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Flowery, perfumey, light milk aroma. Sweet and super light vegetal notes compared to other TGYs. More of a floral taste instead of green, no real fruit notes that I can detect. Subtle buttery notes in the early steeps. Very slight bitterness, some astringency on 2nd steep but not overwhelming. It makes it work, makes it interesting and delicious. On the 6th steep, cut green grass notes came out, with a slight vegetal aroma and the floral taste subsided a bit, became a little tart. Although light bodied, its complex, as it changes on each steep.

7g Tea, 212℉, 110ml, 7 steeps: rinse, 20s, 40s, 60s, 80s, 100s, 120s, 180s

The liquor is a pretty clear yellow. Aromatic with rich fruit & honey aroma. Fresh cut apricots came to mind. Every steep was crisp, smooth, sweet, and full of flavor that lingered forever. Throughout the infusions, no hint of neither tartness nor bitterness. It was refreshing, mild, light bodied, mellow, and lots of stonefruit notes. After finishing the sample, I went to their site and put it in my cart for my next order, that’s how much I liked it.

Porcelain gaiwan – 5g, 194, 110ml,9steeps: rinse, 60s, 65s, 70s, 60s, 65s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 120s

The liquor is a very dark, reddish brown with an earthy aroma. I prepared it in a porcelain gaiwan and followed the suggestion Boiling water, 7 g, 8 steeps: rinse, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 50s, 80s, 120s. It was a wonderfully soft mouthfeel, and the taste was aged, sweet, mellow and extremely smooth going down but alas, its just not for me, despite all the great reviews, I just couldn’t get past the strong leather taste.

I bought another sample to try again. Sometimes I’m just not in the mood for certain types of tea so I’m going to give it another shot when it comes in a couple of weeks. ^^

Free sample. Yippee. ^^

I used 3g in 110 ml with a 10-second rinse with just under boiling water. I started with four 30-sec infusions. Even by the 5th infusion, the leaves had not quite completely unfurled. As I continued on, increasing steeping time, the ginseng little by little dissolved and the tea leaves fully opened releasing oolong goodness.

It has a delicate light roasted aroma. I’m still not sure what type of oolong it is, it is high-quality though. I really liked the taste, am glad I saved half the sample for another go later this week. Other ginseng teas I’ve tried can be slightly bitter. This one is not. It has a nice earthy natural sweetness, no bitterness detected at all. Not sure if it’s American ginseng or Asian ginseng. Probably Asian ginseng since it gave me energy vs a sleepiness/calming sensation. It had multiple flavorful steeps. Towards the end, I got a powdery feeling on the roof of my mouth, slightly drying.

3g, 208℉, 110 ml, 13 steeps: rinse 10s, 30s, 30s, 30s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 80s, 100s, 120s, 140s, 160s, 3m

Flavors: Ginseng, Root, Licorice, Vegetal

I’ve been regularly drinking Mandela Tea Milk Oolong (one of my faves) and also I have this 1 oz sample of this organic Jin Xuan. Their site says "subsequent additive-free processing makes for a delightfully aromatic and creamy cup (hence the moniker “milk”. This is an unscented/unflavored tea.") I like comparing things and I love their Milk Oolong. I think that one has some natural additives hence the coconut, toffee, pineapple notes in that one. I prefer their Milk oolong over this one, and it doesn’t have that fake additive taste that some milk oolongs have. Having said that, both are excellent.

The dry leave s are rolled in a tight little ball, smells sweet, floral and fruity. It has a pleasant, creamy taste but with more vegetal notes in comparison to their Milk Oolong. It has a creamy, buttery, comforting mouthfeel, and the light golden liquor has a floral, milky and vegetal aroma with the equivalent taste. It’s deep and complex although very mild throughout the steeps, as it changes adding some mild fruity notes. Long and pleasant aftertaste, so smooth with a great finish. Throughout the infusions, no bitterness detected… And although I prefer their regular Milk Oolong over this one, it is a good “pure” delicious Jin Xuan. I’m thinking maybe it would go well with some Yokan or mochi. hehe

Yixing gaiwan, 7g, 195℉, 7 steeps for now (still lots of flavor and will continue so that’s good it has lots of infusions): rinse, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 85s.

This is a pleasant baked tie guan yin. It has a strong charcoal baked and floral aroma. Floral sweet notes, vegetal notes, mixed with the charcoal baked taste. Smoky, light astringency, and some minerality. No bitterness until the last infusion, but it was very faint. The sea sedge and vegetal notes were more pronounced at the later steeps, which I enjoyed.

Gaiwan, 7g, 212℉, 110ml, 5 steeps: rinse, 25s, 40s, 55s, 70s, 85s

Chilly out and got a new package of tea samples. That always makes my day.

This Golden water turtle just smells so wonderful. A very rich, toasty, roasted nuts & dark chocolate aroma. I’m very happy with the taste as well. For an oolong tea, it reminds me of some great black tea I’ve tried in the past because it’s so biscuity, malty yet very smooth and even. Some caramel, some fruit notes in later infusions. I taste a little spice in it but I don’t taste any root vegetables as in the description but some fruit instead. It’s rich, medium bodied and savory, has a crisp clean long-lasting finish. It is complex and it never got bitter. It is exactly what I needed after a difficult and busy day.

Yixing gaiwan, 195˚F, 5g, 110ml, 15/15/20/30/40/50/60/70/80

Last sample of this. Wish it wasn’t so expensive ($24.90/50g) because it’s excellent Li Shan. (Update: At first, I thought, I’ll just get samples here and there of it when I can but decided to buy more. lol It’s very good.)

Aromatic: Vegetal, orchard, vineyards with a little fragrance of natural sweetness, perhaps of fruit. The taste is light, subtle, soothing, umami, creamy and extremely smooth. It has a velvety mouthfeel and throat-feel that are long-lasting as is the sweet aftertaste. Throughout all 8 steeps, it was flavorful, yummy never going flat.

Da Hong Pao Yixing Teapot, 7g, 212℉, 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 25s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 60s, 90s, 120s, 180s

So I ran out of milk oolong awhile ago, which has been “my cup of tea” lately. Lame, I know but I got a chuckle of my intended pun nevertheless :P… And I bought this tea from Amazon to get a quick fix. I still have it in my cupboard so thought I’d have some today.

First off, it’s pretty good. No major complaints. It’s not really vegetal at all, compared to other milk oolongs. I like the vegetal aroma and taste but noticed that was one of the main differences between this one and other milk oolongs I’ve tried. I smell a strong coconut aroma, although it’s not in their product description. I do taste pineapple notes along with coconut. It “feels” flavored to me which puts me off a little but I still am enjoying this from time to time. It’s creamy, smooth, absolutely no bitter notes but I can’t get over the feeling that it’s more like a ‘instant coffee vs real brewed coffee’ feeling.

Will I buy it again? Probably if I run out of my normal milk oolong… And at least I have a quick 2-day shipping if I do.