Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea

Tastes a lot like a tie guan yin that I was gifted. Less floral.

FINALLY, my samples from teavivre came in… after a month /sadface. So after having no tea for a few weeks, all of my packages seem to be showing up. Which i need, since my only truck threw a rod, and now is not movable. anywho.

This tea is in the form of small balls, roughly about the same size, and quite small, and each ball had multiple shades of green in them, from pale, cut grass to rich, dark jade. The smell is quite pleasant, but sadly i cannot think of a way to describe it other than to say it smells green, like early, early spring.

I followed the directions on the packet, using a little over 1 tsp for 10 oz of water, steeped for 3 min each at 212.

The liquor is gold with hints of green mixed in, quite pretty. Once again, i cant quite ID a smell, other than say it has a faint odor i am coming to associate with oolongs.

The taste, Thankfully, is better than all of the previous oolongs i have tried before, making me willing to try more oolongs. This is a lighter tea, almost reminding me of a white tea. There is that faint spinach/seaweed flavor that i now associate with oolongs, but it is quite faint, barely there, and i might miss it if i were not so scarred from the other bad teas i tried. I now understand the “buttery” taste i always see associated with this oolong. It almost reminds me of eating movie popcorn. There is also a light floral taste. As the tea cools, a slight astringency develops, but is easily overlookable, what with how silky the texture is, and with the butter taste. This tea will leave a gentle honey/floral aftertaste, and a nice silky feeling.

not a bad tea, i might restock at times. would be a good change from black tea.

Super creamy and delicious! I used a lower temp than the directions recommended by Teavivre and it came out as a light yellow with a smooth milky taste. Absolutely no bitterness and it steeps multiple times (I stopped at three).

This is really good – it is creamy and floral. I like it gongfu and western style, but the gongfu is more nuanced. The first steeps begin very creamy and move to a sweeter, floral flavor, becoming almost juicy at the end. The western brew is similar, but more compacted – first steep being creamiest, second and third steeps being fruitier.

This tea is a nice resilient tea with a lively cream, and sweet vegetable flavour that became sweeter and spicier towards the middle grouping of the 11 steeps I gave it ( 45s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 45s, 50s, 60s,90s,110s, 3min, +5min (after a rinse). It also taught me that I think I prefer fruitier Jin Xuan’s ( this is quite a nice tea but I am finding I prefer either really fruity or really floral green Oolong’s).

The leaves were a bright colour with noticeable attached stems and smelled of cream, peach, and clover.

This tea needed a noticeable longer first steep than some of my green Oolong’s. I tried 25s at first and found it to be quite weak. The broth is a light yellow that deepens in later steeps.

The tea smelled of corn, milk, and peach and citrus.

I found the following flavour notes: corn, peach, cream, sweet coked vegetables, citrus, honey, a light soft floral, lilac, and indistinct spice.

The tea retained a thick creamy body throughout the steeps without much of the tingling sensations I get in my mouth from green rolled Oolong’s.

Altogether a nice tea that delivers the notes promised.

Thank you Angel and Teavivre! This sample has taught me a bit about my preferences when it comes to Jin Xuan. I appreciate the opportunity.

I ordered samples from Teavivre so I could try this one head-to-head against their flavoured Jin Xuan. :) I steeped 1tsp (3g) in a 10oz mug with steeping basket – boiling water but I find it cools quite quickly when poured into a mug, so they probably actually steeped at about 90C.

This one smells more green and vegetal, in both the dry and wet leaves. The taste is sweet and grassy, and I would describe it as more buttery than creamy. The flavour is quite light and refreshing the way I’ve steeped it… I think next time I’ll probably try a longer steep and see if the flavour deepens a bit. It’s nice but it’s not blowing my mind or anything. I’m looking forward to trying it gong fu style.

My oolong package finally arrived, it still annoys me that I didin’t taste that delicious Tie Guan Yin tea before ordering these. I have to wait until next sale.
This was the sample, but I wanted to try this first. Other ones are strawberry oolong and flavoured milk oolong which, I think is same as this but its leaves are sprayed with milk. So now I can compare which is better one.
I have had milk oolong before and they’re still one of my favourite ones, especially in oolongs (at least for now before I go on adventure in the world of oolong). Nuggets are mostly dark green in colour but the also have bit green and brownish hues. It has vegetal aroma, I was expecting something like milk but since this is unflavoured it might be normal. Their size also vary a lot, there is small, medium and large ones.
In Teavivres site it’s said this has a natural milk flavour which is quite cool since I have never before met a tea that tastes like milk, without flavouring.
Leaves have expanded into big pieces and whole leaves and have pretty vegetal and floral aroma.
This yellow tea has that bit milky aroma, there is also bit osmanthus in it, pretty sweet overall and full. It really has that sweet milky flavour and that osmanthus only gives it a push and makes it more delicious. If this flavour comes natural, this tea is amazing in it’s own kind of way. Pretty unique. Full bodied and buttery mouth feeling and flavour. Sadly that flavour won’t linger for long but you can always take a new sip. It gives 7 delicious steeps, I managed to get 8 but after that it won’t give more. It is really relaxing if you drink it by evening, like warm milk. Makes at least me pretty drowsy. Let’s see if flavoured version beats this, I don’t think so.

Typical green pellets, strong with fresh vegetal scents. The brewed tea is rich orangey yellow with a light floral aroma. Floral notes and a buttery finish complete this simple tea. A good choice for an afternoon cup, or late night, when a stronger black or Darjeeling would be too brisk for the moment.

I did this one today grandpa style for my morning tea. It was a great tea to do this way, at a bit of a cooler temp. Creamy, buttery, sweet, tasty!

It’s a good thing I had good tea to keep me company as my day has just been really cruddy at work. I don’t know when we’ll even see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But good tea to keep one company is a great start. And it’s almost the end of the work day, which really helps.

Full disclosure: I have a cold coming on so my senses are not what they might be. Also, I tasted this over my morning paper’s shocking report of Robin Williams’ death. It’s confusing to be sad about a comic genius. But that was Robin Williams: no one better balanced tortured and utterly hilarious. Goodbye Robin. Thanks for the laughs and the pathos. You’re a master of both.

Now to the tea. I’ve only had a few milk oolongs and this is the best of the bunch. The dry leaves are pretty but nondescript; the wet leaves are a bit toasty smelling, but give no real hint about what’s to come.

Drinking this tea is a process. The first (25 second) steep made me say, “oh my.” It has the distinctive milk oolong profile, but wonderfully subtle, not “hit you over the head, hey I’m MILKY” like many of them. The second (35 second) steep was also good, and it felt like there is more potential buried in it. In steep four (45 seconds), the milkiness is more pronounced, and in steep 5 (55 seconds), the leaves are more milky, but the flavor somewhat less so. After 5, I needed to leave for work, but I left the gaiwan filled and I’m eager to see what happens after a few hours rest. All in all, a lovely, understated milk oolong that I’d be happy to drink again.