J.E. Oolong Milky

This is just unbelievable. And I do not even like oolongs! Or maybe I should say I didn´t. And did not know plain tea could be like this.

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I was sort of dubious about it. I am not usually so fond of oolongs, but both the concept of a milk oolong as the reviews about this particular one were tempting. As are Theodor´s tea tins in general – and I am a tin fetishist, and Theodor´s tins rate quite high on my appreciation scale (you can pile them! Close very safely! Colors differ according to tea type…). But Thé-o-dor´s tea tins are always the same price everywhere (20 euros) which is almost always ridiculously expensive for whichever is inside (particularly when it´s hibiscus and fruits). This might actually be the case where the price of the tin is not too ridiculous for this particular tea. I chanced upon a tin of this locally and with a discount, ok, sold!

I then got buyer´s regret as soon as I unsealed the tin – the dry leaf is very oolong-y. Green oolong and I am not a oolong lover. No hints of the promised caramel or vanilla notes. I was so not sure if I was going to love this. But I was going to give it a fair trial. I used not too much tea, maybe 2 grams or even less for a cup and used tap water (it did not seem to matter at all) and followed the brewing instructions in the tin (love that, that the temperature and time is written right at hand).

I dumped the leaves into the damp warmed pot while the new water warmed and something magic started to happen. The scent, while still of oolong tea became much stronger, richer and with totally new notes – fruity, sweet, vanilla-ey, fudgey sort of. Putting the not-too-hot water in the pot, it just became stronger, richer, full of many other scents. I never made any tea where scent changed and evolved so profoundly and so strongly!

The liquor was wonderful. Tea and just tea with nothing artificial but where the scent really was quite unbelievably evocative of other things, sweet, delicious things. Condensed milk sweets, or maybe pineapples somehow, or vanilla. No bitterness or any astringency at all and somehow still with some body. I had this with a bit of honey-rosemary cake and having the cake with its subtle flavours and sweeteness and then the tea was an even better experience. If you have this, have it plain, no milk or sugar, but accompanied by some sweet!

I found myself tipping the cup vertically in order to get at the last drop, and then re-checking the cup again to see if any was left just incase. Besides this being admittedly pathetic is something pretty rare so this rates very very high on my appreciation scale. I tried a second infusion and it was very good, though not quite as perfumed or as intense as the first steep.

This is really amazing tea. And I don´t even like oolongs.

Tangent to topic : something I appreciate in Theodor´s teas is that they give precise tea instructions, which differ from tea blend to tea blend even if they are the same general type of tea, written in the tea. That is priceless to me and gives me confidence they do care about what they are selling. If you are selling tea expensively, please put as much useful information to brewing it properly as possible.

More Backlogging:
Oh. My. God. This tea tastes absolutely incredible! I visited the Urban Tea Merchant in Vancouver and O Dor is the brand they carry in their teahouse/shop. I ordered a cup and a couple of the freshly-made, sweet truffles that were also for sale.

When I first took a sip the tea tasted quite buttery but at the same time rather vegetal – in a good way. But then I took a bite of truffle and had another sip and the explosion of flavour was incredible. It tasted so sweet and creamy with notes of vanilla that I could hardly believe that this was a pure, unflavoured tea. So if you ever have this tea I’d really recommend having it with something sweet – it really enhances the experience, I know I was in absolute heaven.

And I went to buy a tin and was told that it was $84 for a small tin. Maybe next time when I’m feeling (much) richer. 0_0

This is my first Milky Oolong.cteresa sent me a sample of this J.E.Milky oolong a long time ago and she insisted for me to taste it. You were so right Teresa, this is really an unique tea.

I was in hurry when I brewed it and just forgot to smell the dry leaves…so cannot say anything about ! But I smell now the liquor and this is an unbelievable rich and buttery smell.

Its colour is unbelievable as well : so light ! I was suspiscious at the beginning as I thought I made a mistake with the temperature or with the steeping time due to this very very light colour. But it wasn’t any mistake.

The taste is fantastic : so buttery with a hint of vanilla and a kind of sweet milk aftertaste.
This is so mellow, so smooth, it’s incredible !

You were so right to push me to have it cteresa thank you again for this fantastic tea, it goes in the shoppping list for sure.

Being a fan of milky oolongs I so, so dearly wanted to try the THE O DOR one… such a pity it’s so expensive, but I imagine that’s only representative of the quality! I managed to purchase 25g of this from a lovely tearoom in Perpignan (the only amount I could afford at the time!) which I’m hoping will last me a little while.

First off, it’s a lovely vibrant light gold, and the leaves seem more… folded, than crushed, in comparison to other milky oolongs I’ve tried. They’ve expanded, yes, but a little limp when I think of the oolong leaves of Whittard, which turned out to be artificially flavoured. I wonder if these tender, smaller leaves are indicative of not being artificially flavoured. The aroma is different, too, more softly aromatic like vanilla or cream than a rich buttery scent.

And it certainly has a beautiful flavour! It’s light (perhaps due to the brewing time) and somewhat reminiscent of a dessert. Instead of a heavy dairy-like flavour, like butter, I’m getting light vanilla notes, even slightly biscuit or cake-ish, in between the overall fresh and mild flavour. There’s only the very slightest hint of astringency that builds up after each sip, and it’s so pleasant.. rather than getting addicted to the flavour I’m feeling more like this will make one good round cup of tea.

Next time I’ll change the brewing time or amount of leaves, I think!

Like Jillian said: Oh. My. God. I also tasted this tea at the Urban Tea Merchant in Vancouver. I’ve never had a milky oolong before. The tasting I had in the store was actually a little bitter – I think they added too many leaves…but I could taste its potential, so I shelled out the big bucks to bring some of this home. I just brewed up my first pot. I pulled out my Yixing teapot for this one. The instructions recommend brewing it for 5 minutes, which seems kind of long to me. I usually only brew oolongs for a minute or two, but I went light on the amount of leaves I used and 5 minutes seems to have done the trick. It was YUMMY! It smells like butter and has a wonderful smooth creamy flavour. This may be my new favourite oolong. It is wonderful with some dark chocolate. A pot of this tea….some dark chocolate…..a cat on my lap….what could be better?

At present my favourite tea especially with a slice of homemade white bread with red jam.

The scent is very distinctive. I love it but can’t accurately discribe it. Never smelled anything quite like it before. Someone commented that the smell is typical of oolongs. As this is my first oolong I can’t second that.

The taste is very smooth, sweet and buttery. In stead of leaning towards vegetal, is has a somewhat nutty basis (very faint). It also reminds me a bit of avocado’s, not in terms of exact taste, but rather in a likeness of character.

Simply: wow.

This is my first Oolong, so I did not have any expectations. I took it because I am discovering Theodor teas, and this one was on my random shopping list.

The smell in the box is weird, I felt milk and caramel (although there is no caramel at all). It is not the most exciting smell, I almost gave up buying the tea. I stuck with it mainly because I was already about to pay :-).

I find that this tea marries extremely well with the cake and / or cookies.

I steeped at 75C for 5 minutes and at 80C for 3 minutes. I prefer shorter steep at the higher temperature, as I perceive it has more smoothness and character. But in any case this is a rich, voluminous and profound tea.

Finally dipped into this hefty sample from Kawaii433!

I had to put it in a jar because it was trying to impose its aroma onto other swap teas in plastic baggies. I have a hard time believing this jin xuan oolong is unscented but I’ma roll with it.

So yeah, a thick pillow of love to rest your head upon. Dry leaf was coconut-cream-topped mango? and vanilla custard. Wet leaf was coconut cream, popcorn and buttered egg noodles.

Taste was lighter than expected given all that creamy thickness. Still comforting nonetheless. The aroma brought some of that coconut cream on the sip with butter and sweetgrass followed by crispy rice midmouth and walnut/wood in the back. Light buttery finish. I’d get random tastes of paper, too. That’s okay.

Is it sweet? I don’t know.
Is it creamy? I can’t say.
Is it particularly grassy or nutty or what? I can’t conclude.
Does it make me happy? Why, yes <3

Song pairing: Elvis Presley — Can’t Help Falling in Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJTaP6anOU

Went into TheOdor in Paris to buy all the tea. I’m not an oolong fan, but this one smelled wonderful enough that I thought I’d buy some for hubby, who does like oolongs. The scent was like milky caramel! It smells so good that it was one of 8 teas they choose to make matching scented candles with. I kind of wish I had gotten a candle as well, but I couldn’t justify the weight in my luggage. The guy working there was telling me that this tea was a happy mistake. A person who was processing the tea did something wrong in a batch that went out before they decided it was ruined. The tea was sampled anyway at it’s destination and the discovery of how amazing it tastes was made. I wish every tea had an interesting backstory!

This tea tastes smooth and milky with a little caramel in the finish. It doesn’t have that cardboard taste that I find many oolongs have, which is what turns me off of oolongs. I haven’t figured out the perfect steeping parameters yet, but I think I like it oversteeped a bit since it gives a richer flavor.

Backlog from December 30th sitting on the front porch with my bro for any remaining sunlight for the short day. We listened to a Mythunderstood Podcast about Janus and Ragnarok: Derk, you nailed the rice and paper thing and it’s very heavy in the kettle corn popcorn flavor for me.

I am still not decided on this one. I still lean towards the Mandala, and this one is personally more vegetal, vanilla, spinachy and bordering cakey than I like. Not getting caramel personally, but I do get caramel stickiness. I am also not convinced its Jin Xuan in the body since it’s got more florals like a fan styled Chinese oolong, or even a Tie Guan Yin…but who knows, I’m probably wrong. I’ve gotten through more of it and gifted a friend a decent amount as I work through.

I personally don’t see why this one is rated so highly, but enjoy it . I’m still indebted to Kawaii.