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Me: Do you want to do yoga?
Hubby: Do yoga or have tea?
Me: Well, both are good for us. Do you want to do yoga or have tea?
Hubby: I’ll have tea.
Me: Okay. What kind?
Hubby: Ummm, platypus picked!
Me: You are not going to believe this, but I don’t have any platypus picked. So you know what that means.
Hubby: You need to buy more tea!

Lol! Welcome to tasting note number 1,000! If I were commemorating the tasting note by myself, I would drink Queen Catherine symbolically, as she has seen me through much, but since hubby is joining me I will have one that is a favorite of his as well! That is something to celebrate, too, because not so long ago he would not have touched a green tea. This note marks a lot of changes in tastes, likes, and habits. Here’s to the next thousand cups together!

Guys, I’m totally stressed. There’s too much going on. I hope work will not always be like this. I hope I get along better with my boss. Not that we have conflict, but our work styles are so different I feel like she secretly disapproves of me, which makes me really anxious. I have performance anxiety. If I make the tiniest mistake, I’ll feel like I’ve failed everyone. I’ve been told I need to just loosen up. I can’t loosen up! I need to do a good job! Okay…. breathe….

Okay, I really do need to loosen up. It’s hard for me. Tomorrow, I need to have a gong fu session with some of the Verdant Tea that came in for me. That should help. :) It’s too late for caffeineful tea tonight.

I did have some of this tea at work today. To be honest, I was too busy and distracted to notice the taste too much. It’s tasty, as always. The same few leaves stayed faithfully by my side all day. I just filled my cup over and over again. yum. I am grateful for tea because even if I’m not paying attention to it, I know it soothes me just enough so that I know that things will get better.

Oh.My.Gawd. This has an AWESOME aroma! It’s like nothing I have ever smelled before – in tea form, that is!!!!

The only way I can describe the dry loose leaf aroma is intensely buttered flavored popcorn – I think I can even smell a little naturally salted flavor – unless I just am associating the aroma with buttered popcorn so much so that my mind is playing tricks on me! Whatever it is I have to say I would easily give the aroma on this one a 100!!!!

Now…on to the other notes…

These are some wild leaves and I am LOVING watching them in my new Libre Tea Loose Leaf Glass! YAY!

Post infusion I am STILL sniffing this awesome aroma of buttered popcorn! It’s VERY aromatic! And I mean VERY!!!!

YUM!

Buttery! Buttered Veggies, Buttered Popcorn! It’s semi-sweet and a very flavorful green! The more I sip it the more sweeter it gets! This is smooth! It reminds me of a milky oolong but then it reminds me of a buttery green! It may be somewhere in the middle – regardless I am REALLY enjoying this one!

Probably one of the most memorable greens I have had in a LONG time! WOW!

… if this isn’t an oolong, and a milk oolong at that, I’d be shocked. But, what it is or isn’t is really not important… the important part is the flavour!!

This one’s another one from Mercuryhime, so thanks again for gifting me with all these oolongs! I looked and it was technically only five oolong samples, but… mmmmm :D :D

The aroma here is classic milk oolong, to me. And the flavour is spot on for being a milk oolong. Not as intense as DavidsTea’s version, but definitely the same sort of flavour. Oh man…. this is fabulous. I wonder what the pricing on this one is… if they think it’s a green, perhaps it’s cheaper than a milk oolong…. Anyhow, the delicious milkiness melds wonderfully with a bit of rock sugary sweetness and a fabulous oolong flavour.

Mercuryhime – your swap package couldn’t have arrived at a better time, as I’m pretty sure I finished the last of my Quangzhou Milk Oolong from DavidsTea off with the cup of it I had a week or so ago. How nice is it not to have to go purchase something to satisfy a craving! And it looks like I have enough left for at least two more cups, if not a third if I’m stingy :D I do prefer a stronger milky flavour, but I’d pick this one up again to satisfy a milk oolong craving. Yum.

ETA: Oh man, this is heavenly. HEAVENLY. Second infusion (next day), 94C/4min is absolutely wonderful. Not only is it creamy milk oolong goodness, I am getting a sort of caramelly flavour as well. Seriously…. I am going to have to acquire some of this. Maybe there will be a Steepster out there who makes a mass order of this one and spreads it around. I didn’t look closely at their shipping policy/costs, but ordering one tea to ship to Canada is not likely worthwhile in the slightest.

ETA again: Third infusion, same parameters, same yum, although maybe a bit weaker. Reminiscent of sweetened condensed milk, without the sweet.

After reading ashmanra’s tasting notes on this one it has been on my shopping list, and so I was thrilled when there was a sample in my package from SimplyJenW. You are too good to me! I opened the pouch and woah: total milk oolong aroma. Milky, buttery, a little sweet corn, it smells really yummy. It looks like an oolong, too, with it’s little balls of leaf. I kind of don’t believe that this is a “green” tea at all. Green oolong, yes.

Steeped with the parameters that some others have used. The steeped tea has those buttery, creamy scents, along with a hint of a floral note. Definitely that sweet corn/kettle corn scents as well. Flavors start out as leafy, vegetal, not very strong, but as it cools more buttery notes come out as well as a fruitiness (peaches? nectarines? some kind of stone fruit maybe). It definitely gets sweeter as it cools, as well. The mouthfeel is not as creamy as I might have hoped, but overall it’s a very tasty tea. I would definitely call this a milk oolong (not shocking as it’s origin is Taiwan), and it’s a pretty good one at that.

Thanks to Mercuryhime for this sample!

Okay, first off I have to agree with the others that this seems more like an oolong tea than a green tea. I used my glass teapot and steeped it for 3 minutes earlier this afternoon.

It is a very light colored infusion and it is very smooth. The flavor and aroma is much like buttered corn. I think Krystaleyn is right that this tastes like a milk oolong! Unfortunately milk oolongs are not really my favorite kind of oolong. It is nice and light, but I’m afraid I don’t get what the fuss is. It’s a bit like drinking boiled corn husks and I’d much rather have a grassy green gyokuro!

Just for fun, I gave a sip of this to the (green tea hating) boyfriend earlier and this was his reaction:

“You call this tea? It tastes like lightly flavored water!”

:-P

I certainly wouldn’t turn this down if offered a cup, I’ve enjoyed it, but it won’t go on my “must have” list.

Tea of the morning……

Usually, I don’t drink green tea in the morning. However, the aroma of this one just kept calling to me. It smells just like a milk oolong. The leaves kind of look oolongish, but still somewhat like a large leaf green when they are brewed up.

First steep. I have to admit that I was not at all blown away by the first few sips, but I totally agree with Indigobloom on this one, that it draws you in more with each sip. By the end of the cup, you are so taken, that you immediately resteep it, and the process starts all over. Second steep is not quite as rich, but it is still very good. First sips are lightly vegetal, and then the butteriness kicks in. I do agree with TeaEqualsBliss that it tastes like buttered popcorn. Definitely a keeper!

Mug method, about 180 degree water, 3 minutes first steep, 4 minutes second steep.

I, like others, noticed that the leaves look almost identical to an oolong. In fact, I was really surprised when I popped open the bag that clearly says Silky GREEN. I’ve had quite a few cups of this one & initially brewed them around 190-195. At that temperature, I tasted an overwhelmingly large amount of pure floral flavor. To me, it was so floral that it was almost like soap or perfume. I was just about to give up on this tea before I tried it again at a lower temperature. There are still floral flavors, but I’m tasting much more of a buttery component. It’s not my favorite, but I like that I’ve found a good temperature for this tea. I wish it could be more buttery and less floral.

I GOT QUILTGUPPYS PACKAGE IN THE MAIL!!!!
So excited, can ya tell? :P
QG is so generous… so many different teas and ones that I’m giddy just thinking about trying. I cannot say enough thankyous, and I hope I can return the favour one day! (at this point I can try but would likely fall short by a mile!)
Anyhow, I was quite excited to see this one in the stash so of course I reached for it first!
A milky(silky) GREEN tea?! I’d never heard of such a thing!
Now that it’s brewed and I’m sipping away, I can definitely taste the lactose. It’s buttery sweetness makes me swoon *sighs
However, the milk part stops abruptly upon the swallow, which makes me crave more, so I take another sip and then crave more and… well you get the idea.
The first steep was odd, a little too vegetally green for my liking, but now that I am on the second steep, it tastes more oolongy. At first, it really did taste like a “green” tea, and I couldn’t see what anyone meant about this being more oolongish.
It’s definitely more on the green side, but then oolongs can lean towards black or green so that makes sense I suppose.
Overall, I prefer the darker oolongs, so I doubt there is any surprise that I prefer the true “milk oolong” but there are days where I crave a good green so you can be sure that I’ll be reaching for this until my sample runs out! I don’t make many pots of tea, it’s usually just one cup at a time in my tea master, so it’s sure to last me awhile :)
Well, I’m off to brew my third cup! anyone care to take bets on how far I’ll make it this time?
P.S. Overall I would rate this an 86, given my dislike for green in general, contrasted with the excellent quality and flavour and the fact that within the “green” world it ranks pretty high, (I’d say a 96) so I’ll leave it in the middle at 91. That’s fair I think!

Oh this is good. Beautifully good. I must agree with the other tasting notes in that this tastes like a milk Oolong… or at least a very buttery green Oolong. It is sweet and creamy and buttery delicious.

Off to write a review of it for the SororiTea Sisters blog!