Magnolia Oolong

Magnolias are one of my favorite flowers. I love how the trees just burst into color with the extravagant, large blooms with their sweet floral scent. Much like the fresh flowers, the scent of this tea is not a heady perfumey kind of floral. It’s a fruity, sweet, very candy-like one. I’m reminded of fruit candy… maybe something like lychee, when smelling the dry leaves in a warm gaiwan, I can also smell the creamy buttery scent of the Jin Xuan oolong quite strongly. The pair very well.

I’ll be fair and say I have high expectations from this tea, due to my love of magnolias and how impressive the other scented Tea Ave oolongs were that I’ve tried, so here goes! I’m nervous.

I’ll admit, the brewed leaves in the gaiwan smell like sweet kettle corn, buttery and toasty with a hint of sweetness. Wasn’t expecting that! What an interesting aroma. I’m enjoying this tea using the Tea Ave aroma cups. The scent of the first infusion is very light in the cup, a really soft floral, it lingers a little more strongly in the brewed liquor than in the aroma cup this time. The aroma and taste are both very light and just a bit fruity. It reminds me a little bit of strawberry. It blends so well with the Jin Xuan cultivar tea leaves. This is such a smooth and delicate tea. Wonderful.

On the second infusion, I can definitely smell the aroma in the aroma cup more, and it smells just like a fresh magnolia! Wow! It’s still quite delicate with aromas of dew and floral. It’s odd thinking of how jasmine tea is sort of the standard and most widely made floral scented tea. I wonder how that came to be? Because this magnolia is so much nicer than any jasmine tea I’ve had. It’s more subtle and in that sense so much more perplexing and tasty. Maybe magnolia flowers are simply more difficult or expensive to grow and use for scenting. Who knows.

By the third infusion, the wet leaves smell like white pepper, which happens to have a buttery scent to it to if you go grab some of the dry powder and (carefully) smell some of it. The taste is more of the same flavors as before, perhaps with a bit more of the vegetal taste of the oolong and a little bit less of the sweet floral.

I am trying to kick the habit of writing long reviews other than for teas that change dramatically from one infusion to the next well into the late infusions, so I’ll end this here so I can go and enjoy the tea. I will update if I notice anything really different, but with most floral scented teas the flavor is pretty consistent between infusions, so as far as the specific notes you may find in this tea, I think I’ve covered my bases.

100/100! This is my favorite floral scented tea I’ve had at this point. Great stuff!

Infusion times: 45, 25, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60

UPDATE

On my second time with this tea I got really strong notes of butterscotch in both the scent and flavor. Not sure how I missed that the first time. It was like butterscotch cookies or schnapps. My friend thought the same.

I bought an ounce of this tea because of the great reviews and my general love for the tea from Tea Ave. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I had it again last night and changed my mind! It’s pretty good! I think maybe the first time I was expecting something different and the floral note wasn’t hitting me right. Last night, I decided that it tasted like floral custard. Sweet, buttery, floral, smooth and delicious! I’m glad I gave it another chance. I usually have to try something twice before deciding that I don’t like it. Fortunately, this one stepped up its game!

The dry leaf is small, green nuggets; sweet, floral, juicy smelling. Very fresh and complex.

I steeped this in my 100ml gaiwan, and took advantage of the aroma and tea cup set that Tea Ave sent with these lovely samples.

Steeped the leaves smell floral, fruity, and have a richness of stewed fruits to them.

The tea soup is pale gold, bright clear. It smells sweet, rich and fruity, with a brown sugar note.

On the palate, this manages to taste both delicate and rich. It’s sweet, with magnolia, peaches, plums, cream, brown sugar and oats. This evokes the experience of eating peach cobbler. The finish is juicy and floral.

My first steep was for 1min. The second steep, for 1:30, had the same notes as the first, but a bit of astringency creeping in. A slightly shorter steep would have been better.

By the fifth steep there was an interesting black pepper note that developed, primarily on the nose, but also into the flavour a bit. The magnolia started to take on a more jasmine-like quality.

All in all a really wonderful scented tea. Thank you to Tea Ave for their generous sample.

Finally completely over my head cold and able to try my final TeaAve sample this weekend!

All of these teas were wonderful. The Magnolia was the most subtle of the floral scented ones I received. The creamy, smooth oolong really shines through!

I really want to order more of the jasmine oolong. It is probably my favorite jasmine tea I’ve ever tried. I’d really like to try the ginger lily next time too. Thanks again TeaAve for these wonderful samples! Definitely recommended!!!

Sipdown (114)!

This was one of the three samples that Tea Ave. included with my most recent order; the one which I’d already tried. It came in a sachet this time, though. Since I drank it hot the two previous times I had it I figured I’d switch things up and cold brew it this time around, and that sachet made that really convenient for me because I didn’t have to use my mason jar/strainer.

This was definitely super sweet and floral; the magnolia was strong and on point but I also picked up strong notes of peony as well, and a little bit of lily. There was some natural sweetness that reminded me loosely of Red Delicious apples; just that crisp apple sweetness they have going on. I tend to find the oolong base Tea Ave. uses quite creamy, but that was really drowned out here by the incredibly drawn out floral notes which dominated the brew.

Still incredibly enjoyable, but different than I remember. I’m happy I got to revisit this blend.

I just lost this note when my tablet froze and reset itself grrr.

This is a lovely tea!

In celebration of their upcoming launch on March 1st, I decided to spend time with the samples that Tea Ave scent to me. Thank you very much! They were beautifully presented and the teaware will be much loved. I decided to try the Magnolia oolong first as Jasmine is a bed-time tea for me and I have more time to dedicate to the Lishan tomorrow.

This tea is traditionally scented and uses Alishan Jin Xuan grown at 1200m altitude as it’s base tea. I like Jin Xuan but I prefer when they are on the fruitier side versus the milkier side. This one appears to be more fruity so I am happy.

I used less leaf than the 8g recommended because I usually prefer to under leaf green Oolong’s. I find that it tends to minimize the vegetal flavours and maximized the floral notes which I love. I used 4.5g of tea which covered the bottom of my 120ml gaiwan.

the dry leaf’s scent was fruity and fresh with fruit and floral notes, as well as hints of second cut hay ( alfalfa) mixed with clover and a hint of something that reminds me of jube jubes.

The leaves were mostly a darker green that was slightly muddied but not quite olive. They were tightly rolled with some stems visible. The tea also included some strips of dark brown which I assume are bits of Magnolia flowers.

After a sixty second steep at boiling the tea yielded a scent that was soft, floral and warm. It was slightly candy like and reminded me of the sugary smell of cotton candy. There was a crisp green scent above the sugar which was a blend of grape hyacinth and blanched snap peas.

The first sip tasted very smooth and slightly vegetal but the tea quickly became very sweet and candy like. Also present were warm and enveloping floral notes mixed with a cool creamy magnolia note. This was accompanied by the flavour of sun warmed grapes mixed with the tropical warm juices of warm melon and pineapple. As it cooled a green crisp vegetal note appeared. This steep reminded me of German and Alsace white wines.

A 90s second steep yielded a scent that was more intensely fruity in nature and had the addition of cream. There was more melon in the fruit flavour, which was a mix of grape, pineapple and melon. Also present was cream and a spice note that included a mix of spicebush, cinnamon and pineapple chamomile, and a less distinct hyacinth note. The tea remained creamy with a cool crisp undertone. There were crisp greens and sweet floral tones in the aftertaste.

After a two minute steep the tea had a good balance of fruit, floral and vegetal notes in the scent. The vegetal notes moved forward in the flavour and was a little bit bitter, but it opened up quickly to a creamy tropical fruit mixture that then opened up to a warm creamy floral. This floral note really tasted like magnolia in this steep. A chamomile note remained present and a bit of bitter cocoa mixed with the vegetal note.

The last good steep I had was 4 minutes. This one was more floral in scent with hints of lilac mixed with magnolia. It had a sweet vegetal taste with notes of artichoke and corn mixed with lilac, magnolia, hints of tropical fruit, cream and vanilla, but the flavour was fading.

The spent leaf clusters had up to 4 leaves and a bud on them and were a good size, but were not as large as some I have had. There was very little to no colour on the leaf margins.

Altogether I very much enjoyed this tea. Thanks Tea Ave for the sample!

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Okie dokie. Not sure of what was going on with the jasmine so I’m moving on to this one. An interesting aroma when dry. Not quite sure but I think of China when I smell it….

1tsp. Small, one cup glass tea pot. Sorry but I microwaved the water. Wasn’t sure if something is wrong with my kettle. Maybe I’m the issue because I drank too many flavoured black teas on my trip. Sorry anyway… at 1 min it was too light so I put it back in again. But even at a minute I can tell how smooth it is. Like silk on my tongue. Light flavor of magnolia and other vegetal flavors. You really have to have a palette capable of tasting all the intricacies of these oolongs. Otherwise it’s very easy to miss. I also find you really need the perfect water temp. I think the flavors come out a bit more as it becomes luke warm.

Second steep about the same. 30 seconds yields very subtle flavors. Much better at a minute not sensing the usual butter oolong flavors. I can kinda tell they’re there but lightly.

This was our fourth and final tea for the afternoon of gong fu, because I believe Dinosara would really like this one, since I just love it.
5 second first steep, +5 seconds for each subsequent steep in the gaiwan.
First steep: Creamy an almost spicy flora scent, it’s so thick! It reminds me of walking into a bridal salon, where everything is perfumed silk with a slight bit of saran wrap smell?
Second steep: The sweetness of the floral flavor is almost too strong, a bit like molasses! A slight fruity edge to it as well. Greener too; reminds me of the spicy-sweet smell/taste of the sap from bulb-type flower stems. So unique and delicious!
Third steep: An even amount of green-ness and that unique floral flavor in this steep. It reminds me of lush, thick petals (much as you would find on a magnolia tree! Haha) with an exotic, velvety sweetness.
Fourth steep: A more simple, but sweeter brew. It reminds me of tobacco flowers.
Fifth steep: The tea leaves are really slowing down now. A much greener flavor to a weak brew.
Can you tell that I love this tea? So unique and delicious! I haven’t had any other magnolia flavored teas, but I’m sure this would be near the top. I think I’m going to have to order some with their current sale!

I had this tea a while back and loved it. Now I have it again, thanks to White Antlers!

This is the last of it I shall have, too, as the company is now officially closed. It seemed to go back and forth last year, with the website up but not working. I hope the owners are okay and can make their dream of a tea company work out with another try someday!

It was over 100F here today with a heat index of 110F. That’s about 43C. Add in wretched humidity. But after supper the sky grew dark and we heard rumbles and went out to the rockers and watched the storm as the temperature dropped to just 77F! By the time we came in to the air conditioning, I was ready for a cold dessert and some hot tea! Ha ha!

I made a cheesecake a couple of days ago but my husband had already eaten two slices of chocolate cake that my daughter had made (his mom’s recipe so dear to his heart), so it was dessert for me and tea only for him as he was too full.

The tea was fabulous, but it was not a good pairing with the cheesecake. I should have paired a black tea, as a Lapsang, Keemun, or Russian Caravan would have set the cheesecake off nicely. The cheesecake really hid the taste of the tea too much, so I was very glad that I had made a big pot to keep sipping after the cheesecake was gone so I could truly enjoy all the flavor. We made a resteep, too.

This is floral but not overpowering perfumey floral, and is certainly milder than a jasmine scented tea. Magnolia has much more subdued tones to me than jasmine while still being distinctly a lovely fresh flower taste.

The oolong base has a cake-like quality of its own to me, with sweetness and a light pastry flavor. Sweet like a European pastry, not American sugar heavy pastry. It is green but not grassy green.

I look forward to more of this, and some gong fu sessions with it as all!

Thank you, again, White Antlers!