Thailand 'Jin Xuan' Sticky Rice Oolong Tea

Beerandbeancurd generously sent me this tea! Thank you!

I have had quite a few sticky rice puerh teas but I don’t think I have ever had a sticky rice oolong. Today’s lunch was a big bowl of broccoli with hollandaise sauce, broccoli shared with Sam but not hollandaise.

It took me a few minutes to pick a tea to go with it. Digestive pain woke me at 3 because I drank a ridiculously large malted milkshake after supper, so I was trying to make a healthy and safe choice. I toyed with this one, sniffed the dry tea, felt guilty about depriving Ashman of the chance to try it and put it back, felt the pouch and realized there was enough for one small session for me today and plenty left over to share with him. So here we go.

As expected, leaves expanded mightily. This really really tastes like rice, which I was hoping for since lunch was veggie oriented. Nice pairing. I felt that the rice and oolong flavors were pretty equal but expected steep two to differ wildly with rice flavor subdued.

Not so, I think both flavors were overall the same in steeps two and three.

The oolong is not terribly roasty but also not super green and floral. A little nutty. I think it is a good choice to blend with the rice flavor, which I was surprised to find out years ago is an herb that just…smells exactly like cooked rice.

Thank you, beerandbeancurd!

Alistair included a sample of this with my first order from What-Cha. I steeped that sample in a traditional brewer, and was absolutely delighted with the taste of a sweet popcorn ball, dancing alongside a toasty vegetal oolong. Holy moly.

I (immediately) (obviously) ordered more of this heady stuff, and my gong fu steeps yielded some really interesting flavors. Rather than that big sweet popcorn ball busting through, the first nose I got from the first steep took me right back to some toasted green chili pepper seeds from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Not spicy — roasty, vegetal, and extremely savory and complex. Further steeps uncovered buttered toast, rice, and the lovely vegetal flavors of the oolong. That sweet popcorn ball that I was anticipating waited until later steeps (4-5) to peek out.

I can’t wait to keep drinking this tea, in both brewing styles. It’s absolutely delightful and I know there’s so much more to find. Highly, highly recommend.

This tea is for those who love the taste of sweet rice, which I happen to be.

I’ve had this tea maybe three or four times, but this time I got hit with a wave of vanilla into just wonderfully tasting rice! It’s incredible. It is a tea I might have to start gifting, because it is so non traditional and unexpected. I would be curious if you used the spent leaves on top of some cooked rice how it would taste… especially with some soy sauce. That might just be my lunch.

Oh, this is crazy. I love it. This might sound weird, but this is reminiscent of drinking Acetyl Pyrazine. I used to mix candy flavors (for reasons), and Acetyl Pyrazine was my favorite flavor note, ever. It imparts like this perfect buttery popcorn element, the more you use, the more popcorn territory you get. I was impatient, had an appointment and about five minutes so I just tossed some in a strainer into my Yeti rambler, so this is more dirty first impressions.

Oolong component feels green with a really big sense of very other. My first first impression was very much a broad “Umami”, then a confused “genmaicha?”, “dolsot jasmine rice?” followed by “is this butter?” I struggled to pinpoint the exact flavor, but then Acetyl Pyrazine struck me, this is absolutely 100% those buttery/bread/nutty/popcorn notes. With a hint of a stevia component, like the leafy not-mint part of mint. VERY subdued, it’s definitely not a “this is sweetened with stevia” moment, more the vegetal/herbal component.

If you’d ask me how I’d like some Acetyl Pyrazine steeped with unsweet stevia I’d probably give you a look. In reality, this is very different and enjoyable. Incredibly smooth, rich, an absolute mood. No astringency/tannin vibes. I am incredibly pleased.

This was a sampler I received in an old 2017 What-cha order. Still sealed. I wanted it to go with my potstickers for dinner tonight, so I brewed it up as a pot, western style. Smells precisely as one would expect, with strong nuo mi xiang herb aroma, as well as some fainter aromas of butter and minerals. Perhaps something lightly vegetal, like cauliflower?

Flavor is nice; I’ve really enjoyed a sticky rice pu’erh I have, so I was expecting to enjoy this. Lovely umami nuo mi xiang herb flavor, rice, butter, vegetables, and a faint minerality toward the end of the sip. I think the only thing I could possibly complain about with a tea like this is that I have to deep clean my infuser every time I make it, because the aroma is so strong every cup of tea I make afterwards will taste of sticky rice if I don’t.

I’m a Tea beginner. Brewed it Gong Fu… my very first time. I was surprised it smelled so Rice like. Anyway… as a begginger… I picked up notes of jasmine and rice. It smelled a lot like Green Tea and kind of tasted like a lot of the greens I’ve tried. Also got quite a few vegetal notes… spinach sort of flavor. It was a very interesting Tea to experience and I’m glad I got it as a sample. It’s a great company to order from and the hand written notes are great. I’ve got a couple more to try out. Tried to get a Nice variety.

Oh man, when I saw this in the samples from Kawaii433, after seeing some pretty ecstatic notes for this tea, I knew I was ESPECIALLY in for a treat! THANKS SO MUCH, Kawaii433! The tasting notes ain’t lying. This oolong is layer upon layer of lusciousness. This is absolute extreme sticky rice. Upon steeping, it imparts a sticky rice scent to the entire room. It keeps giving and giving. The oolong itself seems to lend to the sticky rice flavor, like the oolong itself is buttery and milky. It tastes like the most buttery of popcorn to me. Sweet, never astringent. Even when I mistakenly waited for 20 minutes for the water to cool on the second steep, even though I only waited 16 minutes on the first steep, the flavor was intense when it should have been weaker with the cooler temperature. Each steep was very consistent. The FIFTH steep almost had the flavor strength of a typical sticky rice oolong’s first steep. Whoa. This will probably be a cupboard essential for me when I finish some teas! So yeah, this is easily one of the best teas I’ve ever had.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 2 min
Steep #4 // 4 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #5 // just boiled (not full mug) // 3 min

Also finished Lupicia’s Framboise Chocolat (2019 Sipdowns: 5)

It’s been a while since I’ve had this tea, but thanks to Kawaii433 I was able to melt into its comforting embrace this evening. This tea has already been reviewed most excellently. Whoever decided to mix Sticky Rice Herb with tea deserves a place in the history books.

Fantastic aroma and tastes. Toasted rice, popcorn, butter, cream and vanilla in the nose. Cucumber, seaweed, grass, starch, sticky rice, vanilla and cream in the mouth with an aftertaste heavily emphasized by butter and at times a hint of ripe banana. Medium to light-bodied with a satisfying swallow. Sugarcane returning sweetness.

Light and refreshing enough to drink in warm weather, comforting enough to drink when it’s cold outside, like rolling yourself into a sticky rice burrito blanket. Good western and gongfu, though I can’t attest to grandpa.

This is a lifelong sidekick tea. A good friend, that one you can call no matter what. Lends a listening ear, ready at a moment’s notice for adventure. I’m pretty sure if you have this tea with you, you can commit crimes and get away because this tea has your back.

Swap Sample Sipdown! (33)

I was thrilled to find a great selection of unflavored oolong samples in my swap package from Kawaii433! I’ve been digging straight oolong lately for some reason, so it’s amazing to have so many to try. Thank you Kawaii, you’re the best! ❤

Of course, I have to try this one first. I absolutely love the sticky rice oolong from David’s Tea, and that’s saying something, as I don’t generally find David’s blends to be all that good. So I’m very excited to try another sticky rice oolong from a source that specializes more in straight teas!

As expected, this is friggin’ fantastic! It has a splendid sweet and sticky rice flavor that makes my heart go pitter-patter. But there’s also more complexity than just that. There’s lashings of butter and cream and even sweet corn and popcorn notes. Of course it’s deliciously silky smooth, which when combined with the sweet and creamy notes makes it almost custard-like in flavor. I would even go so far as to say I taste a hint a vanilla in here, though that’s probably just the sweet cream flavor tricking me!

And, of course, that’s not the end either. There’s a satisfying nuttiness that goes beyond rice, perhaps suggesting cashew or macadamia nut. And underneath all of the luxurious, almost dessert-like flavors, soft floral and gentle stonefruit notes that linger on the tongue long after the end of the sip.

So rice! Much wow!

This smells divine. Seriously, I couldn’t help but plant my nose in the bag and take a few long drags before getting around to the brewing.

I think I might’ve accidentally brewed it a bit under 185, but the result was still delicious. Strange, but delicious. My first impression was that it still smelled amazing – rice and that light sweet note – but the flavor was all broccoli. As it cooled it cycled through spinach, wet popcorn and settled at something resembling rice once it was close to room temp.

It’s a fascinating oolong and I can’t wait to toss a few leaves in the bottom and have a go at grandpa-ing it while I pack for my next trip.