Premium Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tai Hua Gao Shan * Autumn 2015

Tea Swap Sample Sipdown of the Day! (8)

Yay, I’m back home! I’ve been traveling for work the past few days, so I haven’t been posting many notes. But I did keep up with my 365 Days of Tea Challenge on Instagram, so that’s good. I plan on catching up on my tea swap sipdowns today, since I missed 4 days this week. Onward!

This swap sample comes from Arby. According to her tasting note, it’s a 2016 harvest – not sure which season.

I don’t know why, but I seem to be reaching for the oolongs lately. Apparently I have grown fonder of them than I remember being… As long as there’s not too much floral action going on, we get along just fine! This one is an unflavored milk oolong.

This is really a delicious tea. The base flavor is more vegetal than floral, which makes me very happy! It’s lightly vegetal though, reminding me of a Chinese green tea with soft sugar snap pea notes. There’s a touch of mineral flavor, which along with the clear, refreshing nature of the tea brings to mind the image of a cool mountain stream. The milky note is delicious, and it’s definitely milk as opposed to cream. It manages to be both indulgent and light at the same time, and has a slight edge of sticky rice flavor. I can taste apricot at the end of the sip, which again makes me think of a Chinese green tea.

Yummy! This somewhat reminds me of dragonwell, with a silkier mouthfeel and that lovely creamy, slightly rice-y note. And I happen to love dragonwell, so that’s a good thing! ❤

(I’m reviewing the 2016 version)

Very slow to steep (2 tsp took ~10 min to steep in 600mL of 80 deg C water, I was expecting 2 minutes)

Deliciously smooth (no bitterness anywhere), very fragrant and fresh. Buttery, a tiny bit floral/fruity as Jin Xuan can be, but with the characteristic milk flavour (not cream, it is milk). Delicious and easily a daily drinker. It tastes like cooked/steamed milk but is not toasty. It is entirely naturally flavoured, but tastes as flavourful as one with added flavour. It has the perfect balance of sweetness and steamed milk flavour vs the natural flavours of the Jin Xuan varietal of oolong.

(Spring 2016 version of this tea). I expected to come out loving this tea, as I have had other milk oolongs before and I have to say I that I don’t particularly care for this tea due to: inconsistency, bitterness, easily over-steeped, requires two tsps (for me). It’s very inconsistent in that even when I steep it the same way it doesn’t always taste the same. I found that I only liked it when I steeped it at 190 F (2 tsps) for two or three minutes. It gets a bitter aftertaste if it is over-steeped, and when under-steeped there is no flavor there. When I get it the way I want it it can be a very nice tasting tea with a good creamy ratio (marshmallow/creme brulee sugar flavor) and no bitterness….but it takes a lot of energy to get it to that point and then it’s only that way for one steep. I might try it at a different season but hesitant to waste money on it again.

Had a really bad weekend after finally tapering off my SSRIs (a process that’s taken me four months), so right now I’m trying to get my bearings back with tea and reading. Got this from a friend as a good comfort tea, and he was right! This stuff is delish, sweet and light and has a very strong fruity milk taste. Also the smell of this tea is incredible—I could spend a day with my nose in the bag. Plus, it’s way cheap and seems to steep like a champ. Exactly what I needed, honestly.

My first milk oolong, and I certainly enjoyed it :) Definitely do notice the milky taste/texture. Also get tropical notes. Maybe banana (not acidic enough to be pineapple, and I don’t really know the exact tastes of most other tropical fruits). In later steeps it became more floral and even a bit grassy.

Found this one among my samples and have no idea where it came from or if it’s 2014 or 2015. It might even have been part of the monthy pkgs from YS. I’ve accumulated so many samples, I just don’t know. ;-)

Anyway, this was an excellent milk oolong. Milky, floral, creamy. Oh joy. I will have to add this one to my next YS order (which might not be for awhile since I have way too many teas to sip down). I’ve had some pretty good milk oolongs but the floral notes in most of them were either not there or not that prominent. This one seems to have it all. There even seemed to be a fruity note to it but that maybe because I ate a clementine before having the tea. Not that I got anything orangey. It wasn’t orangey, just fruity.

Ive got insomnia. Its a lovely milk Oolong. Nom nom nom.

I suppose I should say something. its thick and milky. the fragrance from the bag is amazing & sweet, and the taste & aroma from the liquor is a lovely balance between the sweet milkiness & the calming vegetal. Hints of floral in there.

Really very nice. Drinking it grandpa style because im insomniac’d out, but was lovely gongfu as well. I cant remember for how many steeps though.