Milk Oolong

Amazing! That really is all I have to say about this tea. I am trying all 3 milk oolongs that I own and I wanted to drink this one first since it was my first love. It is just as wonderful as I remember. Sweet, buttery, and a slight slight vegetal taste. This time I am getting a hint of coconut as well. The next 2 milk oolongs are going to have to bring their “A” game.

I was so excited to see this tea in my mystery swap, as I’ve always wanted to try a milk oolong! The smell of it steeping is heavenly; it is a bit vegetal, yet buttery. I am happy that this tea is living up to what I imagined it to be! It’s mild, comforting, and creamy. I can’t wait to see what other flavors unfold as the cup cools! Thank you TeaTiff for sharing this special tea with me. Now I think I’m hooked!

My husband and I were in Des Moines this weekend because I was running a 5k, and lo and behold it just so happened that the race was practically right next to my favorite tea shop: Gong Fu Tea! Naturally, as soon as the race was over we headed over there to splurge on some tea (gotta have my post-run “recovery” beverage, of course!)

I ordered a cup of this milk oolong and thoroughly enjoyed it to the last drop. Admittedly I am not a very knowledgeable or experienced oolong drinker so I don’t have much to compare this to, but in my opinion is was very wonderful and unique. My son had fallen asleep in his stroller, the tea shop atmosphere was perfectly relaxed and soothing, and I just sat in their comfy chair and had a peaceful moment all to myself as I savored each sip of this tea, letting its warmth envelop me and its exquisite taste take me away to another world. Every so often I would open my eyes between sips and jot a note on what mouth was experiencing.

This tea’s flavor consisted of pleasing, warm, mellow notes reminiscent of coconut milk. It was rich and buttery with a lovely light sweet lingering finish. It was delicious, like a homemade butter cookie right out of the oven, yet at the same time it was not at all too heavy or rich. Mmmmmmmmm. I REALLY would have liked to purchase more of it in bulk to take home, but I had some other teas I’ve been wanting to try and my budget was limited. Alas, I will just have to wait to get it another time.

Nicole sent me a sample of this. I do like Milk Oolong, because of the subtle flavor and the floral notes. It’s light like a green tea, but it’s sweeter and doesn’t have an overwhelmingly vegetal flavor. It has a nice buttery taste. It smells a bit like jasmine, and I was able to steep it successfully three times. I’m sure you could steep it more, but I tend to let it sit a while. I enjoyed this.

I was little worried about this one, because the brewing aroma was quite floral. I’m not really a fan of floral type tea’s. Sure, my initial sip was quite floral, but I didn’t give up on it. As the cup cooled I found those creamy buttery notes that I enjoy so much in milk oolongs. The floral notes took a back seat as the cup cooled.

Steep two was even less floral, but the butter notes were still very present. The peach notes came through as well once the cup cooled down.

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this cup, despite the initial heavy floral aromas. Thanks to Cameron B for the sample!

In the evening when I return from work my first thing to do is to heat the water and brew a cup or two of the tea. Sit in my favorite chair and sip the tea letting the cares of the day fall away as I slowly unwind reducing my thoughts to only those of peace and pleasure

I’ve had this sample hanging around for a while, I believe it was from TeaTiff originally. I’ve put off trying it because I’ve found in the past that I don’t really enjoy milk oolongs as much as other people seem to. But then again, I don’t seem to enjoy green oolongs in general, so that makes sense. I figured I’d at least give this one the benefit of the doubt and try it before I just automatically put it into the rehoming box. I was too lazy to look up parameters for steeping this, so I just did 190 degrees (the oolong button on my kettle, lol) for 3 minutes.

And honestly, this isn’t bad. The floral is fairly mellow and it’s quite creamy in texture. Something about it reminds me of buttered popcorn, hah. And the aftertaste is lovely peaches which goes amazingly with the cream. However, I find I just don’t love it. The overall flavor is too light for me, and I find myself wishing for more peaches and more cream. Ah well, I gave it a try! I only have one serving left of this, but I’ll still put it into the box since I’m sure someone will love it much more than me.

From the Here’s Hoping Tea box3!

I am a huge fan of Mandala Tea’s milk oolong and was very curious how this oolong stacks up. Appearance wise, GFTS’ milk oolong is a darker, vibrant green, with smaller more chewed up leaf than Mandala’s milk oolong. I used the same steeping parameters that I use for my Mandala Tea milk oolong.

Taste wise, GFTS’ is more fruity – I was getting coconut and bit of fruityness, with lots of vegetal and buttery creamy. This one is quite good – but I’m still leaning on Mandala Tea’s milk oolong, which is more caramel butter edge to it with nicer leaf quality.

I had a little bit of this left, so I decided I wanted to pseudo gong fu this one at my desk. I should just bring my gaiwan into the office. I end up doing more psedu gong fu sessions here than I do actual sessions at home. Well, I could also use that as an excuse to buy a new gaiwan. Anyone have any suggestions of ones they like?

I love how freaking creamy this tea is for the first several infusions. CREAMY! If it weren’t for the fact that it’s clear, I would think that it had whole milk at a minimum, it’s so creamy. Then it gets like buttery popcorn. So yummy! I love this tea.

(I do have some of thePuriTea milk oolong coming in the mail tomorrow. I will definitely compare, since I loved that one the one time I had it.)

And I needed a relaxing, lovely, amazing tea today because I’ve spent my entire day dealing with idiots. IDIOTS! I told you I will fix it, but you have to verify one thing for me before I will make the fix. Don’t ask again and again (literally three times!) without verifying the information for me.

On another note, I’m going out to dinner with a friend from the east coast as she drives through my area on her way elsewhere for the weekend. I’m excited.

This was a gorgeous light buttercup color. It smelled wonderful – creamy and mildly vegetal. And it tasted even better. It lived up to all the promises the smell made – buttery, smooth, creamy, lightly vegetal, mildly sweet.

Thanks, TeaTiff for sharing this at the tea this afternoon! It definitely goes on my list to pick up from Gong Fu!