Milk Oolong

This is a free sample that I got from Garret when I ordered some of his wonderful Puers! Thanks Garret! There’s been a discussion on the quality of customer service & the personal treatment we get from some of the tea companies, & Garret is definitely one of the people on the top of that list, in my mind. I’ve only ordered from him once (so far), but I can tell that he’s good people. One of the things I love about Steepster is all of the good people, sippers & sellers alike.

I’m not a huge oolong fan. I admit it. I was at one time, & a cup here or there is delightful, but then it seems to become redundant. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s the way I roll! I’ve avoided milk oolong, because apparently some companies actually spike it with milk (?), or so I’ve been told. Since I’m allergic, when in doubt, don’t drink the water (or the tea)!

Of course, this tea is pure tea. Dry, it smells wonderful! Like a sweet flan. I warmed the leaf in my preheated Gaiwan, & the aroma blossomed into flan with flambeed brown sugar & toasted coconut on top. There was also a bright fruity aroma that I just couldn’t pinpoint.

Did I drink the 10 second rinse? Well, hell yeah! It tasted like movie theater butter popcorn with a light Mango brightness. Nice!
The wet leaf smells of that buttery sugary flan, with pureed mango drizzle. I can’t believe how sugary sweet this tea smells, both wet & dry.

Over the next several steepings the movie theater popcorn gave way to floral greens, a thick throat feel, & a delightful tingle on the tip of my tongue. I have a lot of houseplant, on all 3 floors, so for the last hour or so, I’ve been alternating between watering plants & drinking cups of tea. I watered everything in the sun room (there are pink flowers!), then sat for a few cups & relaxed. Then it was the rest of the downstairs plants, a few more cups of tea, etc. During that time a coconut flavor has emerged, the butterness is back, but in the back of my throat, lingering. The tingliness & thickness has embodied more of my tongue. It’s all very nice.

Will I buy this tea? Probably not. The quality is wonderful, & it is tasty, & although I like the novelty of an excellent oolong here & there, I wouldn’t want to drink it every day.

I need some Mandala love tonight!

This natural milk oolong is phenomenal…pure candy.

First, the dry smell is all pop corn and coconut milk. It doesn’t render that heavy dairy fragrance scented milk oolong often have, this is all natural goodness.

The first three steeps (gongfu style) are cotton candy and piña colada like, creamy and slightly fruity. The richness and sweetness really dominate.

Later, it morphs into a more floral green oolong, presenting lilac and orchid notes.

A fresh minty camphor taste is also present, slowly developing. It has lost some of its sweetness, which is a good thing, cause as you persevere into many short steeps, heavy and sweet would be just too much.

The taste lingers and lingers…

It’s making me really happy :-)

When I’m all done, I will put the spent leaves in a mason jar and cold steep in the fridge for 12 hours. Yep, this tea has a lot to give!

Lighter teas and I still have a very tentative accord. I like them…sometimes but there are a few that I just love so much. This is one of them. It’s creamy, nutty, buttery and caramelly. And perfect. The final steeps were a bit iffy this time around though. I was hit in the face with floral notes that came out of nowhere and it wasn’t terrible but it made me miss the earlier steeps. I need to get more of this because this was my last bit and I am sad. I also have to order from Mandala again because I haven’t ordered tea in a long time.

Wow. I’ve only had one other milk oolong but this one just puts it to shame, no contest. I’ve been brewing it gongfu cha style and I’m on the 6th steep but it keeps on giving.

The last milk oolong I had tasted more like a tie guan yin with heavy florals and not so much creaminess, but this one possesses an extremely rich sweet cream scent and flavor. I would almost swear it was flavored if I didn’t know better. There are also notes of spinach and mint. This tea feels like a sublime dessert.

Thanks for the sample, Garret.

This is one of the BEST Milk Oolongs I have ever had. Everything seems to be going right for this milk oolong and it offers a little something extra that others seemed to have been lacking (and I didn’t even know it until I had this one, it seems!)

It’s creamy and buttery, mostly, but it DOES have slight sweet and buttery grass notes and a spec of natural saltiness, too! There are hints of coconut, flowers, and maybe even celery. It’s very clean and lovely!

It’s also pretty apparent it wants me to do multiple infusions…so…I’m going to listen to my tea leaves and do that :)

Wonderful!

sipdown! Garrett sent this along as a free sample when i placed my first order from Mandala. As it’s an oolong, i didn’t want it sitting around too long so i opted to drink it down asap. Additionally, the bags that mandala use for their samples are perfect for using to split off the 52 teas that kittenna and i jointly purchased lol Heavy duty sample bags to prevent contamination for the win!

I almost thought about passing this one off to kittenna or raritea as they seem to prefer milk oolongs but figured if i’m going to try all the teas, i better get cracking! This is fantastic! All i can say is that the girls here should order some from mandala because i think they might like it. It’s nothing like slaone’s milk oololng, which i recall kittenna not liking as much…it’s fresh and creamy and i can understand that toffee sense from the description. I’m going to have to resteep this a bit today, which of course will slow down my cupboard progress but this is totally worth it. thank you garret!!

Oh My… I’ve been spending the past hour brewing multiple infusions of a little sample bag that was included with my first order from Mandala Tea. It said simply, “Milk Oolong” so I really had no idea what joy was in store. I had not read anything about it, had simply eyed the nice dark green rolled leaves, smelled the aroma of sweet grass, and thought I would use my little 100 ml glass oolong pot to do a quick tasting.

1st steep: quick 5 second rinse of the leaves, followed by 205 F water for 25 seconds. Nice Green/Gold infusion. Aroma is pure melted butter, with just a hint of coconut. Wow! Not super sweet, but just a pleasing creamy feeling in my mouth. And an aftertaste of passion fruit?

Ok, I am fascinated. I go for a second steep, thinking this is just a really nice Taiwan style oolong.

2nd steep: 205 F for 40 seconds. Big change! The color is now pure gold, no green. Aroma: butter, coconut and a hint more of floral tones. The flavor is even more intense. There is still that buttery creaminess, but the coconut is even more prominent, and I definitely taste tropical fruits at the sides of my mouth.

I am so impressed, I go to Mandala tea’s website to see what it is I am drinking. Sure enough, this is one great quality tea, and the flavor profiles match pretty close to what I was tasting. I start looking for the other flavors described in the next few steepings, and I have to say I am really pleased. This one is definitely going on my shopping list!

Sample sipdown – FAIL!
Had a sample of this that smelled SOOO good. I thought it’d be a good one to drink now, as I’m highly stressed and milk oolongs always seem to comfort me (they’re just so creamy and delicious!).

Unfortunately I oversteeped it. =(
It smelled nice and creamy, with the vegetal notes poking through here or there. Taste-wise, though, I was just getting bitterness with slight hints of vegetal/earthy oolong.

This is on my list of teas to buy. I think this one would’ve been really awesome.

Leave it to me to mess up a sample serving… sigh

Oolong Week at Oolong Owl!

Mandala’s Milk Oolong? A M A Z I N G

The smell of this tea is like caramel candy! Taste? thick caramel, buttery peas, vanilla buttercream and the perfect sweetness. In later infusions, there is some sunny floral and fresh grassy notes. In the final infusions, mango notes. Love it!

The leaves expand to crazy huge sizes too! Impressive quality tea!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl, http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/milk-oolong-tea-from-mandala-tea-tea-review/

Owl Photobomb Crew?

I’ve been drinking this one all day. Very, very nice! I love a good creamy, vegetal oolong :)

Thanks again to kimquat for the wonderful Mandala swap package. I know exactly what I’m going to be ordering now! :D

Now I just have to wait a couple weeks for my big fall art fair so I have TEA MONIES! WOOT