Jin Xuan Oolong

I like this tea. It has a nice mild flavor and a pretty golden color. The tea leaves are good too.

I’ve had this sample sitting around for a quite a while and no longer remember whose stash I acquired it from. I need to start making note of that.

Anyhow, poured the whole sample into my gaiwan, which ended up being just about 9 grams. Did a quick wash and let the leaves sit while I refilled and heated the kettle before the first steep.

Light gold liquor, light and sweet in flavor, with the characteristic creaminess coming through more in the second steep. Light florals start to push through in steep three.

All in all, this was a good one!

Light, creamy, sweet, and predominantly orchid/nectar flowers in my cup, this is a clearing and uplifting green oolong. The aroma tends to retain more of the milky creaminess than the actual taste, but there is definitely a nice milky texture for the first few steeps of this. There’s a slight bit of astringency as the tea goes on, but nothing major or off putting, it actually defines the slight corn silk and flower notes more clearly, I think. There are some nice throat coating feels and sweetness as well.

My takeaway: this is a nice non-flavored milk oolong with more fullness than most green oolongs I’ve tried. More flowery than I’m usually a fan of, but every now and again that’s quite nice.

I need to try this tea again. I attempted gong fu, but I did not use enough leaves for that session. What I’ll write is very similar to what Luckyme described.

I tried 45 seconds, and I get a very light creamy floral-something that reminds me of lilac, or more accurately hyacinth. I hesitated hoping it wasn’t leftover soap staining my vessel.

So I switched out vessels, and I get more of the same florals after three minutes. Still incredibly light, but lightly buttery and lightly vegetal. I do get a little bit of a savory vegetable taste, yet they are softer compared to the florals. It does remind me something of a Tie Guan Yin, or even closer, Mandala’s Unflavored Jin Xuan, but lighter like the Tie Guan Yin.

The next time after 4 and half minutes, there was some sweetness coming out, but floral sweetness. Vanilla popped in my head, but more as an after tone of the hyacinth.

The next at five minutes was a little bit more vegetal savory, but light and floral as ever.

I need to try this again. I’m pretty impressed that the hyacinth floral was the strongest aspect of this, but I have hopes that I could get this tea to brew sweeter. All this $2 for 20g, then $12 for 150g…that is a bargain.

Upon the correction later, starting at 3 minutes Western at 180 F, I get more of a fruity note in the middle of tasting it. Maybe something close to a pineapple skin. I do not quite get as much hyacinth, but a strong floral character remains with a lightly buttered vegetable background.

I was turned off from trying Jin Xuans for a while because I don’t care for the heavy butter taste that most of them have but this one was a real winner. It’s wonderfully floral and has a sugarcane like sweetness that complements the hint of milky flavor. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of milkiness to this tea, which suits me just fine. This and Shan Lin Xi are my favorites of the Eco-Cha teas I’ve sampled so far.

I didin’t use any specific steeping times with this since they lack suggestions for gongfu brewing. So I went with feeling and what seemed right, it turned out pretty good actually.

Nuggets are emerald green with light brown stems. They are small and even size. As a winter batch the leaves are quite small. Opened leaves are vegetal green.

Clear light green brew, latter steeps turn more orange/yellow hue. Mild scent. Full-bodied taste with notes of cream, vanilla, milk, fruit, osmanthus and some burnt sugar with woodsy notes. Terrific with really nice silky, thick and creamy mouthfeel. I can already say after couple steeps that this is the best Jin Xuan oolong that I’ve tasted. Others have been too milky or not milky at all, but this is in perfect balance. I’m definitely buying more after I’ve emptied my stash a bit.

I was quite happily surprised by the quality and intense flavor of the brew from this lightly oxidized and lightly toasted tea. Very refreshing and yet lush with buttery tones and a natural floral green-ness that is very uplifting and a pleasure to drink. Generally I have not been a fan of most Milk Oolongs, but this one could become quite addictive. And the number of re-steeps from the leaves was phenomenal, making it quite economical as I savored cup after cup.

I tried this again with one teaspoon rather than two teaspoons that became a little too much since the leaves are the most tightly bundled oolong leaves I have ever seen. This time was much better, though I did love the luxuriousness thickness and texture of the last steep sessions first cup. I think that steep was perfect but the leaves became too many leaves for the second and third steeps. If I could figure out the best way to steep two teaspoons, I’m sure those steeps would be perfect too. It’s always a science with tea! This time around, all of the steeps were somehow very similar which is kind of surprising for an oolong. A lovely milky creamy flavor, just not as nicely textured as the first steep of the last session. But I did enjoy that there wasn’t a bitter overdone flavor… not at all the fault of the tea. And with one teaspoon of leaves, my infuser basket was STILL full of leaves! Next time, I shall try 1 1/2 teaspoons.
Steep #1 // one teaspoon for a full mug// 10 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // few minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 1 minute steep

Thank you Liquid Proust for this sample!

Tasting #1 – Steep Time 2 Minutes
No distinguishable aroma with a very light color. No flavor can be detected at this time.

Tasting #2 – Steep Time 4 Minutes
Very light roasted aroma, slightly darker in color but no difference in flavor.

Tasting #3 – Steep Time 6 Minutes
There is a hint of saltiness to this now that makes the roasted flavor a bit more robust. I opened the teapot to smell the leaves and they smell exactly like seaweed, but the salty flavor isn’t overwhelming to my tongue. More like a finishing salt, helping to complete a meal.

But it isn’t enough to make me love this tea. I want more from my tea, but this one doesn’t even meet my bare necessities.

I got this as part of a sample pack from Eco-Cha that also included High Mountain Concubine and Dong Ding. I decided to brew this gongfu, about a tbsp of tea, 190, first steep of a minute. Pale yellow liquor. Interesting aroma. As the leaves open more they are huge and filling my gaiwan. Aroma and flavor are both floral and buttery. Another reviewer said it’s similar to Mandala’s milk oolong, but dialed down a bit. Agreed, though I prefer the sweetness of Mandala’s version. I get the butter, particularly in terms of mouthfeel, but not so much the milk. This tea actually reminds me more of Mandala’s Golden Turtle, which I think I described in my review as drinking buttered flowers. There’s a bit of astringency in later steeps. Of the three teas I received from Eco-Cha, I would say I preferred this one the least, but that is probably because I prefer roasted oolongs generally.