Milk Oolong

I’ve been meaning to do a Mandala order for sooooo long… But with Butiki recently closing all of my money the last few months seemed to be leaving my pocket and doing a very fast and very happy jig over to Butiki… And then one day…. Dexter posted some pictures of some amazingly beautiful and unique walnut tea trays Mandala had recently acquired and I knew my time of avoiding an order to save my credit card was over!!

This tea has been on my wish list FOREVER!! So of course it had to sneakily be added to my tea tray order (along with so many other goodies!) and of course I tore into the bag as soon as my order arrived… Well as soon as I’d stoped drooling over my new tea tray… (Thank you so much again for sharing your beautiful find Dexter!!!). The dry leaf scent of this tea is unbelievable!! I’m talking coconut milk mixed in with a rich , heady condensed milk scent! And the taste? Mmmmm, I’ve died and gone to tea heaven! The milky flavor doesn’t quit, steep after steep, it’s still present, just more subtle as the tea morphs from creamy and nutty to a more floral flavor right at the end.

This will be my milk oolong yard stick from now on, the tea that I hold all other milk oolong in comparison to! I hope I can find something else that’s just as good, but if not, I’ll be more than content with this little gem never ever leaving my cupboard!!

Unlike most of the new years resolutions I saw posted on various discussion threads, my resolution this year is to spend more money on tea. In prior years, my tea budget has always been sucked up by practical things, such as ‘food’ or ‘gas’, but not this year! I vow not to be practical, not to live off of old tea from my mother’s cupboard, and not to try to make my Christmas tea last all year. I think I can safely say that I’ve started January on track by purchasing a Breville one-touch and placing an order for this tea from Mandala.

As I’m drinking this particular tea, I’m not really tasting the ‘milk’ in the milk oolong. I get the floral and some sort of sweetness, but not any sort of creamy taste. It is possible that the much lauded ‘milk’ flavor is actually the smooth feel of the tea – but I can’t be sure. Additionally, I’m picking up a distinct chlorine flavor, which I fear must come from my tap water and may be overwhelming some of the subtler flavors in the tea. I must try this again with filtered water – because I am very curious about how a tea might taste milky without milk.

This tea is certainly one of the best oolong teas I have ever tasted. It tastes strongly of coconut and berries or fruity notes. There is only a hint of that characteristic oolong bitterness. This is damn good tea. I will have to buy more when I use up my coupon for Mandala tea.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 2 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 30 sec.

Simply perfect. Cup after cup. I hope to never go without this tea again, now that I’ve discovered it.

This is one of those teas that you must stock in a lager quantity, because quite frankly, there are days that nothing else will do! I love the lingering qualities of this tea, with it’s sweetness and warming of the face, upper chest and down the arms. Such a treat and extremely delicious. I personally can’t imagine anything that I want to add to this tea. It delivers an absolutely perfect cup.

BTW: I have an yixing that is dedicated to strictly milk oolongs, and this tea is my favorite to brew from this pot.

My western infusion brew parameters that I usually use for my Milk Oolongs did not work well with this one. I will have to infuse for a shorter amount of time in the future.

Got this in a tea swap with kimquat a couple of months ago.
This doesn’t really make me a fan of Milk Oolong yet. Only tried one before from DavidsTea. Maybe they are just not for me? Too milky haha!
This one is a bit better though than the last.
It’s creamy and milky. Feels heavy and full but still smooth.
Has a faint fruity taste to it though, which throws me off. But I think the fruity flavor makes me kinda like it more. It’s just different…
Milk oolong is just weird-haha!

I got this in my last order with Mandala tea. I’m not sure why I waited so long to purchase some… maybe because I haven’t been drinking many green oolongs in the past few years.

This is so nice! It definitely has a buttery flavor and also has notes of coconut, amazing! When it’s sitting on my desk I feel like it has an aroma of buttered popcorn. Definitely exceeded my expectations and then some. Not fakey like some milk oolongs I’ve tried. This is definitely a tasty tea that seems to help relax me. I guess I need to relax right now, My life feels like a chaotic mess and I’m not sure what to do about it. Thinking about making a career change is hard. I think it’s time to slow down and have a tea break :)

Sorry for the short-ish note but I’m trying to do some productive things today instead of spending too much time on the internet. Wish me luck. :)

From the Unflavored TTB.

Gongfu method with a gaiwan. Steeping times: 15, 15, 20, 20, 30, 45, 60, 120.

The dry and wet leaf aromas are buttery and floral. When the leaves steeped for the second infusion I could smell cinnamon (this went away afterward). The first infusion is clear in texture, and I mostly taste salt and butter. Following that, the liquor becomes creamier and more floral, which overtakes the butter flavor during the latter infusions.

This is my third milk oolong. I’m positive that this kind of tea doesn’t do anything for me. It’s not bad per se, but…“meh.” The first infusions each time weirded me out – salt?? Artificial taste?? Even though I liked this one the most of the three, I’m not rating because I don’t want to skew the number. (leaving that to people who actually like and can compare milk oolongs)

Manna from heaven! Sweet nectar of life! Opening the bag first whiff smells like sweet sweet buttery popcorn and tastes just like that. I’ve had milk oolongs before and this is such an amazing tea! I think I may have found my replacement milk oolong :) happy dance happy dance happy dance