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KiwiDelight drank Taiwan Jin Xuan Milk Oolong Tea by Teavivre

371 tasting notes

Method was gongfu with 4oz gaiwan. 5 second rinse. Steeping intervals of 5, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60. The dry leaf aroma is floral and milky. (Aside: The milk brought me back maybe a decade ago to when I was at a friend’s house and she had made her own popsicles, one being with milk. I didn’t like it and I swapped with her for the coke one.) The wet leaf aroma is buttery and much more floral, and is sensorially evocative of late spring.

The liquor is very pale yellow, full-bodied, and slightly thick and creamy. At the first infusion it’s already bursting with flavor. The milk was totally dominant and too strong, borderline metallic-tasting and artificial, kind of off-putting. It clung to the gums even minutes after I last swallowed.

It gets better following this infusion, though. The milk backs off in the second, allowing the floral note to be more noticeable. 3rd: floral and milk are more balanced. In addition, apricot and mineral notes make an appearance and leave a pleasant aftertaste. 4th: the leaves are completely unrolled and the flavors are milder, though the milk is strongest but not so overpowering. 5th: even more milder, and the texture becomes thicker. Lastly, 6th: the floral note is supreme, and the liquor is sweet like maple sugar and candied flowers.

A complicated one. I might have to lower the temperature a little for the sake of the milk flavor. I appreciate the aromas, but I’m divided by the taste. The rating reflects overall quality, a balance of likes and dislikes.

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

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1 comments

Cheri
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Teavivre has a flavored and an unflavored version of this tea. Are you sure you had the unflavored?

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Cheri
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Teavivre has a flavored and an unflavored version of this tea. Are you sure you had the unflavored?

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Bio

I began drinking tea because its complexity fascinated me. I love learning about its history, its manufacturing processes, and its place in various cultures.

Japanese greens were my first love and gateway into the world.

My favorite teas are leafhopper oolongs, pu’erh (shou and sheng), and masala chai. My favorite herbal tisanes are spear/peppermint, lavender and chrysanthemum.

I’m currently exploring pu’erh, and any Chinese and Taiwanese teas in general. I’m not much into flavored teas, unlike when I first started. The only teas I truly dislike are fruity tisanes and the ones that have too much fruit. I do like hisbiscus, especially iced.

I like to write nature essays. I’m a birdwatcher as well as a tea enthusiast. The kiwi is one of my favorite birds. I also like Tolkien, Ancient Egypt, and exercising.

IMPORTANT NOTE, PLEASE READ: After two and a half years of having an account here, I will no longer will provide numerical ratings as an addition to the review because the American school system has skewed my thoughts on numbers out of a hundred and the colors throw me off. Curses! My words are more than sufficient. If I really like what I have, I will “recommend”, and if I don’t, “not recommended”.

Key for past ratings:

96-100 I adore absolutely everything about it. A permanent addition to my stash.

90-95 Superb quality and extremely enjoyable, but not something I’d necessarily like to have in my stash (might have to do with personal tastes, depending on what I say in the tasting note).

80-89 Delicious! Pleased with the overall quality.

70-79 Simply, I like it. There are qualities that I find good, but there also are things that aren’t, hence a lower rating that I would have otherwise like to put.

60-69 Overall “meh”. Not necessarily bad, but not necessarily good.

0-59 No.

If there is no rating: I don’t feel experienced enough to rate the tea, or said tea just goes beyond rating (in a positive way).