Milk Oolong

I have been waiting a very long time to try a milk oolong.

I blame this delay on the Steepster Select feature. Just at the point at which I’m considering buying more tea, something awesome gets featured and I find myself set back. Fortunately, this last select had me browsing around thePuriTea’s site, and I gleefully added milk oolong to my order.

I’m into savory teas. Creamy stuff is a weakness, but I don’t often add additives to my tea at all.

Was it worth the wait?

I think so. :)

Opening the bag, it smelled like the candy I enjoyed eating most when I was in Japan — Milky. Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s quite possible to get completely sick of milk candy in a very short period of time, but for that brief time, it is a glorious treat.

Similarly, there is a Brazilian candy that I can’t remember the name of, and it essentially consists of caramel (their caramel is rather different from ours, a bit grainy, a bit milky, and not nearly as sweet) pressed between two very thin wafers of some kind — I mean thin like a communion wafer or something, not like a wafer cookie. Those are also very delicious, and that is also what the aroma of the tea reminds me of — oolong, overlaid with that faint milky sweetness characteristic of both types of candy.

I’m not sure why I don’t connect those types of candy to milk. I never thought Milky tasted like milk, but I could tell you for certain that it was milk candy. Does that make sense? I’m sure it doesn’t, but it’s true.

Yeah. Cup is disappearing with a ferocious swiftness. Milk candy atop oolong floral notes (always gardenia to me, for whatever reason)…slightly caramel-y, but the almost-salty-very-creamy caramel of other countries, not the heavily-sugar-syrup caramel of ours.

This is…delectable. Oh, yes.

I have read — somewhere, I forget where — that some exporting tea companies flavor their milk oolongs (and other teas, like Lapsangs, for instance). I don’t know how one would determine whether or not that has been done to a tea, but I fervently hope that this tea experience is not manufactured. The thought of a plant producing something as sinfully good as what I’m sipping right now is just too lovely, and it would make me sad if it had been mucked-about-with.

Nice and apparently natural. Got a few resteeps out of it too. Not available through thepuriTea anymore of course, so I guess it’s a good thing I like Joy’s and other spots’ just as well.

Holy cow, this is unflavored? Even with my cold I am still getting SO MUCH caramelly goodness from this tea! Could it be that I’ve never had a milk oolong before? How did that happen???

Thank you so much BrewTEAlly Sweet for this sample! This is definitely something I want to explore in more detail!

First tea of the afternoon…..

I need to try this so I can be sure it is something I need in my cupboard. Turns out, it really is. The thing I cannot get over is the price. It seems so much more affordably priced than any other milk oolong out there. I have to admit that I rather enjoyed the Milk Oolong from American Tea Room, but the price is a little scary.

I have to agree with other reviewers about the sample packaging. While it is cute, and I feel that the samples are secure, there is the matter of how to store them once they are opened. Luckily, I am a motivated sampler of teas, so I figure something out. I am not sure others would feel the same way. I did get a great deal on the samples, and I caught a free shipping deal, so in all, I am very happy with my order.

Buttery and smooth without much of a veggie taste, just like I read in another review. I can drink this straight up and rather enjoy it. Now I just need to decide how much to buy….

15 oz mug, 180 water, 3 minutes, about 2 tsp tea.

This was from Rachel’s sale a while ago! thank you! I’ve sipped this once before but I didn’t feel like the steep parameters were right (especially with the high rating on Steepster). The flavor just seemed a bit muted. Seeing the instructions for Teavivre’s oolongs… 3-4 teaspoons at boiling(!) gave me the idea to try more leaves are a hotter temp. I’m a little confused if this is a actual milk oolong though, or just flavored. This one isn’t actually called a Jin Xuan. The leaves are lovely looking though – bright green bundles. Two teaspoons this time. The last cup was one teaspoon with the water cooled for about forty minutes.

Steep #1 // water cooled 15-20 minutes // 2-3 min steep
BAM the basket is FULL of leaves. I have no idea how Teavivre’s 3-4 teaspoons would fit in this. The flavor is much less muted this time around. Creamy /milky definitely. But I’m so used to oolongs having COMPLEX flavors. This doesn’t really taste floral/peachy/vegetal. Just creamy. And very drying.

Steep #2 // water cooled 10-15 minutes // 3-4 min steep
Another lovely cup! Much less drying of the mouth this time around. Still very creamy and sweet. Still no other notes somehow. Very weird! I much prefer the tea steeped this way rather than the muted way. I just don’t see how this QUITE gets one of the highest rated teas on Steepster, but it isn’t bad. I’m also very sad that thePuritea has closed. I did manage a mini-order of a few samples.

Steep #3 // just boiled // 3 min
I thought this would be too hot for this oolong, but it was actually better than the second cup while it was hot, but as it cooled, it got a bit too “leafy”. Still surprisingly creamy & sweet. Not burned anyway. I don’t think you actually NEED two teaspoons of leaves for this one, but a hotter temp helps.

Definitely not in love with this one like everyone else is. I think, however, that it’s because this sample picked up some other flavours, not because this is a bad tea. I can almost imagine the creaminess here, but it’s masked by a fruitiness which is not unpleasant, but not characteristic of any oolong I’ve had, and I doubt it’s how this one is supposed to taste. Perhaps I’ll try another sample of this one in the future, but I won’t be too heartbroken if that doesn’t happen, because I am in love with the DavidsTea version (and will be trying the Teavivre flavoured version soon, which I’m quite excited about!)

Backlogging Wednesday

Inspired by reviews read early in the morning, I decided to do my blasphemous cold-brew for this Milk Oolong. The sample pack contains two individual servings like the others, so if it goes awry, I can try again later. The scent of the dried tea is very light, a slight creaminess, a hint of fruit – strawberry maybe, and a toasty oolong aroma.

As I said, blasphemous: full serving of tea, no additives, ¼ cup hot water, rest cold water, infusion time 3 hours before I got to it. The brew is similar in aroma. The taste is creamy and slightly nutty with a fruity and sweet end-note.

This was all in my travel mug, so I actually got the chance to brew up another cup using these leaves. I was surprised that after such a long infusion this morning, I could STILL get flavor out of these leaves. All hot water this time, again, no additives, infusion 5 minutes. This time, I drank the tea hot, it still have the nutty and creamy flavor and the strawberry finishing note, but the sweetness had subsided. So as the tea was cooler and infused longer it got sweeter – NOT more bitter, very nice.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable tea, the next purchase I make from thepuriTea will have to include more of this…

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp, one entire sample bag
Water: 2 Zarafina cups
Tool: Zarafina Oolong-Loose-Medium
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: milky (dairy), vegetal, sweet
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, vegetal, milky (dairy)
Flavor: smooth, silky, smooth, vegetal, astringent, sweet
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: a touch bitter and astringent
Liquor: Translucent light yellow-brown

This tea was one of 5 samples I received from thepuriTea. It arrived well packaged in pretty pillow boxes (see pictures for a side angle of the pillow box if you are unsure what I mean) with packing peanuts and business cards.

Resteep: Zarafina Oolong-Loose-Medium, a milder vegetal taste, still smooth and sweet

At first there were barely 2 tsp of tightly rolled leaf balls scattered across the steeping basket of the Zarafina. They were a little smaller than most jasmine pearls I have seen, but not by much. After steeping the basket was stuffed full of large, gorgeous, but a bit ragged, green leaves. The leaves expanded most impressively!

Oolongs and I have a hit or miss relationship, this one I did enjoy. I think I should have tried “Mild” on the first steep though. The second steep was more enjoyable than the first as it was a lighter vegetal taste with the same sweetness and smoothness of the first steep. Unfortunately I had to run so I did not get to try further steeps but the flavor was still very strong and I fully believe it would have easily supported another steep if not more.

This is not so impressive I am running out to buy it right now, but it is a sure addition to any thepuriTea order I place in the future. The flavor itself is a high quality enjoyable flavor but it’s the mouth-feel and body that make it memorable.

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/06/thepuritea-loose-leaf-oolong-tea-milk.html

Holy buttery goodness! When I opened the sample package I was hit with a yummy buttery smell and I was in love. Oolongs are quickly becoming a favorite tea of mine. I was once scared of them, but thankfully I’ve moved on to embrace them. Anyway…this one is very yummy. The leaves opened up beautifully as they steeped they look so pretty in the travel tumbler. As to the taste of the tea, so rich and creamy! I’m really in love now. I also enjoy DavidsTea’s Milk Oolong, but I think I like this just a tiny bit more. It is just so smooth and not a hint of veggie to it which I don’t mind, I also don’t miss it either. This might need to be in the tea pantry at all times.

Tea #42 from the Here’s Hoping TTB

This is one of the teas that I pulled from the TTB to enjoy over the weekend, but I didn’t end up getting to it until Monday when I spent nearly 12 hours at the hospital. I had packed several travel mugs of this and I’m not regretting that decision one bit. It ended up being a much longer day than I expected and it was nice to have the comfort of hot tea while I was there. Now if only I had remembered to pack some snacks… but at least I had tea.

I wish I had been able to drink the steepings individually and taste the differences, but even all mixed together they were wonderful. In fact, this could quite possibly be my favorite milk oolong so far. It was rather mild flavored and the subtle creaminess wasn’t as pronounced as others I’ve had in the past (which is possibly due to me mixing several steepings together), but the flavor reminded me of peaches and cream. I think this would make the perfect summertime tea and I’m seriously considering picking some up, even though Im currently drowning in tea.