Thailand 'Jin Xuan' Sticky Rice Oolong Tea

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea Leaves
Flavors
Butter, Grass, Hay, Popcorn, Spinach, Sticky Rice, Vegetal, Green Pepper, Kettle Corn, Pastries, Pumpkin Seed, Rice, Roasty, Savory, Sugar, Sweet, Warm Grass, Toast, Mineral, Vanilla, Bread, Green, Nutty, Seaweed, Umami, Herbs, Smooth, Vegetables, Cream, Milk, Cucumber, Sugarcane, Sweet, Toasted Rice, Apricot, Custard, Floral, Honeysuckle, Nuts, Rice Pudding, Roasted Nuts, Stonefruit, Thick, Toasted, Toasty, Drying, Milky, Tangy
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by eastkyteaguy
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 45 sec 5 g 8 oz / 241 ml

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42 Tasting Notes View all

  • “I am not much into green tea, and this oolong is very vegetal – even if cold-steeped, still tastes like spinach. However, sticky rice notes are very nice. Is ok with honey.” Read full tasting note
    69
  • “Beerandbeancurd generously sent me this tea! Thank you! I have had quite a few sticky rice puerh teas but I don’t think I have ever had a sticky rice oolong. Today’s lunch was a big bowl of...” Read full tasting note
  • “Alistair included a sample of this with my first order from What-Cha. I steeped that sample in a traditional brewer, and was absolutely delighted with the taste of a sweet popcorn ball, dancing...” Read full tasting note
    96
  • “This tea is for those who love the taste of sweet rice, which I happen to be. I’ve had this tea maybe three or four times, but this time I got hit with a wave of vanilla into just wonderfully...” Read full tasting note
    91

From What-Cha

Has a creamy texture and sticky rice aroma, imparted unto the tea during processing by heating the sticky rice plant’s leaves along with the tea leaves.

Sticky rice scented tea is a speciality of northern Thailand, although traditionally green tea is used, Jin Xuan Oolong produces just as good if not better results.

Produced in Northern Thailand in what was once the hub of the ‘Golden Triangle’, the farmers in 1994 turned their back on opium production and switched to tea, importing a range of tea plants from Taiwan’s famed tea producing region Alishan.

Scent: Nuo Mi Xiang Nen Ye (sweet fragrance rice tender leaves) AKA sticky rice

Origin: Choke Chamroen Tea Estate, Doi Mae Salong, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Altitude: 1,350m
Organic: Tea certified organic by OneCert but not the herb used to scent
Sourced: Direct from Choke Chamroen Tea

Cultivar: TTES #12 Jin Xuan
Oxidisation: 20%
Roast: Light
Picking: Hand

Tasting Notes:
- Smooth texture
- Brilliant sticky rice aroma with a creamy taste

Brewing Advice:
- Heat water to roughly 85°C/185°F
- Use 1 teaspoon per cup/small teapot
- Brew for 2 minute

About What-Cha View company

Company description not available.

42 Tasting Notes

69
6 tasting notes

I am not much into green tea, and this oolong is very vegetal – even if cold-steeped, still tastes like spinach. However, sticky rice notes are very nice.

Is ok with honey.

Flavors: Butter, Grass, Hay, Popcorn, Spinach, Sticky Rice, Vegetal

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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3224 tasting notes

Beerandbeancurd generously sent me this tea! Thank you!

I have had quite a few sticky rice puerh teas but I don’t think I have ever had a sticky rice oolong. Today’s lunch was a big bowl of broccoli with hollandaise sauce, broccoli shared with Sam but not hollandaise.

It took me a few minutes to pick a tea to go with it. Digestive pain woke me at 3 because I drank a ridiculously large malted milkshake after supper, so I was trying to make a healthy and safe choice. I toyed with this one, sniffed the dry tea, felt guilty about depriving Ashman of the chance to try it and put it back, felt the pouch and realized there was enough for one small session for me today and plenty left over to share with him. So here we go.

As expected, leaves expanded mightily. This really really tastes like rice, which I was hoping for since lunch was veggie oriented. Nice pairing. I felt that the rice and oolong flavors were pretty equal but expected steep two to differ wildly with rice flavor subdued.

Not so, I think both flavors were overall the same in steeps two and three.

The oolong is not terribly roasty but also not super green and floral. A little nutty. I think it is a good choice to blend with the rice flavor, which I was surprised to find out years ago is an herb that just…smells exactly like cooked rice.

Thank you, beerandbeancurd!

beerandbeancurd

Ohhhhh, it’s not actual rice?! Fascinating! Welcome! :)

ashmanra

https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/what-is-sticky-rice-pu-erh-tea-nuo-mi-xiang-cha.html
This article tells the name of the herb and how they use it in puerh!

beerandbeancurd

Thank you so much for sharing, brilliant.

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96
391 tasting notes

Alistair included a sample of this with my first order from What-Cha. I steeped that sample in a traditional brewer, and was absolutely delighted with the taste of a sweet popcorn ball, dancing alongside a toasty vegetal oolong. Holy moly.

I (immediately) (obviously) ordered more of this heady stuff, and my gong fu steeps yielded some really interesting flavors. Rather than that big sweet popcorn ball busting through, the first nose I got from the first steep took me right back to some toasted green chili pepper seeds from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not spicy — roasty, vegetal, and extremely savory and complex. Further steeps uncovered buttered toast, rice, and the lovely vegetal flavors of the oolong. That sweet popcorn ball that I was anticipating waited until later steeps (4-5) to peek out.

I can’t wait to keep drinking this tea, in both brewing styles. It’s absolutely delightful and I know there’s so much more to find. Highly, highly recommend.

Flavors: Butter, Green Pepper, Kettle Corn, Pastries, Popcorn, Pumpkin Seed, Rice, Roasty, Savory, Sticky Rice, Sugar, Sweet, Warm Grass, Toast, Vegetal

derk

Howdy. This is a fun tea :)

beerandbeancurd

Aye, it’s glorious!

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91
19 tasting notes

This tea is for those who love the taste of sweet rice, which I happen to be.

I’ve had this tea maybe three or four times, but this time I got hit with a wave of vanilla into just wonderfully tasting rice! It’s incredible. It is a tea I might have to start gifting, because it is so non traditional and unexpected. I would be curious if you used the spent leaves on top of some cooked rice how it would taste… especially with some soy sauce. That might just be my lunch.

Flavors: Hay, Mineral, Rice, Vanilla

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 30 sec 5 tsp 13 OZ / 384 ML

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95
46 tasting notes

Oh, this is crazy. I love it. This might sound weird, but this is reminiscent of drinking Acetyl Pyrazine. I used to mix candy flavors (for reasons), and Acetyl Pyrazine was my favorite flavor note, ever. It imparts like this perfect buttery popcorn element, the more you use, the more popcorn territory you get. I was impatient, had an appointment and about five minutes so I just tossed some in a strainer into my Yeti rambler, so this is more dirty first impressions.

Oolong component feels green with a really big sense of very other. My first first impression was very much a broad “Umami”, then a confused “genmaicha?”, “dolsot jasmine rice?” followed by “is this butter?” I struggled to pinpoint the exact flavor, but then Acetyl Pyrazine struck me, this is absolutely 100% those buttery/bread/nutty/popcorn notes. With a hint of a stevia component, like the leafy not-mint part of mint. VERY subdued, it’s definitely not a “this is sweetened with stevia” moment, more the vegetal/herbal component.

If you’d ask me how I’d like some Acetyl Pyrazine steeped with unsweet stevia I’d probably give you a look. In reality, this is very different and enjoyable. Incredibly smooth, rich, an absolute mood. No astringency/tannin vibes. I am incredibly pleased.

Flavors: Bread, Butter, Green, Nutty, Popcorn, Seaweed, Umami

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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80
1216 tasting notes

This was a sampler I received in an old 2017 What-cha order. Still sealed. I wanted it to go with my potstickers for dinner tonight, so I brewed it up as a pot, western style. Smells precisely as one would expect, with strong nuo mi xiang herb aroma, as well as some fainter aromas of butter and minerals. Perhaps something lightly vegetal, like cauliflower?

Flavor is nice; I’ve really enjoyed a sticky rice pu’erh I have, so I was expecting to enjoy this. Lovely umami nuo mi xiang herb flavor, rice, butter, vegetables, and a faint minerality toward the end of the sip. I think the only thing I could possibly complain about with a tea like this is that I have to deep clean my infuser every time I make it, because the aroma is so strong every cup of tea I make afterwards will taste of sticky rice if I don’t.

Flavors: Butter, Herbs, Mineral, Rice, Smooth, Umami, Vegetables, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 5 g 17 OZ / 500 ML

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75
270 tasting notes

I’m a Tea beginner. Brewed it Gong Fu… my very first time. I was surprised it smelled so Rice like. Anyway… as a begginger… I picked up notes of jasmine and rice. It smelled a lot like Green Tea and kind of tasted like a lot of the greens I’ve tried. Also got quite a few vegetal notes… spinach sort of flavor. It was a very interesting Tea to experience and I’m glad I got it as a sample. It’s a great company to order from and the hand written notes are great. I’ve got a couple more to try out. Tried to get a Nice variety.

Preparation
1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML
Kittenna

This sounds delicious!

Roxy King

The sticky rice aroma was real! I might order a full size somewhere down the line….I think I’m still getting used to the taste of Tea Tea lol

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99
4167 tasting notes

Oh man, when I saw this in the samples from Kawaii433, after seeing some pretty ecstatic notes for this tea, I knew I was ESPECIALLY in for a treat! THANKS SO MUCH, Kawaii433! The tasting notes ain’t lying. This oolong is layer upon layer of lusciousness. This is absolute extreme sticky rice. Upon steeping, it imparts a sticky rice scent to the entire room. It keeps giving and giving. The oolong itself seems to lend to the sticky rice flavor, like the oolong itself is buttery and milky. It tastes like the most buttery of popcorn to me. Sweet, never astringent. Even when I mistakenly waited for 20 minutes for the water to cool on the second steep, even though I only waited 16 minutes on the first steep, the flavor was intense when it should have been weaker with the cooler temperature. Each steep was very consistent. The FIFTH steep almost had the flavor strength of a typical sticky rice oolong’s first steep. Whoa. This will probably be a cupboard essential for me when I finish some teas! So yeah, this is easily one of the best teas I’ve ever had.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #4 // 4 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #5 // just boiled (not full mug) // 3 min

Also finished Lupicia’s Framboise Chocolat (2019 Sipdowns: 5)

Flavors: Butter, Cream, Kettle Corn, Milk, Popcorn, Rice

Cameron B.

I agree, definitely buttery popcorn!

Kawaii433

Best Sticky Rice Oolong so far. I always keep it in stock should any of you ever need more <3.

tea-sipper

For sure. I definitely don’t feel the need to search out any other sticky rice oolong!

Kawaii433

The two sticky rice favorites that stopped my sticky rice searching were 1) Thailand ‘Jin Xuan’ Sticky Rice Oolong Tea and 2) For sticky rice pu’er, Mandala’s Rice Aroma.

tea-sipper

Definitely and thanks for sharing both of those with me. :D

Crowkettle

I second Kawaii433’s top two Sticky Rice teas. I consider both to be essential to maintaining a healthy tea cupboard ecosystem. :)

tea-sipper

haha, yes, some teas are like that.. or it just ain’t a tea cupboard!

Kittenna

Dang this sounds good.

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90
1557 tasting notes

It’s been a while since I’ve had this tea, but thanks to Kawaii433 I was able to melt into its comforting embrace this evening. This tea has already been reviewed most excellently. Whoever decided to mix Sticky Rice Herb with tea deserves a place in the history books.

Fantastic aroma and tastes. Toasted rice, popcorn, butter, cream and vanilla in the nose. Cucumber, seaweed, grass, starch, sticky rice, vanilla and cream in the mouth with an aftertaste heavily emphasized by butter and at times a hint of ripe banana. Medium to light-bodied with a satisfying swallow. Sugarcane returning sweetness.

Light and refreshing enough to drink in warm weather, comforting enough to drink when it’s cold outside, like rolling yourself into a sticky rice burrito blanket. Good western and gongfu, though I can’t attest to grandpa.

This is a lifelong sidekick tea. A good friend, that one you can call no matter what. Lends a listening ear, ready at a moment’s notice for adventure. I’m pretty sure if you have this tea with you, you can commit crimes and get away because this tea has your back.

Flavors: Butter, Cream, Cucumber, Grass, Popcorn, Rice, Seaweed, Sugarcane, Sweet, Toasted Rice, Vanilla, Vegetal

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 g 2 OZ / 60 ML
Cameron B.

Yasssss sticky rice burrito blanket tea! ❤

Kawaii433

lol Cameron :)

Both you: I really love this tea too. It’s definitely going to always be on my shelf so if you need more (or to those who haven’t tried it), give me a holler.

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95
3986 tasting notes

Swap Sample Sipdown! (33)

I was thrilled to find a great selection of unflavored oolong samples in my swap package from Kawaii433! I’ve been digging straight oolong lately for some reason, so it’s amazing to have so many to try. Thank you Kawaii, you’re the best! ❤

Of course, I have to try this one first. I absolutely love the sticky rice oolong from David’s Tea, and that’s saying something, as I don’t generally find David’s blends to be all that good. So I’m very excited to try another sticky rice oolong from a source that specializes more in straight teas!

As expected, this is friggin’ fantastic! It has a splendid sweet and sticky rice flavor that makes my heart go pitter-patter. But there’s also more complexity than just that. There’s lashings of butter and cream and even sweet corn and popcorn notes. Of course it’s deliciously silky smooth, which when combined with the sweet and creamy notes makes it almost custard-like in flavor. I would even go so far as to say I taste a hint a vanilla in here, though that’s probably just the sweet cream flavor tricking me!

And, of course, that’s not the end either. There’s a satisfying nuttiness that goes beyond rice, perhaps suggesting cashew or macadamia nut. And underneath all of the luxurious, almost dessert-like flavors, soft floral and gentle stonefruit notes that linger on the tongue long after the end of the sip.

So rice! Much wow!

Flavors: Apricot, Butter, Cream, Custard, Floral, Honeysuckle, Nuts, Popcorn, Rice, Rice Pudding, Roasted Nuts, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet, Thick, Toasted, Vanilla

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Kawaii433

Yay glad you liked it! It’s always on my shelf if you want some more. :D

Cameron B.

Oh don’t worry, I’ll be ordering a 100g bag of this from What-Cha once I sip down some more teas! ❤

Kawaii433

hehehe ok! :D

Crowkettle

This one is amazing! Glad to see it’s getting lots of much deserved love :)

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