Nai Xiang Oolong

A new day, a new tea! This one somehow managed to hide from me, managing to be the sole untasted tea from my TeaSpring order a few months ago. But I found it yesterday and decided we can’t just leave it unsampled so it gets busted open today!

I really like milk oolongs. But see, they don’t taste milky to me. I don’t know why exactly, but I always end up tasting a light and strong sweetness that makes me think of Juicy Fruit gum (which is a positive, in my world). Nothing like milk (though I suppose an argument could be made for a bit of condensed milk due to the sweetness) but I love them still.

This, however, is surprisingly different. There’s a heaviness, an almost spiciness that reminds me of white pepper. Underneath that is the sweet tropical fruitiness that I associate with Juicy Fruit and milk oolongs. The end taste’s fruitiness continues well past swallowing, becoming higher and sweeter as I breathe through my mouth. It’s gorgeous.

As it cools, the darker spiciness and lighter sweetness start to sink into each other creating this heady, rich mix of thickness and sweetness that still isn’t milky to me but is much too sophisticated and sensual to be associated with a mere gum.

In the second steep, the flavors have swapped. First I get the sweet, thinned condensed milk fruit-ish sweetness followed by the darker, heavier former spiciness that has evolved into something more bready, like fresh white rye bread. The overall taste has muddied up some but it still tastes very yummy. Not as sophisticated as the first steep, but tasty enough that my cup emptied super fast. The aftertaste is still sweet, but not quite as pretty and it is coupled with a prickly faint pepper note that isn’t as nice as the first steep but still interesting and enjoyable.

Not the most perfect, end-all-be-all of milk oolongs and probably the one that has reminded me least of Juicy Fruit gum. But I quite like this and think it is a very nice example of the milk oolong category, or at least my somewhat limited experience with it.

I mistakenly deleted my original tasting note from a few days ago! So this is a repost of it:

This is most definitely a flavored tea.

From the freshly opened packet, the scent is like creme brulee.
Steeped, it’s more leafy clotted cream—with a tad of buttered popcorn.
The taste is very milky and fresh. And like most all the oolong I’ve tried, has a pronounced “steamed rice in banana leaves” essence to it.

This a very delicate, creamy, milky flavored tea. I love it!

By the way, I think I used a lot of leaf for my 12 oz. cylindrical tea mug—I used enough dry leaf to cover the bottom of the mug. I think that was a lot because they eventually blossomed to fill almost 3/4 of the mug! And I used boiling water. The flavor was very detectable this way.

P.S. My packet was purchased on March 2010. But, I’ve read on Teaspring’s website that since September 2010, this tea is no longer flavored but “fully natural”. I hope the new version is just as good!

Somewhat dissapointed. The milky aroma is very slight, and brewed, hardly present. Not a good example of a milk oolong. Longer steeping may bring out more flavor, but maybe also more bitterness.

I bought this tea in late ’14 or early ’15 and can confirm that it is not a flavored milk oolong as it may have been previously. Pure unadulterated leaves, quite large when unfurled with a pleasant milky, floral aroma. Flavor is creamy, smooth, floral with a light spicy minerality. Not complex, pleasant. Brewed gongfu style, the middle & later steepings were my favorites.

EDIT: I just opened my second order of this tea from late 2015. It was not nearly as good as the previous order. Almost no flavor unless you over leaf or over brew. At that point, it’s bitter. Flavored? I’m trying sure, but I won’t order from this company again. Shockingly inconsistent!

Was really looking for a great “Milk” flavoured oolong, and supposed to get a good one from TeaSpring.com… unfortunately the Nai Xiang the shop is selling is not the best one out there.
Aroma is strong and interesting when you smell the dry leaves. However the scent is too simple and not that strong after the brewing – as if it is simply washed away. I have definately bought a better Nai Xiang from other sources!

I was disappointed to learn the this is actually a flavored tea. It took some time searching, but I believe the flavor has been added to this tea. It has a rather strong “buttery” taste which, if you like flavored teas, is quite unique