Milk Oolong

I decided it was a Milk Oolong morning. QuiltGuppy is helping me (like many others) to expand my palate, so here goes. Pre-steep, it does smell more like margerine to me, not an authentic dairy or cream smell. Steeped, it smells more floral. The color of the liquid is very light, not far from clear water… There is a hint of milk and butter but far less than other Milk Oolongs I have tried. There is a bit of an aftertaste that lingers on the tongue.
not bad, but slightly unsettling. The smell of the 2nd steep is less floral, and includes a whisp of carmel. No change to the color, very light and clear. The tea comes through more on the second steep than the first. Still lacking and I have had better later steeps of good Milk Oolongs (4th, 5th, 6th etc) than the first one of this.

Yet another milk oolong. This was one of three teas I ordered from TeaCuppa (the company who listed the tea as incense on the customs form.) The first tea was disgusting and I was so worried this would be the same, especially after reading the reviews. The scent was buttery, but not a natural butter scent. I was a bit worried.

195/3min. It’s not so bad. Frankly, it’s not the best tea I’ve tasted, however, it’s certainly drinkable. The milkiness is not very profound, not what I’d expect in a typical milk oolong, but I do like the floral aspect to it. It’s not perfume-like in its flavor, but more natural. That I do like. So, not a total flop.

Second steep: No flavor at all is left. It’s wasteful to buy a tea that’s only good for one weak steep.

I have a little bit of the apple blossom tea leftover from last night so I mixed this with my nightly milk oolong. At first sip, it was a bit tart but quickly mellowed into deliciousness.

Just over 2g of dry tea to 6 oz of water.

The dry tea smelled very strongly of pop corn butter. The artificial kind found in movie theatres.

After 30sec the wet leaves smelled slightly floral and mildly creamy; like that of a low quality Jin Xuan. The taste of the tea was very weak, more of a hot water taste than anything else. There was a slightly sweet aftertaste. Although it lingered on the tongue it felt artificial; in a word, bleh.

2nd steep: 45sec -1min
The wet leaves had a heavy vegetal smell, slightly sweet and floral.

The liquor still didn’t have much taste. There weren’t any specific tastes that jumped out at me. The mouth feel was slightly astringent and the aftertaste was slightly floral. The 2nd steep was much more like the 4th or 5th steep of a decent oolong.

I didn’t go for a third steep since the first two could be best summed up as, hot water + used oolong.

Overall, this tea is pretty weak: in all senses of the word. I should point out, the cost was something like $10.00 USD for 50g. For 10 bucks/50g you can’t expect a good nai xiang.
This is probably the lowest quality milk oolong I’ve had. On top of that I waited for over a month to receive the tea. I also thought their customer service was nominal. I wouldn’t buy this tea or shop from Teacuppa again.

Artificial milk and butter aroma and flavor. Smells like kettle corn popcorn. Not natural at all. The leaves are very small, unlike the authentic Taiwanese version with large WHOLE leaves 2 and 3 connected with buds-simply a gorgeous sight. This is opposite, small and broke leaves. Had to spit it out as did my tea tasting friends. Advice, opt for an authentic Milk Oolong or Jin Xuan or Golden Lily oolong from the high mountains of Taiwan.

It reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum, but in spite of that (because of that?) I so love this tea.