Milk Oolong

Milk, as we know it, is soft, smooth, velvety, sweet … What could be the milk Oolong? Totally the same! Milk Oolong, a delicacy from Taiwan, has an unusually soft taste and a sweet aroma. It is grown in a breathtaking landscape full of jagged hills and green slopes. Its production is given the utmost attention. It is no wonder, therefore, that it belongs to highly prized sorts.
For Oolongy, the so-called semifermentation is characteristic. They are also called blue-green or polished green tea. Chinese Tea Tickets are collected in Taiwan up to five times a year. Harvest runs from April to December. A special procedure follows, in which tea leaves receive a typical milk flavor. Their cracking takes place in milk steam. Then the farmers are poured into special containers with milk essence and soak repeatedly. Subsequently, tea travels to large bamboo baskets, where it shakes intensively. This causes the leaves to get wet and disturbed, which will trigger natural enzyme oxidation. Depending on the kind, they are left to this chemical process for a long time. Mostly Oolongs ferment somewhere between 8-85 percent. The final color, aroma and caffeine content (tein) depend on the percentage of fermentation.

In Taiwan, tea gardens are located in virtually all regions. Oolonga is most often exported from Nantou, where Chinese tea is grown on the hillsides. They provide ideal soil and climatic conditions. Taiwanese Oolonga will cover about 20 percent of the world’s production of these unique teas.

Picked a small bag of this up at the Tea Source after hearing intriguing descriptions of milk oolongs.

The tea taste is quite green, and mostly buried by the milk flavors. They impart a buttery, creamy flavor and texture. It’s an enjoyable drink, but not in the same way that most teas are enjoyable to me.

I received a sample of this tea along with the infuser mug my sister gave me for Christmas. I’m thrilled about the mug (it will make drinking loose leaf tea at work so much easier!) and was excited for a chance to sample this tea as well. It was quite similar to the milk oolong I’ve had from Teavivre: sweet and creamy with a rich, silky mouth feel. It also stays smooth and flavorful through multiple infusions. Definitely one I’d consider purchasing in the future!

This may just be someone’s cup of tea—it’s not mine. It’s made with milk, and I can distinctively taste it, and couldn’t help thinking that if I want milk in my tea, I’d like to add it myself. My aunt who loved the Rare Orchid and Light Roast Tung Tings the other day, found this one “blah.” Not a tea I’ll order again. If I want a tea on the creamy, silky side I prefer TeaSource’s Sweet Silk Oolong.

I once got this tea as the sample that came with my TeaSource order and I remembered liking it. However, when I ordered 2 oz. package I was surprised by the smell of the leaves and the brewing tea – it’s a bit sour-milk like. The flavor is pleasant, though.