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I got this to go at some point, but didn’t pay much attention to it while I was drinking it (I was cramming for my exams at the time); I do remember remarking to myself that it was darker than milk oolongs that I’ve tried, and nuttier (I didn’t actually think it WAS a milk oolong, as I hadn’t seen the dried leaf, and it was less ‘green’ tasting).

SOKO’s recently decided to phase out a few of their lesser-selling teas, and so they packaged them up in increments of 100g, for 50% off (as well as a bunch of old teaware); I decided to pick this up because I remembered liking it (although I was hesitant about committing to 100g, but what the heck, I bought 100g from Tea Desire the other day too, since they’re shutting down and had pre packaged teas for 50% off as well).

I decided I’ve been good lately. Been working hard on a giant cupboard-purge. Got from 59 teas down to 34! (Give or take; bought from tea desire, finished another, bought Creamy Oolong—34 now). Finishing off all the teas that have sat at the back of my cupboard going stale. Teas I ignored because I got them and decided I didn’t like them (seems hypocritical that while I’m doing this I’m also committing to 4oz of two teas I don’t know if I’ll love either).

Dry this smelled deliciously of cream. Almost vanilla-like. Quite rich. Steeped, the liquor is a pale gold, and smells… of butter. It was slightly off-putting. From here I’ve assumed that this is probably of the human-intervention, intentionally flavoured milk oolong. Not the natural kind.

It doesn’t TASTE artificial, or like any cream or milk has been added. It’s not foggy, just a pretty clear gold. The leaves were a dark green, rolled. The liquid tastes bakey, not green, faintly nutty and with hints of a sweet cream. The site describes it as tasting of orchid, which I think seems apt. It’s a not-quite-there vanilla that’s more floral. Almost buttery feel and taste, but luckily not as literal as in the sense of the smell.

I definitely like it. For now. Hoping I don’t regret one-hundred grams. It’s been a while since I’ve bought that much of one tea.

I’d like to compare this to the greener milk oolong I have on-hand from Teavivre. Since that one’s definitely unflavoured. I’ll keep that post for my teatra.de blog.

Warm, toasty, rocky, buttery. Last cup of this, brewed at two minutes. Often times it gets a bit astringent, but I managed to avoid that this time around, paying a little closer attention to my parameters for this last cup.

The smell is thick and sweet, but unlike the other tasters, I didn’t get much of that in the taste. Although it does feel thick in the mouth. Buttery and earthy, toasty but not smoky, rocky.

Finishing this off. I really enjoyed having it on-hand. Sometimes it ended up coming out bitter, but that was mostly me not paying attention to the temperature. Especially near the end, when there was a lot of tea dust in the scoop.

Still enjoyed it though. Buttery green went well with the caramel. Might buy some more…

Last cup of this for now, though.

Tasty, caramel comes through a bit, but definitely not as good as Tealicious’. Though, that one had giant chunks of actual caramel in it, so.

Still. Might buy more. I want to start a collection of rooibos’ to drink at night. For now, this one’s finished.

Not sure what makes it “roasted”, but there’s a nice pear scent, and I do get a bit of pear in the cup as well.

Got this as a free sample. It’s got red peppercorns in it.

The smell is delicious dry, but unfortunately, it’s never as strong in the cup as I wish it were. Once steeped it smells mostly of rooibos, though I pick up a bit of banana as I sip.

I picked it up in my hunt for caffeine free teas to sip at night. I want to like it, and I think if I got a bit more, maybe I could play around with the amount used, but.

Finishing off this. Mostly tea dust by the end of it. The last cup is usually the sweetest; I steeped this at two minutes and it came out very smooth compared to usually. First sip vanilla sweetness, later sips bringing in the jasmine and bergamot. Base tastes more black than green this time around, but it was mostly black fannings at the bottom of the tin.

It’s been a while. I picked up a new bag of this from the grocery store on-campus (it’s surprisingly well-stocked).

Sinc ethen they’ve changed the name, and the design on the front. And I realized recently that they no longer carry their chocolate matcha nor their ginger matcha at all (I hadn’t seen them in a while, but I just assumed the vanilla was a better seller); sucks because I wanted to try those.

Still delicious. Never needed to be sifted, it was always clump-free on its own, somehow. And only three ingredients.

Kind of wish I’d picked up the tin back when I had the chance. Would have been great to re-use for this once they switched to bagged. I think this is my third or fourth time picking this up.

So since my first review, I’ve sipped this and found the smoke heavy from opening the tin to sipping it hot. Delicious.

Seems silly that I couldn’t find it earlier. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for smokey greys.

Finishing this one off. I’ll be sad to see it go, but chances are I will buy it again next year (either that, or pick up Stash’s Christmas Morning—it’s always a contest).

I’m also finishing off an oolong on the side, but it’s not in my cupboards as it’s of unknown origin/company. It was a gift from a friend.

As always, there’s black tea in the smell. Same with the taste, a bright (and astringent) black, though it’s quickly followed by the oolong, I think. And then there’s a faint peach, though that’s more in the scent.

On a side-note: My stack of empty teatins is now larger in number than my currently-in-use teatins. It’s a shame most of them have company logos and teanames on them. I’ll have to sticker over them or something, so I can get more use out of ’em.