Milk Oolong

Tea type
Oolong Tea
Ingredients
Oolong Tea
Flavors
Butter, Butterscotch, Cream, Custard, Gardenias, Grass, Lemon, Lettuce, Milk, Mineral, Mint, Popcorn, Rice Pudding, Seaweed, Sugarcane, Tropical, Vanilla, Floral, Nutty, Bread, Caramel, Coconut, Creamy, Fruity, Toffee, Apricot, Mango, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet, Warm Grass, Orchid, Sweet, Vegetal, Rice, Strawberry, Tangy, Green, Sugar, Roasted, Toasted Rice, Bergamot, Candy, Dry Grass, Pineapple, Asparagus, Burnt Sugar, Peas, Brown Sugar, Cotton Candy, Flowers, Berries, Dried Fruit, Green Apple, Tart, Heavy, Peach, Astringent, Autumn Leaf Pile, Honeysuckle, Umami, Honey, Stewed Fruits, Fruit Tree Flowers, Yams
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 1 min, 15 sec 5 g 9 oz / 262 ml

From Our Community

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334 Want it Want it

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147 Own it Own it

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142 Tasting Notes View all

  • “This is a free sample that I got from Garret when I ordered some of his wonderful Puers! Thanks Garret! There’s been a discussion on the quality of customer service & the personal treatment we...” Read full tasting note
  • “I need some Mandala love tonight! This natural milk oolong is phenomenal…pure candy. First, the dry smell is all pop corn and coconut milk. It doesn’t render that heavy dairy fragrance scented milk...” Read full tasting note
    93
  • “Lighter teas and I still have a very tentative accord. I like them…sometimes but there are a few that I just love so much. This is one of them. It’s creamy, nutty, buttery and caramelly. And...” Read full tasting note
    98
  • “Wow. I’ve only had one other milk oolong but this one just puts it to shame, no contest. I’ve been brewing it gongfu cha style and I’m on the 6th steep but it keeps on giving. The last milk oolong...” Read full tasting note
    97

From Mandala Tea

We are so excited about this tea and judging by the repeat buys, our customers are too! It possesses a creamy aroma with hints of coconut, hard toffee candy along with the classic floral undertone present in so many high-end Taiwanese oolongs. The producers aromatize high quality leaves from plants that grow in altitudes between 1,600 and 3,200 feet above sea level.

The Fall 2015 crop delivers the dessert-like notes in early infusions and a beautiful, balanced cup. In later steepings aromas of lilac and gardenia begin to move more forward. Production is an artform and those who create it are quite guarded about proprietary steps in processing. Through many tastings, our appreciation for their craft only increases. No “off” aromas and not a trace of artificial or chemical flavor. It is a wonderfully complex tea, sure to please most any tea drinker. And if they weren’t a tea drinker to begin with, they will be after trying this!

We highly recommend doing one rinse of 5-10 seconds (at 195 degrees) and then beginning with 15-20 second infusions for a bit before slowly increasing steeping time. It is not unusual to get 10 to 15 steepings out of this tea when prepared gongfu cha style.

About Mandala Tea View company

Company description not available.

142 Tasting Notes

286 tasting notes

When I opened my sample packet and sniffed the leaves I knew this was going to be good. The aroma was so sweet and creamy.

The first infusion I found sweet caramel butter with hints of something nutty. The second infusion led to a deeper, richer taste of butter, a touch of salt and a vegetal taste lurking in the background.

I’ve a few more infusions to go, but so far I am finding this to be a delicious treat. Thank you Dexter3657 for sharing this treasure!

gmathis

Butter, salt, vegetables, nuts…sounds like dinner :)

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1040 tasting notes

Anyone who follows me knows that I don’t do green….. green oolong is not on my list of preferred teas.
I had a little bit of this left in my cupboard and decided to continue with my Mandala love tonight.
TheTeaFairy commented on an Instagram photo that this is a pina colada tea . I wouldn’t have come up with that on my own but I agree. There is no pineapple but sweet, milky, and a touch of coconut. I’ve been pretty happy drinking this tonight. It’s never going to make my top 10 list, but considering I don’t like green oolongs and I stayed with this through 8 steeps – it must be pretty decent. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t tried this – should, even if it’s not your style.
First photo was steeps 1 and 2 – 15 seconds each. The second was steep 8 for one minute – still beautiful.
http://instagram.com/p/yiY5wJOExQ/?modal=true
http://instagram.com/p/yioK_sOE8W/?modal=true

TheTeaFairy

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!! Glad you can tolerate this one ;-)

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83
10 tasting notes

Milk Oolong has an almost buttery type flavor to it, cream if you will. If you are into a buttery cream type tea, then this is for you. I enjoyed it, but be forewarned if you do not appreciate a buttery taste, as it will and can overwhelm you if you place too much tea leaf in.

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100
4 tasting notes

I AM IN LOVE!!! I have had heard so much about this tea and every time I wanted to order some it was out of stock… The moment it was in stock I jumped and bought some. No regret here!

About 5 sec rinse with 195 purified water. As per instructions by Mandala Tea the infusion times. Decided to add more tea to water. So dangerous! LOL!

The aroma was so strange to me, butter. Do not really expect butter as an aroma for leaves? However, they are delicious wet leaves and the aroma becomes more green after about two steepings. The leaves unfold so beautifully and fill the small 120ml gaiwan! The color of the liquor is at first yellowish green and I love looking at the leaves! Sorry, so pretty! Buttery and creamy, no bitterness. The flavor evolves so much and you can get quite a few steepings from this tea and its just buttery smooth and pleasant! I became so happy sipping on this tea through out the day while working. Eased my mind but didn’t put me to sleep. Just so pleasant. Gets a little fruity, like honey passionfruit later, so amazing! Coconut and just creamy! So sad when it was over… I will be buying more when I get paid!!! Thank you Garret!! Favorite tea shop so far!! Love the samples too!!

Flavors: Butter, Coconut, Cream, Flowers, Honey, Stewed Fruits

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 120 ML

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513 tasting notes

Ok, so I’ll say it: I think I may be the only person in the universe who hasn’t had a good experience with this tea (yet). Stephanie was kind enough to send me a sample of this, which is awesome because I’m always excited to try a steepster beloved. I steeped this Western style, for about four minutes. It tasted fine, although I must admit I was itching to add milk and/or sugar. It did taste milky and a bit sweet, but I just wasn’t blown away. I’m convinced it was something I did though, because i find it peculiar that everyone and their mother swoons over this tea and I can’t seem to make it work. Maybe unflavoured oolongs (sans additions) simply aren’t for me?
I have enough left for another cup due to Stephanie’s generosity, but I’m hesitant to brew it until someone tells me what to do differently LOL.

Stephanie

I like this one, but it isn’t my favorite oolong, honestly. Nor is it my favorite Mandala tea!

keychange

Oh good. I’m glad I’m not the only one who won’t, like, offer to sell my soul for this tea.

Stephanie

Hahaha, totally :)

Cheri

I want to try it because almost everyone raves so much about it, but if I don’t like it, does it mean there’s something wrong with me? I hope not, because I don’t think there’s something wrong with either of you. ;-)

keychange

haha. I just mean that there might be something different that I can do to make this tea more likeable to me. That’s the beauty of playing with brewing. But I agree—ultimately no tea is for everyone, so it’s ok.

Sami Kelsh

I haven’t had this particular milk oolong, but when I do, I do a 2-3 minute steep and (shock, horror) add a packet of sugar, and sometimes, if I’m feeling really crazy, a splash of milk. Which is probably super wrong, but you know what? I like it that way.

Cheri

I think that’s the secret to enjoying tea: drink it how you like it.

keychange

Ok, I’ve gotten all the encouragement I need. I’m going to milk and sugar this baby!

Garret

Hi!! I had written a reply and then posted it and then the darned thing disappeared :(

Not every tea can be everyone’s cup of tea, that is for sure. Some things most definitely make a difference – water temp (I like this at 195 and increase temp as steepings go by), water type (not distilled, not reverse osmosis, not something sitting in soft plastic jug for weeks on end).

While I prefer to brew most of my teas gongfu style, this is one that some of our customers brew up “grandpa style” in a cup or tea thermos, letting the tea leaves sit in the hot water as they sip and adding more hot water as the water level gets down to just covering the leaves. Western style, some will do one 3 to 5 minute steep, others do 1 minute, 2 minute and 3 minute steepings combined into a pitcher. It is so up to us to prepare it a myriad of different ways.

We are sitting here in the tea shop right now experimenting with a brand new sheng pu’er we had pressed a couple of months ago. We have brewed it up 3 different ways so far, each way providing us with different glimpses into the aromas and flavors of the young tea.

Also… as with wines, teas will have different characteristics due to weather and picking time, etc. This may dramatically affect the experience one has.

But still…. despite brewing many ways, one might still find that a particular tea is just not for them. No problemo at all! There are thousands of teas. It’s like a book – pick one up and if by page 50 you’re not into it, put it down and start something else. Just be prepared to pick that same book up some day and totally love it. The way we look at things, the way we taste things changes, just like our moods, though oft times more slowly.

Alot of Americans think Busch Light is good beer…. but me, I’ll take turpentine, thank you. Good discussion here, friends!! Thanks!

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95
48 tasting notes

I am more of a white tea person and generally say Oolong teas are an okay tea. I bought an ounce of this and I have to say I really enjoyed this tea! I actually want to order more but they have sold out for now. If I were to recommend an Oolong tea this would be it. Very impressed, the only reason I do not rate it a 100 is because I have not tried milk oolongs from other companies so I do not know if this is superior, however I know this is rarely sold other places.

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96
4170 tasting notes

DigniTea sent over a few samples to me instead of accumulating more teas with the teabox! Completely unnecessary but it seemed like it was more necessary for DigniTea to pass along some teas. So thank you so much! I had to try this one first since the Steepster rating says it’s magic… I went with one teaspoon but I really wish the site had steep instructions.

Steep #1 // 35 min after boiling // 1 1/2 min
Well, I’m not getting magic from this one, sadly. It doesn’t taste much like milk oolong… not even really strong enough for any of the usual oolong flavors. It’s so light! So vaguely oolong. I must have steeped it wrong. It’s good but if it’s the best oolong on Steepster it should have a ton more flavor… any flavor.

Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 2 min
This cup is much the same as the last – not much flavor! Sadly, I think I’ll be the one lowering the rating on this one.

DigniTea

I’ve only brewed this one western style and had thoughts similar to yours. It’s a decent enough oolong so when I want an oolong, I enjoy it. However, I did not discover the buttery and sweet notes mentioned by many. I attributed it to my “easier” western brew rather than gongfu. Sometimes I wonder if extremely positive reviews don’t just set us up for a bit of disappointment.

tea-sipper

Sadly, it doesn’t even have an average/typical oolong flavor to me, let alone the flavor of a highest rated oolong, so I can’t help but be disappointed. I appreciated trying it though!

Stephanie

I definitely get buttered popcorn from this one but I wish it had more of an oolong twang, if that makes sense.

Jamie Groth

Hi Tea Sipper – please clarify what you mean by “30 min after boiling”? Thanks!

tea-sipper

I don’t have a temperature setting electric kettle, so I just let the water boil to 212, it shuts off, then I wait until it cools enough for whichever tea I’m drinking – 30 minutes for green tea, white, sometimes oolongs.

tea-sipper

Waiting 30 minutes should get the water around 180 degrees if I’m making sense.

Fjellrev

Probably let the water cool for 30 minutes after it finished boiling before infusing?

And buttered popcorn! That sounds great.

Jamie Groth

I think it is possible your water is way too cool for best oolong results. Milk Oolong is recommended at 195F. In a nutshell, if your kettle is anything like mine your first infusion may have been at 170F or lower. If your vessel was not pre-warmed, even cooler.

I tested water temperatures using the method you describe – bring to full rolling boil (212F) and wait. Room temperature of about 70F.

Kettle: Bonavita 1L Electric. A solid and relatively thick-walled stainless simple boiler (not variable temp), filled to the top.

Measurement: NSF TruTemp digital, probe dangled in the center of the kettle through one of the holes in the cover. The kettle remained covered throughout.

min 0 212 degrees F
min 2 208
min 4 205
min 6 200
min 9 197
min 10 195
min 15 190
min 20 185
min 25 180
min 30 176
min 35 171
min 40 166

tea-sipper

Ah! Thank you so much for this. I know that I don’t have the same kettle as this one, but this is extremely helpful in getting an idea how fast water cools. I don’t have the tools (thermometer) to do this. I have one teaspoon left of this oolong, and within the next couple of days I will retry it. I’ve definitely been using water that has cooled too long.

Jamie Groth

No problem. I really think careful control of temperature, time, and leaf to water ratio will blow open your results and enjoyment. This tea, for example should be brewed at 195 using 1tsp dry leaf per 8oz of filtered water. Even remarkable teas can taste flat without care.

You have 1,000+ tasting notes. You have EARNED a thermometer, if not a variable temp kettle!

tea-sipper

haha! Well now I’m thinking those tasting notes aren’t even accurate. But they will be more accurate now. I’ll try this one again soon!

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94
408 tasting notes

Well thank you very much Dexter3657 for sending me this sample of Milk Oolong. This is one of the teas I wanted to try for a very long time.

I am not using a gongfu and I steep all my teas western style. There is no exception for this tea.
The dry curled leaves smell so good : caramelly and buttery. The liquor is very pale, typical of good milky Oolongs, pale golden yellow. It smells buttery and a caramelly vanilla.
Drinking it , no doubt this is a remarquable Milk Oolong, creamy, buttery and caramelly like the scent of dry leaves but with in addition a typical flowery taste as well. It resteeps very well too. I detect a touch of salt as well, just a very very very little touch but it gives a lot of personnality to this tea.

Having said that of course I love it. Would I stock it ? I don’t think so. Why ? because I have another Milk Oolong in my life and even if this one is really remarquable my Theodor Milk Oolong remains superior on my opinion. Much creamy, much buttery,much my heaven kind. So it’s not that Brad Pitt isn’t sexy but I tend to prefer George Clooney.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 45 sec
Nicole

Good comparison. :)

Sil

I’m glad you finally got to try it!

TheTeaFairy

Haha! I’m also team George!!
But this milk oolong is my favourite to date…it’s nice to try other teas, sometimes it makes you switch favourites, sometimes it just reinforces how much you already like your own, glad you got to try it :-)

Ysaurella

I need to send you some Theodor teas next time and for sure their Milky Oolong

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91
7 tasting notes

bottom line, creamy and an all around good oolong.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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54
2 tasting notes

Oh,wonderful,a kind of tea to burn fat!

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