Milk Oolong

GCTTB5

There was just enough in the sample for a cuppa.

I couldn’t pass up trying this milk oolong. It is a decent tea, if not a bit artificial. It is sweet and creamy (obviously lol). It has been far too long since I have tried Teavivre or DAVIDsTEA milk oolong, so I can’t really compare them. But this doesn’t even come close to being as good as Mandala’s.

Backlog, as I had this yesterday morning.

I was part of simple loose leaf’s monthly subscription program for a few months last year, but then the tea sort of just started piling up and I felt overwhelmed. But the idea of a milk oolong has always entrigued me, mostly because I like my drinks to be milky, so I thought I’d give it a shot yesterday. The dry leaf smells “milky”, although it’s underpinned by what I imagine to be the hallmark roasted sort of nutty oolong smell. I brewed this for three minutes, which I think was on the longer end of the steeping instructions. The resulting brew retained the smell of the dry leaf, and it was even more intense if that’s possible. Tasting better and better as it cooled, I felt as though I was drinking a cup of hot, slightly nutty and deeply creamy milk, and I actually think it would go into the category of a comfort tea for me.

Now I want to try more amazing milk oolongs, because I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get this exact one again. Any suggestions? I wasn’t a fan of the one from davids tea, if I remember correctly.

And thanks weet f*** it’s Friday.

Brewed Gong Fu style. This smells so creamy and buttery dry. Even when brewed, it smells almost exactly like movie theatre popcorn butter! There’s no way that this is natural, definitely the added milk flavour, but it’s so good! I adore popcorn butter. The mouth feel is thick too, which adds to the enjoyment. This only lasts for a couple of steeps, after which this starts to taste like a more natural milk oolong. Peachy, sweet, and more green the more steeps in you go. I’m not sure just how far this would go, since I had to stop (didn’t want to be up all night, and it was getting late.) As much as I want to prefer all natural milk oolongs, I really enjoyed the boost of flavor this one has. I’m not sure I’ll go out of my way to order it, but it sure is tasty.

Backlog:

This is a wonderful Milk Oolong: sweet, creamy, and deliciously luscious.

The first two infusions were combined into one cup and the combined result was light and creamy and sweet. Nutty. Hints of vegetation. Later infusions were not quite as creamy. More floral notes came forward.

A really intensely creamy tea at the start, and as I continued to infuse the tea the creaminess subsided somewhat but it was still rather creamy and delightful.

Once steeped this tea has a flavor much like I remember from my previous encounter with it. It has a buttery texture, which is partially due to the milk flavoring that has been added. Underneath this is a slightly floral flavor that edges towards peaches and cream once you steep it a second time. Later steeps take on a slightly vegetal flavor that increases with each subsequent steeping. I don’t typically enjoy this tea once the sweetness disappears so I only steep it three times. You certainly could continue to resteep it if you still enjoy the flavors, this tea resteeps very well. Overall this is a really nice milk oolong, one that I would certainly order again if Simple Loose Leaf had a convenient way for me to reorder the teas I’ve enjoyed from the Selection Club.

You can read the complete review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2014/8/19/tuesday-tea-august-selection-club-simple-loose-leaf.html

I like this one more than the Green Terrace Tea Milk Oolong sample I had but less than the Mandala Tea one. It had more milky, buttery flavor in the first steeping. By the 2nd steeping I was starting to get more vegetal flavor. I liked the first cup, it was creamy, mellow and not over powering. Glad I got to sample it since last box was my last box of a 3 month subscription.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I haven’t decided yet.

As far as flavoring goes, it’s much better than either the DAVIDs or the TeaVivre one. I don’t find this to taste like spoiled milk, which is what I expected, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be the case.

I’d actually planned to do an experiment – have some pseudo gongfu style, and some do a cold brew with it. But like all good plans of mice and men, that isn’t happening. I did a 30s rinse with the first cup, and then my husband came in with the groceries and knocked the infuser onto the floor, spilling all of the leaves everywhere. Yep.

So I started back over with my pseudo gongfu.

The milk flavor was mostly gone by the third infusion. But the remaining tea flavor isn’t that spectacular. It’s a little buttery, but not outstanding.

I won’t be getting this as my tea next month.

Yay my first ever milk oolong! I’ve been pretty excited to try one ever since I found out it was a thing. This one is from Simple Loose Leaf – I chose it as my sample this month and it will be in the August menu. The leaves are a dark, muted yellowish green. They’re rolled up like other green oolongs I’ve seen and the size varies a lot among the pellets. It smells very much like sweet cream flavor. Hmm… I steeped for 3 minutes (the high end of the recommended time).

Yum, it smells delicious. It has kind of a peaches and cream thing going on with a bit of mild floral scent. The taste is not quite as exciting to me as the smell. There’s a definite vegetal note that reminds me of butternut squash, some light sweetness, and a floral touch. The peach shows up as an aftertaste, and it’s so convincing that I wish I could taste it the whole time. I don’t really taste milk in this, although I do get a light creaminess from the squash.

Steeped a second time (also 3 minutes) and I think I like it better this time around. The vegetal side is pretty much gone, and it’s much more fruity and floral now. However, I still don’t get a ton of cream flavor. I added some sugar and it seemed to help, but I feel like something called milk oolong should be creamy without additions.

Overall, it’s pretty good for a green oolong but I don’t know that I would classify it as a milk variety just from the taste. Perhaps it has to be with my brewing it western-style…