over leafed! but not oversteeped, and still good. whew.
kinda average milk oolong in my inexperienced opinion.
or i could be distracted by downloading fic and learning how to use twitter.
maybe.

thanks for the sample whatshesaid! i know you aren’t online much these days, but hope you are having an awesome baby growing time!!

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.

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.

FINALLY got my free samples from Teavivre after waiting two loooong months (plus 20 minutes in the post office trying to claim it because it was sent as registered mail). I’m suffering through the tail-end of a nasty cold, so my sinuses and taste buds aren’t really cooperating right now. I most certainly should’ve waited until I can actually taste things to try this tea, but I ferociously ripped into the package like a mad woman! I’m so excited! It’s in my steeper right now. I guess this isn’t really much of a tasting note. More like a “Hey, I’m still alive and drinking tea” blurb.

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!!

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

This is the first milk oolong I’ve had that actually does have a milk flavor I can discern—I tried a few from a couple different companies early on in my Steepsterin’ and was very weirded out by how I tasted zero resemblance to anything milky and a lot of strange stuff like seaweed, marsh, and sulphur instead. So it’s reassuring to know there’s at least one I can say DOES seem kinda milky to me finally (needless to say I haven’t been chomping at the bit to try more after those early encounters). That said, this isn’t what “milky flavored tea” initially conjures in my mind, not the sweet creaminess of, say, earl grey creams or coconut oolongs, not nearly that dessert treat-y. It’s more like low-fat, clean-tasting, relatively unsweet milk, with a whisper of bitter vegetal or perhaps mineral notes floating around the edges, especially with the first steep.

As it cools, the milk flavor grows stronger and more uncanny—now I’m really impressed. The more I drink, the more it grows on me. I particularly appreciate the way no matter how milky it gets in both texture and flavor (and it does get fuller, creamier after the first steep), it always retains the flavor of tea too. Really great balance.

I confess I’d probably reach for those sweet coconut oolongs far more regularly, but I can finally see milk oolong’s charms, so yay for that.

Still wondering if my first foray into milk oolongs months and months ago was just an anomaly or maybe my palate’s grown some. I’ve been afraid to try those first few again to find out!

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.

The first steep of this tea surprised me with the subtle floral flavor and creamy notes. I wasn’t sure if I was going to care for this one because it struck me as being overly subtle. The second steep is what changed my mind about this tea. The leaves have completely unfurled in my pot and the flavor isn’t quite as subtle as it was before. The floral flavor really comes through and there is a slight sweetness that I really enjoy as well slight bite to the end of each sip. This was by far my favorite steep of this tea out of the three that I made.

Overall I found this to be a very enjoyable Oolong tea, however, I still prefer the stronger flavors of Tie Guan Yin.