78
drank Milk Oolong by Premium Steap
2036 tasting notes

The last caffeine of the day! And before noon, even. That never happens on weekends. :-) Huzzah for early starts and uninterrupted tea tasting and note writing.

I can’t believe I’m the first to write a note about this. It has been eons since Takgoti graced these pages, and she entered this in the database.

This is an obviously green oolong from the color and balled up leaves. I am expecting mega-unfurling as the tea steeps.

The dry leaves smell mysteriously like cotton candy. Huh? Maybe it is very sweet cream?

First foray — gaiwan — 195F — rinse — short steeps starting at 15 sec.

The steeped tea has a very mild smell. A little milky, not overly sweet. It’s a light, butter yellow color and it tastes like…. very mild, slightly sweet milk. Hence the name, I’m sure.

By the second steep, the leaves have unfurled and become huge. The color is the same hue, but slightly darker, and the aroma has a floral note. Gardenia perhaps. The sweetness in the flavor remains but has become a little darker. Not quite caramelized or brown sugar, but headed that direction. It still has a milky reference point, but not so milky that it makes a non-milk drinker (for flavor reasons) like me unhappy.

Steep three yields a deeper yellow liquor. Almost like liquefied butter, but clear. A mild, milky floral smell. The flavor is deeper, the milkiness turning more into butteriness.

I’m going to give it one last steep. Then I have to stop to move on to the rest of my day, alas.

The fourth steep hasn’t changed much from the third. So I feel somewhat ok about stopping here.

I generally prefer green oolongs to dark ones. This may have been my first milk oolong, though I can’t recall. I liked it, but having now experienced it, I prefer tieguanyin or other green types.

Flavors: Butter, Cotton Candy, Cream, Floral, Gardenias, Milk, Sugar, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C
ashmanra

I loved loved loved their Emperor’s Red. I wish it would come back. I would break my tea restriction for it. I would even give away three teas to make room for it.

__Morgana__

I haven’t had that one, but I’ll keep on the lookout for it when I come out of lockdown (if ever).

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ashmanra

I loved loved loved their Emperor’s Red. I wish it would come back. I would break my tea restriction for it. I would even give away three teas to make room for it.

__Morgana__

I haven’t had that one, but I’ll keep on the lookout for it when I come out of lockdown (if ever).

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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